Kathryn M. "Katie" Thompson Farmer (born c. 1970) is an American railroad executive. In January 2021, she became the first woman chief executive of a

Class I railroad In the United States, railroad carriers are designated as Class I, II, or III, according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportation Board in 1992. With annual adjustments for inflation, the 2019 thresholds were US$5 ...

succeeding Carl Ice at

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, tr ...

Biography

Kathryn M. Farmer graduated from

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private research university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark as the Add-Ran Male & Female College. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciple ...

with a Bachelor of Business Administration and an MBA in Finance. Farmer joined

Burlington Northern Railroad The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States-based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1996. Its historical lineage begins in the earliest days of railroadin ...

in 1992 as a management trainee. She has spent her entire career at BNSF (Burlington Northern merged with Santa Fe in 1996 to become

BNSF BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes tha ...

and became wholly owned by

Berkshire Hathaway Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Its main business and source of capital is insurance, from which it invests the float (the retained premiums ...

in 2010), holding positions in operations, marketing and finance. Farmer served as the Executive Vice President Operations title since September 2018. In September 2020, it was announced that she would succeed

Carl Ice Carl R. Ice is an American businessman. He has been the President of BNSF Railway from November 1, 2010, and President and CEO since January 1, 2014, succeeding Matthew K. Rose in the role. At the end of 2020 Ice retired after 42 years with the ...

as President and Chief Executive Officer, and also lead BNSF's Board of Directors, effective January 1, 2021. Matt Igoe took over her vacated role as Executive Vice President Operations. Farmer is a member of the Board of Trustees of Texas Christian University.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farmer, Kathryn Texas Christian University alumni Living people BNSF Railway people 21st-century American railroad executives 1970 births 21st-century American businesswomen 21st-century American businesspeople