Industry & Services >> CEO Interviews >> March 20, 2000
MICHAEL R. HAVERTY, a fourth-generation railroader, began his railroad
career with Missouri Pacific Railroad Company in 1963 as a brakeman and
completed its management training program in 1967. In 1970, he moved to
the Atchison, Topeka and Sante Fe Railway where he held various
operating positions before serving as President and COO from 1989 to
1991. During his tenure, Sante Fe reorganized as one of the premier
intermodal carriers in the United States, and established an historic
partnership with J.B. Hunt, the first major venture bringing a Class I
railroad together in business with a truckload carrier. Mr. Haverty was
named President and CEO of the Kansas City Southern Railway (KCSR) in
1995. Since that time, he has extended KCSR's market reach through
acquisitions, strategic investment, and alliances with other railroads.
Today, KCSR is an integral partner in a railroad network that links the
commercial and industrial centers of the United States, Canada, and
Mexico. The network provides North American shippers with a viable
alternative to other railroads and transportation carriers. Mr. Haverty
also developed Kansas City Southern's transcontinental intermodal
corridor between Dallas and Atlanta (with Norfolk Southern) via
Meridian, Mississippi, called the Meredian Speedway, into one of the
fastest growing intermodal lanes in the United States. Mr. Haverty sits
on the Boards of Directors of Science City/Union Station, Kansas City;
the University of Denver's Intermodal Transportation Institute; Midwest
Grain Products, Inc.; Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce; and is
the President of the Board of Trustees of the John W. Barringer, III
National Railroad Library, part of the Mercantile Library, housed at the
University of Missouri - St. Louis. Mr. Haverty is a native Kansan, born
in Atchison. He is a graduate of the University of Southwestern
Louisiana and received an MBA from the University of Chicago. He is
married, has three children and resides in Mission Hill, Kansas. Profile
the company, just to set the stage for the readers?
Mr. Haverty: The Kansas City Southern Railway was founded in 1887 by
