Kathryn Farmer
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 succeeding Carl Ice at BNSF Railway. Biography. Kathryn M. Farmer graduated from Texas Christian University with a Bachelor of Business Administration and an MBA in Finance. She joined Burlington Northern Railroad in 1992 as a management trainee. She has spent her entire career there (Burlington Northern merged with Santa Fe in 1996 to become BNSF and became wholly owned by Berkshire Hathaway in 2010), holding positions in operations, marketing and  finance. Farmer has been BNSF Executive Vice President Operations. In September 2020, it was announced that she will succeed Carl Ice as President and Chief Executive Officer, and also lead BNSF's Board of Directors, effective January 1, 2021. Matt Igoe will take over her vacated role as Executive Vice President Operations. Farmer is a member of the Board of Trustees of Texas Christian University.