CEO's You Should Know x B&O Railroad Museum

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
iHeartMedia Presents CEOs you should know. I am John Denkle,
founder and CEO of Dinkle Business Development and former president
and publisher of the Baltimore Business Journal. This is iHeartRadio
CEOs you should know, and I'm here today with Chris Holand,
executive director of the b and O Railroad Museum. Welcome Christen.
Thanks for being here.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Oh, thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Yeah, I'm listening forward to our conversation. You got a
lot of neat stuff going on over there. But before
we get into it, I thought we talked a little
bit about the organization. So for those who aren't familiar,
could you tell us about Beno Railroad Museum.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Sure. The ben A Railroad Museum is the birthplace of
American railroading. It is where the very first zone was laid.
It's where the very first mile at commercial track was
ever laid in the country. We are a forty acre campus,
all historic grounds, and today the railroad facilitate over two

(00:55):
billion dollars a day of economic commerce in this country.
And it all started here in Baltimore. And so we
like to say we tell the story of America through
the lens of the railroad.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
Yeah, that's really neat. Can you talk about your mission
there at the BNO Railroad Museum. Sure.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Our mission is to preserve our collection. We have, you know,
one of the most extensive nineteenth century collection of locomotives
and cars. We have over two hundred pieces of rolling stocks.
To do the preservation, but also to educate the public
on the social, cultural, and economic impacts of the railroad.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
Awesome, And I understand you're coming up on a very
significant anniversary. Could you talk a little bit about that
and maybe some of the new exhibits you have planned
and then things like that.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
Sure, yes, we are. Twenty twenty seven is the north
star for us here at the BNO. It is the
two hundredth anniversary of the railroad. The B and O
Railroad Road was chartered in eighteen twenty seven here in Baltimore,
and it was the first railroad in the Americas, meaning
you know, Canada, United States, Central South America and so.

(02:12):
And it was formed only fifty years after the birth
of the country. So it was like the Internet of
its time. It impacted everything and there's very little that
doesn't connect to it. And so we are planning for
a nationwide celebration for the railroad. Yeah. Yeah. And then
as part of that, we are doing a campus transformation

(02:35):
plan where we are restoring the oldest continuously operating railroad
repair facility, our South car Works building eighteen sixty nine
to nineteen ninety and we're going to be putting in
the building a creating a whole innovation hall, and the
innovation hall is going to focus on the present and

(02:55):
future of American railroading technology and be interactive and I
think it's going to be there really aren't any other
exhibits that focused on the president and future, so we're
very excited about this.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
Yeah, that's really neat. And is that the groundbreaking that
you're having now with that new building.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
That new building, so it's a building on our site
right now. You know, it's a historic building. It is
not open to the public. And the groundbreaking we held
and we're going to restore this building and have it
ready for twenty twenty seven. And as part of it,
another interesting component is we're going to literally turn our
entrance to face south West Baltimore so that we can

(03:33):
spark community economic development. And we could have restored the
building without turning our face, but then we thought what
would we be doing for the community if we kept
everything the same. So I don't know very many organizations
for profit or nonprofit that embrace the challenges, and that's
what we're doing with this new mentrance.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
That's really neat mean, I can't wait to check that out.
That's going to be really exciting. Can you talk about
some of the other programming that you do for the public.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
We do a tremendous amount of programming. It ranges from
we have a series this year called b and O
Unlocked where we open up a collection piece each month
where you can literally go inside or on it something
that's not typically open, so you can literally go inside
the William Mason, the locomotive that pulled President elect Lincoln

(04:25):
when he was under thread of assassination. We have Toddler Time,
where you know, every every Thursday, we have a ton
of programming for early childhood education actually, and we also
have sensory programming for children that may be on the spectrum.
We have a full robust sensory program and then we

(04:47):
just do special events. There's almost always an event every
week at the B and O.

Speaker 1 (04:53):
Yeah. Yeah, what events do you all have coming up
that are part of the B and O Railway Museum.
I know you also run out the the Roundhouse for
corporate and private events, and having done that when I
was at the BBJ, it's a super unique space and
you know, a really great space that have you know
a private or corporate function. But do you have any

(05:14):
of your own events coming up?

Speaker 2 (05:15):
Sure, we absolutely do, and I will tell you what
you are absolutely right about a unique venue. In fact,
we are one of the We're in the top ten
largest venues in Baltimore. So if you don't want to
go to a hotel or a convention center and want
something a little bit unique or different, we are your
choice because we can have thousands of people on site.

(05:38):
But our own events, we just finished Thomas the Tank Engine,
and we are gearing up for some of the other
big ones coming up this summer and fall. We have
a big July fourth celebration. We have in September our
First Responders Day, where we literally take a locomotive and
have it hit a car control and I'll tell you what,

(06:01):
It's really cool to see, but it also leaves an impact.
I always stop at every railroad crossing because you will
not win. We have it as an effective education display
that's fun. And then we've got things like Tails on
the Rails in October, the one time a year you
can aide to train with your dog. And then of
course we have Polar Express. Yes, I love that one.

