Kathryn Farmer Becomes The First Woman CEO Of American Railroad BNSF

Kathryn M Farmer has been appointed as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Berkshire Hathaway’s BNSF Railway, effective from 1 January 2021. By accepting this job, she has become the first woman to lead a major railway operation and first woman CEO of the major railway. Currently, at Berkshire, she is one of the highest-ranking women. 

The company introduced Kathryn as the CEO on Twitter.

Katie Farmer, BNSF's Executive Vice President Operations, will become President and Chief Executive Officer on Jan. 2021. Carl Ice, current President and CEO, will retire. https://t.co/w6Xkh8dQLq pic.twitter.com/Jj3pInRN4b

— BNSF Railway (@BNSFRailway) September 15, 2020

Kathryn will be succeeding Carl R. Ice. He is retiring after serving the company for about more than 42 years; he will still be on board of directors.

Since September 2018, in this multinational conglomerate of billionaire Warren Buffett, she has served as the Executive Vice President of operations. Farmer joined the BNSF in 1992 as a management trainee. Since then, Farmer has held several leadership roles in all of the organisation’s major divisions.

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Kathryn in a statement said,“I am humbled and honored to be asked to lead this incredible company and its dedicated employees—men and women that I have worked alongside for almost 30 years. We are well-positioned in our approach to safety and meeting our customers’ expectations while having the necessary capacity to grow with our customers. BNSF has long been a cost leader and we will ensure that continues into the future. I look forward to continuing BNSF’s success.”

While appreciating the hard work of Kathryn and wishing her luck for the future, Carl said,"One of the most important roles of a CEO is to ensure a strong succession plan is in place. Katie and I have been working toward this plan for a long time. Katie has held many different roles at BNSF with an ever-increasing impact with each new role as she has built trust and confidence throughout BNSF. I am pleased for Katie and the organisation knowing BNSF’s future is in good hands.”

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Picture Credit: cbslocal.com

Khushi Gupta is an intern with SheThePeople.TV