Industry & Services >> CEO Interviews >> February 21, 2011
Matthew Rose was elected Chairman of BNSF Railway Co. in 2002. He was made President and Chief Executive Officer in 2000. In June of 1999, he was named President and Chief Operating Officer of BNSF, responsible for all operations and marketing activities. He had been Senior Vice President and Chief Operations Officer since August 1997, and was responsible for coordinating transportation, maintenance, quality, purchasing, labor relations and information services activities. He joined Burlington Northern Railroad (BN) in 1993, and was named Vice President - Vehicles and Machinery in 1994. From 1994 through 1997, Mr. Rose held several positions in the merchandising business unit. Before joining BN, Mr. Rose was Vice President - Transportation for Triple Crown Services (a Norfolk Southern subsidiary), where he had functional responsibility for all facets of the truck/rail operation. Prior to that, he held various positions with Schneider National and International Utilities, a trucking conglomerate. He began his railroad career in 1981 as a Corporate Management Trainee with Missouri Pacific Railroad. Mr. Rose holds a B.S. degree from the University of Missouri, where he majored in marketing and minored in logistics. He is a member of the boards of directors of AMR Corporation, AT&T Inc., the Association of American Railroads, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Texas Governor's Business Council, the Business Roundtable, the Business Council and the Boy Scouts of America National Executive Board, and he sits on the Board of Trustees of Texas Christian University. He also was a member of the National Surface Transportation Policy and the Revenue Study Commission. Profile
TWST: BNSF recently became part of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. Would you give us a history of the company and explain why you decided to integrate with Berkshire Hathaway?
Mr. Rose: BNSF is about 160
