Whether professionally or in her free time, Lindsay Tettenborn loves to help others and give them the support they need to be successful.
“I love people, and I love to help,” she said. “Valuing relationships, building diverse teams and accepting people for the experiences and knowledge they bring to the table goes a long way.”
Her ability to support others through daily challenges and focus on teambuilding at Union Pacific led her to her current role as senior director, operations support.
Tettenborn grew up in Omaha and attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she studied advertising and journalism. Before graduating, she took an internship with Union Pacific in its corporate relations group, driving back and forth between Omaha and Lincoln.
After graduating, Tettenborn took a full-time position with Union Pacific in the marketing and sales department before moving back to the corporate relations group. For the past 16 years, Tettenborn has worked at the company, moving into various positions.
“It’s an honor to work at Union Pacific,” she said. “The railroad is a part of our country’s history and today it continues to serve, delivering everything we need to live our daily lives. I’ve always felt valued at the railroad, and encouraged to challenge the status quo, while never being afraid of failure.”
Tettenborn’s team supports the railroad’s engineering managers and works to find quick solutions to problems that arise.
“Our team works extremely hard to create and maintain a culture where people can come to work as their authentic selves,” she said. “In our meetings, there is an obligation to question what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. I say a million times ‘I don’t want you to tell me what I want to hear. I’m asking you to tell me what you think.’ That alone has led to some great conversation that’s produced fantastic outcomes for the railroad.”
In whatever projects Tettenborn is working on, she aims to always add value to Union Pacific and to support the members of the company in any way she can.
“I don’t want there to be any question about the value my team brings to the railroad,” she said. “When you provide value and think outside the box, people look to you to help solve problems.”
Work/Life Balance
Despite her successes at Union Pacific, Tettenborn said her greatest accomplishment is her family.
“I have an extremely supportive husband and four children ages 9, 7, 3 and 2,” she said. “I’m most proud that my son and three daughters see how hard I work personally and professionally. I want to set a good example that you can do both. It’s not easy, but you can do it.”
While being a working mom presents many challenges, Tettenborn has learned how to manage it all over the years and advance her career while also creating a loving household.
“It’s ages and stages,” she said. “I’ll never declare victory. It’s never perfect. I think every year things change, and you just adapt, and you learn how to make it happen.”
Having a community of support from her coworkers has helped Tettenborn when overcoming these obstacles. After returning from maternity leave after the birth of her fourth child, Tettenborn was given the opportunity to transition to a new position. Although the transition was difficult at first, Tettenborn’s team helped her through it.
“You’ve been at the railroad for a number of years, and challenged, at times, to lead teams whose business is completely unfamiliar,” she said. “Those experiences continue to teach me to trust my team. They’re the ones that do the work. And so really, I work for them. My job is to make their life better, so that they provide the best product possible.”
Tettenborn hopes to provide a good pathway for women entering the workforce and to create a community in which they feel empowered to work any job they want regardless of anything standing in their way.
She also hopes to continue to be a good role model for her kids and to raise them to show compassion towards others.
“I hope to make a difference by being kind and inclusive. [And] honestly, I want to raise children who are all inclusive and try to set that example daily,” she said.
