The chief executive of a small tech company in Philadelphia is missing and may have been on the train that crashed on Tuesday, according to her company.
ApprenNet’s Rachel Jacobs has not been heard from since she “left a meeting with the intent to board the train” on Tuesday, according to ApprenNet cofounder Karl Okamoto, a friend and colleague.
“Rachel uses a so-called ’10 Trip’ ticket, so there would be no record of her reservation until the conductor scanned her ticket on board the train,” Okamoto said.
Jacobs is married with a two-year-old son. She was recently appointed as CEO and commuted from her home in New York City to her job in Philadelphia.
“At this point we have no news,” said Okamoto. “As you can imagine, we are all very frustrated by the lack of information.”
In 2007, Jacobs founded an organization called Detroit Nation. It has local chapters in cities around the country, aiming to unite Detroit ex-pats and encourage them to stay active in the revitalization efforts of their home city.
Alex VanNess, a chairman of Detroit Nation’s Washington, D.C. chapter, said he met Jacobs back in 2011. VanNess, who works at a political think tank, said they had several friends in common because they hailed from the same hometown in Michigan called Huntington Woods, which is about 20 miles from Detroit.
“She is young but extremely driven, passionate — especially about Detroit and revitalizing the city,” VanNess told CNNMoney.
VanNess said Jacobs ran the New York City chapter of Detroit Nation and was trying to launch a Philadelphia chapter. His relationship with Jacobs was limited to annual conference calls regarding the organizatoin
VanNess said he found out she was missing through posts on the walls of their mutual Facebook friends.
“I went to her Facebook page and noticed everyone is posting comments on her wall saying they’re praying for her.”
ApprenNet, a company that provides technology for video-based learning for teachers, also released a statement: “Thanks for your thoughts & prayers for our CEO, Rachel Jacobs. We are still looking for Rachel & hope she will be with her family soon.”
Seven people died and 200 were hospitalized after the Amtrak train — which originated in Washington, D.C. and was headed for New York — derailed and crashed at about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.
–CNN’s David Shortell contributed to this report.
