Education
Leland received his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Maryland in January of 1970, with concentrations in marketing and transportation. After completing his military service obligation (U.S. Air Force, April 1970 to December 1973), he began the graduate program at the University of Maryland in the Spring of 1974. He was awarded a Masters of Business Administration degree in May of 1975 with an overall grade point average (GPA) of 3.9 out of a possible 4.0.
Marketing management and transportation policy were the primary areas of study in this program. In the Fall of 1975 he began the Doctoral program at Maryland and continued to take courses in this program after accepting my first job at the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) in December 1975. He continued graduate work through 1980, earning 45 additional graduate credits beyond the M.B.A. degree.
Employment and Management Experience
The ICC provided his first job opportunity after graduate school. In December of 1975, he accepted a position at the ICC as a GS-9 Transportation Industry Analyst for the Bureau of Economics in the Motor Carrier, Water Carrier, and Pipeline Branch.
Since that time, he has held a variety of management and policy related positions. He was appointed to the position of Director of OEEA in March of 1996 as a result of the elimination of the ICC and the creation of the Surface Transportation Board following the ICC Termination Act of 1995. During my appointment, He was responsible for implementing the transition from the ICC to the STB. In addition, he was tasked with dealing with a multitude of personnel issues related to the RIF and establishment of a new Office in a new executive agency.
In July of 1996, the Chairman combined OEEA and the Chief Executive's Office into the Office of Economics, Environmental Analysis, and Administration (OEEAA) and he was appointed Director of that office. OEEAA essentially brought together all of STB's analytical and administrative responsibilities into a single office.
Office of Economics, Environmental Analysis and Administration The Office of Economics, Environmental Analysis, and Administration (OEEAA) is responsible for the economic, cost, financial, engineering, and environmental analyses in cases before the Surface Transportation Board (STB). They also provide the administrative support for the agency, including building and space management, human relations management, and computer systems support.
The office has a staff of 60 professional, clerical and administrative personnel, including varied vocations such as: economists, accountants, financial analysts, engineers, transportation industry analysts, environmental protection specialists, attorneys, computer programmers, personnel specialists, and a variety of administrative support staff. The primary activities and responsibilities of the office are identified and briefly discussed below.
Economic Analysis
OEEAA supports the STB's decision making process through economic, cost, financial, and engineering analyses. Typically, the types of cases that they are involved in include: railroad maximum rate proceedings, rail mergers, abandonments, rail line construction, and trackage rights matters. We conduct the cost analyses, institute rulemakings, and maintain the STB's user fee program.
In addition, they also prescribe accounting and reporting rules and requirements for regulated railroads, maintain an audit program to ensure compliance, and provide current data on the financial condition of individual railroads as well as the industry overall. OEEAA also collects and maintains data bases, including the rail waybill file as well as annual and quarterly financial and operating data for rail carriers. We develop the annual Uniform Rail Cost System estimate (URCS), which is the STB's general purpose costing system used for a variety of purposes such as the jurisdictional determination in rail maximum rate cases, calculating off branch costs in abandonment cases, and developing cost estimates in conjunction with the waybill file.