(06:24):
Tails on the Rails, My dog Gg's there every time.
And then of course Polar Polar Express are big, big
event at the end of the year. Some traditional memory maker.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yeah, that's me. I appreciate you you going over that.
So I wanted to ask you how are you guys funded?

Speaker 2 (06:40):
We are funded both via earned and contributed revenue. We
obviously when you buy an admission here, which we always
appreciate visitors, that is part of our funding. But we
also have funding. We have grants from foundations or the government,
or we have corporate donations, individual donations. So there's all

(07:02):
different aspects. And I'll tell you what when I say
the you know, financial contributions, which of course we do
very much appreciate, but there's also in kind uh, and
I think a lot of times people forget about that.
Like we had a gallery just recently repainted by Sheldon
and Funds and they did that in kind and that

(07:22):
was a huge contribution to us. And it was also
beautifully done, So a shout out to Sheldon and SUNS.
But I think for people in their thinking of how
they can contribute to a nonprofit, it's it's not always strictly,
you know, a financial donation. It can be an in
kind donation as well.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
Yeah, no, I appreciate you bringing that up. That that
was actually one of the questions I had, Actually, how
can the business community kind of support the be and
O Railroad Museum.

Speaker 2 (07:48):
They well, as I said, by in kind donations, by
but also by becoming corporate members We have corporate memberships
where businesses can become a partner and they can then
get tickets for their staff or their other nonprofit partners,
whatever it may be. So we do have corporate memberships.

(08:08):
We have sponsorships of events. All of our events have
corporate sponsors, I'll tell you, like for example, at Polar Express,
every year we always try to offer tickets to children
who would maybe not normally be able to attend because
it is a fundraiser, and we offer cars that have
been sponsored by corporations. So there's a lot of ways

(08:29):
that corporations can partner with us or volunteering. We love
volunteer corporate groups.

Speaker 1 (08:35):
Yeah, that's great. We'll kind of volunteer opportunities we have.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
Oh, it can be, it can range. It can range
from cleaning up you know, trash along the first mile
of commercial tracks, lean in the country, so historic preservation project.
It could be actually painting a car, helping to rust
proof a car. It could be helping to move our archives.
We have all kinds of projects. It's just a pencilime

(08:59):
with you want inside or outside? How many people that
you're bringing. But there's no shortage, you know. We love
our volunteers.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
I love it.

Speaker 2 (09:08):
And it's a nice team building for the corporations too.

Speaker 1 (09:12):
Yeah, definitely, especially if you have a choice of being
outside or inside. I mean, and it sounds like you
have a lot of variety. And I know a lot
of companies like to do that for employee engagement and
you know, doing team team outings and stuff like that.
So that's really good to know. I fight switch gears
a little bit. I love talking about leadership on the show.
And how would you describe your leadership style.

Speaker 2 (09:35):
I would describe my leadership style as right now, I
think our term that we use here at the B
and O because we're so focused on the two hundredth
anniversary is transformational. I mean right now, my goal with
my team is we have a vision. We're all aligned
to the vision. They're empowered to move forward and as

(09:56):
long as we you know, the number one thing is
we want to a chief results and create impact. But
we've got a north star that we're following. So I
like to set a vision and then you know, everybody
has their role and we keep everybody moving together. So
that's kind of my leadership style.

Speaker 1 (10:14):
That's cool. How do you say or how would you
say you communicate that to your team?

Speaker 2 (10:19):
Well, we communicate that through you know, we have staff
meetings every week, but we also communicate it through just
like almost what I said, everything leads back to the vision.
I mean, there's always I always say to our teams,
there's always a mission and a business case for everything
that we do, because nonprofits our businesses too, and in
this particular case, we need everything to lead back to

(10:43):
the twenty twenty seven. So and we share the plans.
You know, we celebrate victories every step of the way.
We just held our groundbreaking so we all know what
comes next. We have to talk about what then comes
next and to achieve our goals and our results. So
we stay focused on everything, mapping back up to twenty
twenty seven. So that's how we are saying focused.

Speaker 1 (11:06):
Yeah, got it, love it, Thank you for sharing that.
So a resilience seems to be, you know, a buzzword
these days, and especially given you know the nonprofit environment
right now, you know, what does resilience mean to you?
And how do you demonstrate that leading your team?

