Matthew K. Rose
Chairman & CEO , BNSF Railway Company
Member
Matthew Rose has served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation in Fort Worth, Texas since March 2002. He is also the chairman, president and chief executive officer of the company’s subsidiary, BNSF Railway Company.
Rose was born in 1960 in Salina, Kan. He went to college at the University of Missouri, and during the summer he worked as a brakeman and switchman for the Missouri Pacific Railroad. He graduated in 1981 with a degree in marketing and went to work as a management trainee with Missouri Pacific. After reaching the position of assistant trainmaster, he left the railroad industry to work for the trucking conglomerate International Utilities and the largest truckload carrier in the United States, Schneider National. His next stop was Triple Crown Services, a truck and rail intermodal service, where he became vice president of transportation. In 1993 he joined Burlington Northern Railroad and in June 1994 was appointed vice president of vehicles and machinery.
Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway merged in September 1995, forming Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation. After the merger Rose became vice president of chemicals, a position he held until May 1996, when he was promoted to senior vice president of the merchandise business unit.
Rose is also a director of AMR Corporation and Centex Corporation.