Diana Brown
Amsted Rail
Controller for the ASF Division
Granite City, Illinois, USA
Amsted Rail
Controller for the ASF Division
Granite City, Illinois, USA
While finishing her accounting bachelor’s degree in Mexico, Diana stepped into the payroll department at Amsted Rail’s newly opened Sahagun, Mexico plant. Fifteen years later, she’s landed at the company’s ASF Division Headquarters in Granite City, Illinois, where her footprint as division controller now covers the world, including locations in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, China, and India.
Her meteoric rise through the financial ranks is fueled by an unquenchable thirst for knowledge that goes beyond numbers. Diana was drawn to Amsted Rail by the opportunity for a bilingual job to practice her English. What has always drawn others in the organization to Diana is her caring personality and willingness to share her expertise to help others grow beyond their roles.
“Don’t isolate yourself to one job because in this industry there is always change. There are opportunities everywhere.”
Diana soaks up the experience of the “amazing and talented people” around her, whom she regards as family. “They are truly colleagues because we are here for each other.” To help Diana keep up with the growing demands in her career, Amsted sponsored her master’s degree. This all-for-one spirit inspires her to embrace the opportunity in every challenge.
At Amsted, she finds that each day brings different challenges with the company continuously tackling new projects. Diana ensures that this new knowledge is properly applied to optimize the finances at each plant while maximizing Amsted’s push to remain at the forefront of innovation. It’s a delicate balance at an especially dynamic time. Her division is heavily involved in taking Amsted Rail from the leader in freight car engineering to becoming the driving force in future passenger train production.
Since she’s been at the company, Amsted Rail has pursued new ventures and acquired several new businesses to expand their interests all over the world. That said, what impresses Diana most is how Amsted continues to value their employees and she is driven to maintain that legacy.
Diana sees her role as sharing her experiences and applying her skills, “to help my team succeed and everyone grow to where they want to be in their careers.” Her primary motivation for supervising the ASF Division’s financial well-being is ensuring that the new generation of workers will be positioned to sustain the company’s success.