Carl R. Ice is an American businessman. He has been the President of BNSF Railway from November 1, 2010, and President and CEO since January 1, 2014, succeeding
Matthew K. Rose
Matthew K. Rose (born 1960 in Salina, Kansas) was the Chairman and CEO of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. from 2002 to December 31, 2013. In December 2013, Rose's role was shifted to that of executive chairman, renewing speculation he might be ...
in the role. At the end of 2020 Ice retired after 42 years with the company and was succeeded as President and CEO by Kathryn Farmer. He remains on the BNSF Railway board.
Career
Ice graduated from Kansas State University with a Bachelor's degree in industrial engineering and went to work in the Industrial Engineering Department for the
Santa Fe Railroad
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...
. He subsequently held roles in the Operations, Finance, and Information Systems departments within the organization before named Vice President, Administration in 1992.
Ice was named Vice President, Carload Management in January, 1994, but was named Executive Vice President six months later.
The Santa Fe merged with the
Burlington Northern
The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States-based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1996.
Its historical lineage begins in the earliest days of railroadin ...
on September 22, 1995, though operations of the two railroads remained separate until December 31, 1996. Ice remained with the combined corporation, BNSF Railway, as Vice President and Chief Mechanical Officer. He was promoted to Senior Vice President of Operations in 1999, where he remained before assuming the company presidency in 2010.
Ice retired from BNSF at the end of 2020.
Personal life
Carl Ice is married to Mary, who is also a Kansas State University graduate. They have two adult children, Marshall and Karen.
The Ice family has frequently donated to both Kansas State University and the Kansas State athletic department. The Ice family has establishes six scholarship funds, in the fields of engineering and human ecology, as well as a student award for campus broadcasting, a Deans excellence award, and a family emergency fund. In recognition of the family's philanthropy, the university's College of Health and Human Sciences dedicated the Carl and Mary Ice Hall in 2013.
On the athletics side, the training facility for the K-Statemen's and women's basketball programs was named for the Ice family in 2012. The four video boards at
Bill Snyder Family Stadium
Bill Snyder Family Stadium is a stadium in Manhattan, Kansas. It is used for American football, and is the home field of the Kansas State University Wildcats football team. It is named after the family of head coach Bill Snyder. Over the past 31 ...
are also named for the family.
In December 2018, the Kansas Board of Regents approved the College of Engineering at Kansas State University to be named the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering in his honor.
In June 2021, Ice was nominated by Kansas governor
Laura Kelly
Laura Jeanne Kelly (born January 24, 1950)"Laura Kelly," ''Kansapedia,'' to the
Kansas Board of Regents
The Kansas Board of Regents is a body consisting of nine members that governs six state universities in the U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political ...
, alongside
Lawrence
Lawrence may refer to:
Education Colleges and universities
* Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States
* Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States
Preparator ...
attorney and former Kansas state senator Wint Winter and former Kansas City, Kansas school district superintendent Cynthia Lane. The following month, Ice was appointed to chair the committee conducting the Board's search for a new Kansas State University president, replacing the outgoing
Richard Myers
Richard Bowman Myers (born March 1, 1942) is a retired four-star general in the United States Air Force who served as the 15th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As chairman, Myers was the highest ranking uniformed officer of the United Stat ...