Reading & Northern Railroad announced that John W. Hamm, formerly of Procter & Gamble, has joined the company, and will assume the role of vice president - business development.

Hamm recently retired from Procter & Gamble after 33 years of service, holding numerous positions of increasing responsibilities from streamlining the company's transportation and distribution network to developing and managing Snack's North America customization/merchandising program.During his career, Hamm has been recognized as an innovator, creatively designing and executing many breakthrough projects in a variety of disciplines across the company. Most notable was his work in supply chain distribution and logistics for the family care category.Hamm first worked with Reading & Northern in 2001 when he was responsible for transportation logistics at Procter & Gamble's largest manufacturing facility in Mehoopany. At that time, he devised a plan with Norfolk Southern and Reading & Northern railroads that ensured the long-term, reliable rail transportation of raw materials to the plant.Most recently, Hamm was a family care customization planning manager and from 2008-2010, he assumed a newly created role as customization merchandising/project manager for Procter & Gamble's Snack's business. In this role he was responsible for developing and implementing the promotional display and marketing plan for all of Snack's North America customizations.Hamm currently resides in Cincinnati, Ohio with his wife, Karen; daughter, Chelsea, 24, and his son, Mackenzie, 22. The couple is also minority owners in the Cincinnati Railway Company.He studied at the University of Cincinnati majoring in business administration, computer science, and is a long-time supporter of Cincinnati's Fine Arts, the United Way and several social agencies/charities such as the Talbert House. Hamm and his wife will be relocating to Wilkes-Barre.Reading and Northern Railroad, with its corporate headquarters in Port Clinton, is a privately held railroad company serving major businesses in nine counties in Eastern Pennsylvania, including Carbon, Schuylkill, Luzerne, Northumberland, Lehigh, Lackawanna, Berks, Bradford, and Wyoming counties. It has expanded its operations over the last 26 years and has grown into one of the premier railroads in the state, with both freight services and passenger excursion operations. Reading and Northern continues to grow and currently employs 150 employees.