L. Randy Fannon

L. Randy Fannon is National Vice President of the 51,500-member Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), a Division of the Rail Conference, International Brotherhood of Teamsters. He was elected by acclamation to the office of National Vice President at the BLET’s Fifth National Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 5, 2022. Fannon also serves the BLET as National Chairman of the Safety Task Force, Head of the Short Line/Organizing Department, and Head of the Department of Internal Organizing, Mobilizing and Strategic Planning.

A Norfolk Southern locomotive engineer, Vice President Fannon is a member of BLET Division 37 (Norton, Va.), and has held continuous membership in the BLET since March 1, 1989.

Vice President Fannon was elected Third Alternate National Vice President at the BLET’s Fourth National Convention in 2018. Immediately prior to his 2022 election to the BLET’s Advisory Board, Vice President Fannon served as General Chairman of the Norfolk Southern-Eastern Lines General Committee of Adjustment (GCA), which represents approximately 1,200 active members. He began serving the GCA in 2012 when he was elected to the office of 1st Vice General Chairman. He was elevated to the office of General Chairman on May 12, 2016, winning election by acclamation at the GCA’s quadrennial meeting a few days later. He was also reelected by acclamation in 2020.

Vice President Fannon has served the National Division as Assistant Coordinator of the Safety Task Force. Vice President Fannon was a member of the National Division’s Bylaws Committee at the Third National Convention in 2014, and served as its Chairman at the Fourth National Convention in 2018 and Fifth National Convention in 2022.

Vice President Fannon began service to the BLET when he was elected in 2009 as Local Chairman of Division 37. He was reelected by acclamation in 2012 and 2015. Vice President Fannon served Division 37 as a delegate during National Conventions in 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022.

During his tenure as General Chairman, Vice President Fannon incorporated the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway and the Louisville and Indiana Railway into his GCA. He successfully negotiated the agreement for the W&LE for both locomotive engineers as well as the trainmen crafts in 2019. He also negotiated the agreement between the BLET and the L&IRC in 2019 representing both engineer and trainmen crafts.

Vice President Fannon has served the Brotherhood on the Safety Task Force since his appointment as an investigator on November 12, 2012. He represented the BLET as party spokesman on several high profile investigations alongside the NTSB, including accidents at Petal, Miss. (NS), Hoboken, N.J. (NJ Transit), Baltimore, Md. (NS), Crozet, Va. (Amtrak), Draffin, Ky. (CSXT), and Hyndman, Pa. (CSXT). He was appointed to the Assistant Coordinator of the Safety Task Force on February 3, 2020.

Vice President Fannon began his railroad career on July 5, 1988 in Norton, Va. (Norfolk Southern) as a brakeman. He was subsequently promoted to conductor in 1989 and earned promotion to locomotive engineer on November 10, 1990.

In 2022, Vice President Fannon earned an MBA from Bluefield University. He is a first-generation railroader, but he began a trend for others in his family. His brother, Barry, is a Norfolk Southern engineer in Andover, Va. Barry served as delegate to the 2022 convention and nominated Brother Fannon to the office of National Vice President. Vice President Fannon’s cousin, Jamie Wallace, and brother-in-law, Patrick Jennings, also are employed by NS in Roanoke, Va. Vice President Fannon’s son, Shaine, is also employed by NS in Decatur, Ill.