Speaker 2 (11:23):
So resilience to me, I love the word resilience is
you know to me, well, because in the nonprofit space,
whether it's you know, the current environment today or other environments,
you have to always be resourceful so and create it
and you know is not no and you know, any

(11:44):
any obstacle that comes in our way, you have to
evaluate it. But then you think, okay, what's the silver
lining here? Like for example, when we had the pandemic
and we did not furlow any of our full time staff.
So this was an opportunity to say, all right, how
do we advance the museum? How can we do projects

(12:06):
that we can't do when we're open. So to me,
it's always what's the silver lining? And then how do
we still achieve our same goal. And I think that
shows resilience, like you're going to keep moving. There's no
pencils down, we are not stopping. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (12:21):
I love that, And that's funny. I have not heard
that in that way before that. You know, resilience is
is being positive and looking at you know, maybe the
you know, the good or the positive and something that
maybe is not good or positive, right, kind of keeping
your head up and just in a positive way. Deally,

(12:43):
what what what you have dealt with? How can you
look at that in a positive way and turn it around? Exactly?

Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yes, And I think that helps keep them the positive
culture because you want to keep your momentum going and
the positive culture. I mean to me, you can always
assess whether your team's in a positive place or not
by how productive they are. If we're productive and achieving results,
then we're positive. I mean sure that people can have

(13:11):
you know, there's always you know something, but in general,
we got to keep moving because we have goals, something
we're trying to achieve, and keep moving. That's positivity.

Speaker 1 (13:23):
Yeah, I love it, I love it. Thank you. I
appreciate you sharing that. All Right, This might sound like
a silly question because we talked about this a little bit,
and you're coming up under two other anniversary. But you
know what gets excited about the future of the and
A Railroad Museum.

Speaker 2 (13:38):
Well, exactly we have talked about. You know, we're opening
up's going to be creating a whole new building and
innovation hall and entrance. That gets me very excited. And
obviously this national anniversary is exciting. But another thing that
I haven't mentioned is we also adopted the mantra here
at the B and O of. While we are not

(13:58):
a community center, we are striving to be the center
of our community because we take up forty acres into
southwest West Baltimore and it becomes more and more challenged
the communities the issues that they face, and while we
were here first, you can't just turn a blind eye.
And so what gets them excited is the impact that

(14:18):
we are having in it and how much it motivates
our team. So, for example, with the building, we are
turning our entrance to face Southwest Baltimore. We could have
restored the building for twenty twenty seven and not created
a huge new community amphitheater that will be known as
the CSX Bisentinail Garden that will be free for the

(14:40):
community and routing traffic through, so it creates retail, you know, traffic.
But you know, because if we have back a house
right now to south west West Baltimore, we're turning our
entrance and that's looking at what are we doing for
the community. So I think our community focus also very.

Speaker 1 (14:59):
Much excites me. Yeah, that's great. I cannot wait to
see this. This is going to be pretty. It's gonna
be a lot of fun. So what on the on
the reverse side of that, what keeps you up at night?

Speaker 2 (15:10):
Well, we are still fundraising for this for our restoration
project because you know, we're going to be investing thirty
eight million dollars into Southwest Baltimore area that has had
very little investment and this is a big lift for us.
But we have raised so far twenty six million dollars,

(15:33):
so we're very pleased, and some two million of that
is actually from the community because they are so excited
about it. And that was through the Southwest Baltimore Gateway Partnership.
They programmed the casino fundings and allocated it to us.
But it's you know, we couldn't wait until we got
more of the funding because we need to be done

(15:54):
by twenty twenty seven, so we are building and fundraising
at the same time. So but you know what, it's
We're up for the challenge and we will keep marching.

Speaker 1 (16:05):
That's great. Yeah, and congratulations on where you are so far,
and you know, having the groundbreaking that's fantastic. Thank you,
thank you, Yes, sure, thanks, So wrap things up, you know,
is there anything else you'd like our listeners know about
you and Dino Railroad Museum.

Speaker 2 (16:21):
I think the thing for people to realize is that
while we do focus on the railroad, the reality is
that almost all of our cars have a connection in
our buildings to a significant person, place, or event in
American history. You know, we became a National Underground Railroad
Network to Freedom site in twenty twenty one and opened

(16:43):
in our Mount Clair station, which was the very first
train station in the country, and we have an exhibit
honoring the freedom seekers or as I said, the car
that pulled link in or you know, there's so many pieces.
So I think whether you're interested in Millie Cherry history,
women's history, African American history, you will find it here.

(17:04):
And I guess the other thing I would just say
is if you'd like to contribute to the campaign. I
would be remiss if I didn't say that.

Speaker 1 (17:14):
Absolutely well, and how can we get more information about
the Beno Railroad Museum and donating.

Speaker 2 (17:22):
You can go to borail dot org. And we would
love to see everybody at our events and participating in
the two hundredth anniversary.

Speaker 1 (17:31):
That's great. Well, Chris, thank you so so much for
taking your time today and coming on the show. We
really appreciate it. Congratulations on you know, the two urnth
anniversary coming up and so much look forward to seeing
that open and being there, so so thank you very much.

Speaker 2 (17:47):
Oh, thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (17:51):
This has been iHeartMedia CEOs. You should know