Rising Stars 2026: Wesley Thomas 

Wesley Thomas, 35 
Director, digital service delivery 
Loram 

Nominator’s quote: “Wesley’s innovation is defined not only by advanced technology, but by his ability to ensure those technologies are practical, scalable and aligned with real operational needs. He serves as a critical bridge between engineering, operations, and customers — helping embed digital insight into everyday railroad decision making rather than treating it as a standalone capability. ... Wesley is widely respected as a collaborative and forward-thinking leader. He builds strong cross functional partnerships, mentors emerging talent and consistently raises expectations for accountability and execution.” — Brandon Riddering, Loram 
 

Education: Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University, London, Ontario; Honors Business Administration degree and a certificate in entrepreneurship. 

Job responsibilities: Leads a team of rail, tie and ballast experts who work closely with customers to identify problems, shape new solutions and decisions and ensure what they deliver drives better asset outcomes. At a high level, the team acts as a partner, helping customers move from data to action and long-term outcomes. 
 
Briefly describe your career path. 
I grew up watching entrepreneurial, sales-driven grandparents and parents start and sell businesses on both sides of my family, and that rubbed off early. My career [began] working for amazing leaders and mentors — Ed Wagner and Eli Tavarez among them — in business development in the aerospace, industrial equipment and energy industries. I learned resilience early, cold-calling Fortune 500 executives and building relationships from scratch. That evolved into supporting international new product introduction and expansion across Europe and Asia and eventually leading teams. 

A defining chapter was helping start, scale and ultimately sell our business in the rail industry — from concept to customer deployment. When customers kept asking for more, it confirmed we were solving real problems. Loram’s acquisition of our company gave me the opportunity to continue that journey at a much larger scale. 

What drew me — and keeps me here — is Loram’s culture of trust, strong follow-through and long-term mindset. It’s a place where you can build meaningful solutions and see them applied across the global rail network. 

What was your first job and what did you learn from it? 
My first jobs ranged from working in electronics manufacturing to hauling auto parts, making tacos and working in grocery retail. Those roles taught me the fundamentals: work ethic, accountability and how to be a good teammate. They also gave me an early appreciation for the people behind the work, which has stayed with me throughout my career.  

What I learned about myself was that I actually liked the grind of it — saying yes, showing up, doing the unglamorous part well and trusting I'd pick up the bigger picture from my mentors along the way. 

What sparked your interest in the rail industry? What told you it could be a place for you to thrive? 
I met railroaders at conferences like WRI and Big Data in Rail, and the scale and complexity of the problems they were describing — rail life, tie condition, grinding — made it obvious there was room to bring new thinking into the industry. Our venture backers were also looking for a third vertical alongside aerospace and energy, and rail turned out to be it. 

Those early railroad partners took a chance on us, applying digital twin concepts we'd developed in aerospace to rail. That trust enabled our first product development and set the foundation for everything that followed. 

I initially assumed rail would be slow to change. I couldn't have been more wrong. It's an industry full of complex problems, strong operators, and increasing openness to innovation — if you can deliver real value. 

What’s one of the most valuable lessons you’ve learned in your career? 
The same message I share when coaching my son’s team: Have fun, work hard and be a good teammate. Over time, I’ve learned that culture and trust drive outcomes just as much as strategy. 

What are your passions outside of work? 
Hockey is a big one — I'm a long-time Ottawa Senators fan. Joe Sakic was always my favorite player and a leader I looked up to growing up, and a few years ago I started learning to skate as an adult so I could actually get on the ice with my friends instead of just watch from the stands. History is the other: I've built actual trips around it, including a multi-year "Rise and Fall of Empires" tour hitting sites tied to the British, Roman, Soviet and Mongolian "empires." It also inspired my love of the Civilization game series. Outside of that, it's family time and recently my new passion of coaching my son's T-ball team. 

How do you plan to keep making an impact in your corner of the industry? 
I’ve learned the importance of having a clear long-term vision — knowing where you're going while staying adaptable along the way. At Loram, I’m focused on continuing to build strong partnerships with our customers and teams, aligning around a shared long-term view and executing against it. There are so many new and earlier-stage companies in the industry, like our new partnership with One Big Circle and their dynamic team in UK, that are particularly exciting. 

The opportunity ahead is aligning data, equipment and execution into one connected system — so decisions don't stop at insight, but translate directly into better outcomes in the field.  

What's the biggest challenge confronting the rail industry today?  
One of the biggest challenges, and opportunities, is connecting insight to action in the field. At a recent Industrial AI meeting with our partners, one leader shared that in the Physical AI world “Probably right is 100% wrong,” and it stuck with me on the importance of our work.  

Railroads have made significant progress in collecting data and identifying issues. The next step is integrating that insight across the full lifecycle: knowing where the problem is, getting to it efficiently, doing the right work and improving the outcome. 

At the same time, the workforce is changing, with fewer experienced resources available. That increases the need for systems and technologies that help teams make faster, better decisions and execute them safely. This shift will define the next wave of innovation in rail. 

The last decade has been about embracing data and inspection technologies to find problems that aren't obvious and recommending the best decisions to make. Now, it will be about getting that work done as quickly and safely as possible, and that leads to a whole new way of building new, innovative products.