Rising Stars 2025: Lindsey Valdivia

Lindsey Valdivia, 36
Lead senior software engineer-product engineering
CSX

Nominator’s quote: “Through her leadership, the company has identified and mitigated significant risks in many software and infrastructure upgrades, allowing the systems she supports to meet their commitments with minimal business impact. Lindsey demonstrated remarkable resilience and expertise, giving her the ability to navigate complex challenges and deliver successful outcomes.” — Kia Warren, CSX

Education: Bachelor’s degree in information technology, University of North Florida.

Job responsibilities: Responsible for a team of four engineers across various business areas and technology stacks. Serves as platform lead for the ShipCSX product. Works with commercial partners to find AI-enabled solutions.

Briefly describe your career path.
I joined as a management trainee — we call them leadership development associates now — in 2012 at a time when the technology org was just beginning to reinvent itself. Over the last 13 years I’ve supported numerous application portfolios as I moved from trainee to analyst, developer and then senior engineer and then to lead. Through each new space I’ve been blessed with stellar colleagues who never hesitate to jump in and help someone learn in an unfamiliar business area.

What sparked your interest in the rail industry?
It was, for the most part, an accident. In my second-to-last semester at University of North Florida, I received an email from the university stating that CSX was looking for interns. I had never considered working for the railroad but thought, “Hey, this could be an interesting internship.”

Well, either the email was completely wrong, or I applied to the wrong thing, because at the end of the interview with CSX I asked the panel when the internship was set to start, and they said, “Internship? This is for a full-time position.”

Fast forward a few weeks and all of a sudden I had a career lined up before starting my final semester in college. I was right; it was an interesting position — and continues to be over a decade later.

What was your first job and what did you learn from it?
My very first job outside the railroad industry was as a part-time medical device collection technician for a large medical device company while I was in college. Once a week I would travel to local hospitals and collect used medical devices for recycling, helping to promote reuse and reduce waste in the medical industry. I learned a few very important lessons from that job.

First, positioning yourself as a self-starter is an incredibly powerful way to accelerate your career in any profession; the job was a simple one, but my manager was ready to offer me a full-time position with a much higher set of responsibilities simply because he knew he could rely on me for the ‘small’ things.

Second, there is always something to learn if you’re willing to look for it; again, this job was simple and was more manual labor than anything else, but I learned a great deal about supply chains and the ins and outs of those facilities and have been surprised at the number of times this has become relevant in years since. Finally — and perhaps most powerfully — I learned that I do not like waking up at 3:30 a.m. to drive to work, so I’ve made sure to avoid that requirement in all my positions since then.

What’s something people might be surprised to learn about you?
Most people do not believe me when I tell them I’m an introvert, to which I typically reply — No really, I am. Being an introvert has nothing to do with how effective you are with people or how social you can be. It just means I really, really enjoy my quiet time whenever I manage to find it. Oh, I’m also a bit of an art collector.

What’s one of the most valuable lessons you’ve learned so far in your career?
I’m going to cheat a little bit and mention two lessons here, because I think they go hand-in-hand. The first lesson is that you can be the best in the world at whatever you’re doing and it will not matter if you cannot communicate well. The second lesson is that the quality of seeing something that needs to be done and simply taking the reins and doing it is a superpower that few people possess; if you can instill that in yourself and bring others along with you, you will be amazed at how far you can go. I like to sum those two lessons up as offering someone your hand and saying “Hey, we need to get this thing done, let’s go do it!” Try it out and watch how it transforms you and those around you.

How do you stay motivated and resilient when things get tough at work, in the industry or in life?
I lean into my escapes and my trials in equal measure. What I really mean is that I greatly value balance. Bouncing between making a little progress against something and finding space for rest and fun allows me to store up motivation and shore up my defenses against negativity and self-doubt.

Small steps add up to big leaps, and eventually — no matter how big or bad the situation — you always reach the other side. Recognizing the finite nature of those times makes it much easier to celebrate the small wins.

If you could share a meal with anyone alive in the world today, who would it be and what would you want to talk about?
I desperately wish Ruth Bader Ginsburg was still alive, because she would be my top choice for a few reasons. In lieu of her, I think it would be fun to sit down with Pope Leo XIV. I am not Catholic, but he seems to have led a fascinating life, and I would love to hear his stories and his thoughts as he is suddenly thrust onto the world stage at such a tumultuous time.

In your view, what is the rail industry’s biggest challenge today?
The challenge of AI. Hype aside, we have a serious challenge on our hands in trying to responsibly integrate this hot potato of a term into the railroad in a way that benefits both the industry and the people working in it.

This is not a one-size-fits-all problem. It could very easily cause more harm than good if we are not careful and thoughtful on AI’s integration into our systems and workflows. Luckily, this is a challenge nearly every industry is currently facing — my hope is that we can share and work out the signal from among all the noise to find the things that provide tangible benefit to all.