Staff

Jim Mathews - President + CEO

Jim Mathews is President & CEO of the Rail Passengers Association, a nationwide 501c3 nonprofit representing some 40 million American rail travelers, advocates and citizens across the U.S. who are working for better, safer, and more widely available transit and intercity rail choices. In this role, Mathews leads a professional staff with responsibility for strategy-setting, innovation, policy formation, legislative strategy, and business operations.

Mathews serves, or has served, on eight U.S. Federal government advisory panels, and has testified or presented briefs before Congressional committees, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), and the U.S. Surface Transportation Board.

In March 2024 he was named to serve a three-year term on the newly created Passenger Rail Advisory Committee to the U.S. Surface Transportation Board, the economic regulator for all surface transportation in the U.S. but with a particular focus on railroads.

His current appointments with FRA include the Rail Safety Advisory Committee, the Passenger Rail Working Group, the Hazardous Materials Working Group, and a working group advancing a Confidential Close Call Reporting System for train crews.

He has also served on a committee advising the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), working to resolve bottlenecks in the U.S. surface-transportation network that are slowing down the supply of vital medical equipment (masks, respirators, needles, sharps boxes, personal-protective equipment, etc.).

Mathews served for four years on the U.S. Dept. of Transportation's National Advisory Committee on Travel & Tourism Infrastructure, or NACTTI, appointed in 2016 by President Obama's DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx and re-appointed during the Trump Administration by DOT Secretary Elaine Chao. Mathews was the principal drafter of the NACTTI final report for Congress and DOT in 2020.

Mathews joined the Association in 2014 after a 26-year career at Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine, where he rose to Executive Editor. There, Mathews wrote more than 17,000 articles, travelled to 114 cities in 38 countries and flew more than 40 distinct aircraft types, including the F-16, the L-39, the IA.63 Pampa, the C-17 cargo aircraft, Airbus A319, A320 and A380, and Boeing 737 and 777.

A lifelong train traveler with a deep-rooted vision for a robust national passenger train network within the U.S., Mathews believes in the transformative power of passenger rail as an economic engine in the communities it serves. By mobilizing a grassroots network of rail advocates, he works to improve and expand conventional intercity and regional passenger train services, support higher speed rail initiatives, increase connectivity among all forms of transportation and ensure safety for our country's trains and passengers. All of this makes communities safer, more accessible, and more productive, improving the lives of everyone who lives, works, and plays in towns all across America.

As a volunteer before joining the Association, Mathews served on the Amtrak Customer Advisory Committee for six years, including two years leading the ACAC as chairman.

Mathews holds a bachelor’s degree in Government from Harvard, where he also completed a Legal Studies minor. He also completed the Emergency Pre-hospital Medicine program at George Washington University, and holds professional certifications in prehospital medicine and fire suppression earned as a firefighter/medic for 13 years in Fairfax County, Va. He volunteers as a search-and-rescue aviator with Civil Air Patrol, the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary, and is currently the Vice Commander of CAP's Virginia Wing.

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Sean Jeans-Gail - Vice President of Policy + Government Affairs

Sean Jeans-Gail (sjeansgail[@]narprail.org) works as Vice President of Policy + Government Affairs for Rail Passengers Association. He joined the association in 2008 as Director of Communications.

Jeans-Gail entered the transportation sector as a field director on a ballot measure campaign that successfully closed loopholes in Oregon’s land use-laws—laws originally enacted by renowned conservationist Governor Tom McCall. He has worked in the industry for over a decade, directing national grassroots advocacy campaigns and serving as a spokesman for transit and passenger rail. In addition to overseeing federal policy, Jeans-Gail is in charge of Rail Passengers Association’s field organizing team, which supports passenger-centric legislation and voter initiatives at the state and municipal level.

A native of Portland, Oregon, he holds a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Oregon, where he was on the Dean’s list and a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. He also served on Capitol Hill as a Congressional Intern.

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Jonsie Stone - Chief of Staff

Jonsie has been building partnerships benefiting non-profits for more than twenty-five years. She has been responsible for relationships for organizations such as the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, the Bob Woodruff Foundation, the Armed Services YMCA and NACHA. In her role as Chief of Staff, Jonsie focuses on the daily operation of Rail Passengers. She works across the Association and with external vendors to prioritize and strategize the needs of the staff and implement the mission. Jonsie is a frequent rail passenger, taking many trips on the Virginia Railway Express, Metro and Amtrak for business and pleasure. A born and bred Virginian, Jonsie lives with her husband, 2 sons, 3 beagles and a cat in Bristow, VA.

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Joseph Aiello - Director of Community Engagement & Organizing

Minneapolis transplant (by way of Boston) hailing from the Southside of Chicago, son of a Teamster, grandson of a Senator, Joe works tirelessly to assure the safety and security of urban commuters and the future of high speed rail. From his time as an Executive Board Member of East Cambridge Planning Team, to acquiring his MPA - Public Administration at Northeastern University under former MA Governor Michael Dukakis, Joe has been dedicated to the betterment of his community at large and pursues every opportunity to advocate for commuters. Through his current tenure as Organizing Director for the Association and as former Community Outreach Liaison for the North-South Rail Link, Joe is networking, coalition building, and campaigning for better transportation connectivity. He has won numerous advances for the field at large.