Exclusive commentary: Executive Chairman Matt Rose on BNSF's leadership transition, his new role

Editor's note: On Jan. 1, Carl Ice assumed the position of president and chief executive officer of BNSF Railway Co., and former CEO Matt Rose began serving in a new capacity as executive chairman. In a commentary provided exclusively to Progressive Railroading in December, Rose shared some thoughts about the leadership transition and his future role.

Last month, I celebrated my 13th year as chief executive officer of BNSF. During that period, Carl Ice served as my partner in running BNSF Railway. Effective Jan. 1, Carl became BNSF's CEO, which is a well-deserved recognition of the leadership role he has played since the 1995 merger that created BNSF. For some time, we have envisioned Carl assuming the position of CEO, and I felt the timing was right to make the transition.

In my long-term role as executive chairman, I will continue to work with BNSF's leadership on the activities supporting BNSF's positioning for growth and meeting customer needs, including investment strategy, succession planning and public policy. In sum, I will be focused on ensuring that BNSF is prepared to handle future growth, and helping remove barriers to that growth, including outdated regulatory processes and counterproductive public policy.

I have been involved for some time in shaping policies around how we improve the state of infrastructure in this country. Our nation's call to action is to maintain and build upon the infrastructure advantage that helped the U.S. become the world's most successful economy with proactive, pro-growth policies.

Team BNSF is well positioned from a leadership line-up to respond to the many challenges ahead. I predict great things for BNSF and our nation's rail network as we leverage what is already the world's most efficient freight system into an even greater advantage for our nation's economy, and our customers.