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Historians who years from now will be writing about the railroad industry as its exists today will probably use words like "consolidation" and "cost cutting" to set the general tone for what they say. But if they will be looking for examples of leaders who spent the bulk of their careers building, whether it was infrastructure or new business, the name Mike Haverty will most likely surface.
Mike Haverty, president and CEO of Kansas City Southern Railway and Chairman of Kansas City Southern Industries, is indeed a builder, an independent thinker who has often cast aside the doubts of those who say "it can't be done." He has spearheaded bold initiatives, often under intense criticism. He has almost always proven his critics wrong, particularly in taking the bold step that proved to be the keystone of the NAFTA Railway. That's why he's Railway Age's Railroader of the Year.
Mike Haverty is a fourth-generation railroader from a bluecollar family. His great-grandfather, an Irish immigrant who came over from Galway in 1860, laid track in Atchison, Kans., on the Central Branch of the Union Pacific (which eventually was folded into the Missouri Pacific). He and many other Irish immigrants were recruited by the UP to help build America's mushrooming railroad system. Haverty's grandfather and father were both MoPac conductors.
Haverty, a native of Atchison, embarked on his railroad career as a MoPac brakeman on June 11, 1963, his 19th birthday. (He still has the certificate of examination from that day. The superintendent who signed it, A. W. Rees, is the father of Ab Rees, who worked alongside Haverty on the Santa Fe and is now KCSR's senior vice president-international operations.) Haverty completed MoPac's management training program in 1967, and moved to the Santa Fe in 1970. He held several operating positions before being named president and chief operating officer in 1989. He was appointed president and CEO of KCSR in 1995, and added the title of chairman of KCSI this month.
There have been many milestones in Haverty's 38-- year railroad career. If one of them stands out, "It's the fact that I, coming from a railroad family, was the first to graduate from college," he says. "To start out as a brakeman and become president of...