In memoriam: Intermodal pioneer, management style trendsetter William Greenwood

The rail industry has lost another intermodal pioneer and major contributor. William Greenwood, the former chief operating officer of the Burlington Northern Railroad who was considered the founding father of the Class I’s intermodal business, died Sept. 22. He was 85.

While attending high school and college (Marquette University in Milwaukee), Greenwood worked summers for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad — early work experiences that helped mold his character and guide his career development. Several years after serving in the U.S. Army, he rejoined the railroad, which reignited his passion for the railroad industry.

Over time, he was promoted to various operating, planning and marketing positions at the railroad — which merged with the Burlington Northern Railroad (BN) in 1970 — until he reached the position of COO. Greenwood retired in 1994. BN now is part of BNSF Railway Co.

Greenwood was a people person who extolled a leadership style that was participative and collaborative rather than top-down — a rarity in the rail industry at that time, his family members stated in his obituary.

During his career, he led BN's new intermodal business unit as senior assistant vice president of intermodal. Greenwood eventually was promoted to VP of intermodal, senior VP of marketing and sales and executive VP of marketing and sales prior to becoming COO.

Among the intermodal innovations he led or inspired, which helped transform BN into an intermodal leader in the rail industry:
• the industry-pioneering conversion of intermodal terminal operations from numerous ramps to mechanized hub centers run by former motor-carrier executives;
• the comprehensive utilization of dedicated intermodal trains operating between hub centers;
• the use of extensive market research to create customer service packages;
• the utilization of two-person train crews operating short dedicated trains in an extensive network of shorter haul markets to capture market share from motor carriers in markets railroads could not profitably compete in;
• the aggressive experimentation with new technology equipment that resulted in the most aggressive early adoption of double-stack technology; and
• the conversion of domestic trailer shipments to domestic containers.

Greenwood’s accomplishments as an intermodal pioneer were recognized by the Intermodal Association of North America in 1992 when he received the organization’s annual Silver Kingpin Award. He also was inducted into the National Railroad Hall of Fame.

Prior to his death, Greenwood for seven years fought what his doctors characterized as the most aggressive form of prostate cancer. When he was first diagnosed, he was given just six months to live. That was typical of Greenwood, wrote Mark Cane — a friend of Bill's who served BN from 1978 and 1995 — in an email.

"What he did with his leadership of BN's intermodal business — similar to how he took on the cancer fight — resulted in an outcome that was ‘against all odds," wrote Cane, who also previously served BN as VP of intermodal. “There are many other marks he left on BN and the railroad industry that we are better off for today.”

Greenwood is survived by his wife Falah, three children and numerous grandchildren. The family asks that memorial contributions be made to the National Railroad Hall of Fame.