Job history: Eileen has spent 26 years at NS advancing technologies that modernize operations, strengthen customer experience and improve digital capability. She began as a management trainee in IT and quickly became a core contributor to the Thoroughbred Yard Enterprise System (TYES) application, the company's platform for managing yard and train operations. She spent more than a decade developing and improving operational applications, including leading the design and implementation of NS' first mobile solution for conductor work reporting. After gaining field-based experience through roles in marketing and operations service and support, she returned to IT to lead customer-facing digital initiatives.

Why she's influential as an innovator: Eileen has been a central force behind NS' digital modernization. She identifies opportunities for meaningful change and leads teams to deliver solutions that scale across the network. For the past six years, she has served as senior director of software engineering, where she oversees customer digital platforms, enterprise technology development, user experience strategy and the yard operations technology team.

She now leads the TYES and is guiding development of Heartbeat, the company's first cloud-native operational performance platform. The tool provides insight into network performance, crew challenges and train movement delays, and will serve as a critical decision-support resource once fully deployed. She leads a team of 20 and oversees more than 70 contract developers to move NS' IT forward.

Also under her direction, NS undertook a full redesign and engineering rebuild of AccessNS. The platform now provides real-time shipment visibility, automated push notifications, and a modern, map-based interface comparable to leading consumer applications. Customers can see shipment location on a localized map, follow its delivery sequence, and receive timely updates without manual requests.