Most Powerful Women

Kathryn Farmer

Courtesy of BNSF
  • Title
    President and CEO
  • Affiliation
    BNSF Railway
  • Age
    51
  • 2020 Rank
    42
Farmer, in her first full year as CEO of BNSF, is the first woman to run a major U.S. railroad and a key voice in Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway universe. The 23,000-mile railroad—a critical connector for the North American economy—experienced a 7% decline in volume of goods carried in 2020 amid COVID-19. But the overall business stayed steady, with $21 billion in annual revenue and growing profit margins.

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