Robert D. Krebs is an American railroad executive who has headed three major

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

s in succession, leading the

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the names ...

(SP) when it was

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by Santa Fe Industries, rising to lead the resulting

Santa Fe Pacific Corporation The Santa Fe Pacific Corporation was formed as the Santa Fe Southern Pacific Corporation on by the merger of Santa Fe Industries, which owned the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, with the Southern Pacific Company, which owned the Souther ...

, and finally being chosen to head the new

Burlington Northern Santa Fe BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...

(BNSF) when Santa Fe Pacific (the holding company for the Santa Fe railroad) merged with

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 1995. Its historical lineage begins in the earliest days of railroad ...

. He started out working for SP subsidiary Cotton Belt in the early 1960s becoming the youngest Superintendent of Cotton Belt's Pine Bluff Division in 1971 at age 29. Krebs eventually become president of the SP and later CEO of ATSF and BNSF. He retired as

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of BNSF in 2000 and left the board when he retired as chairman on April 17, 2002. On May 13, 2005, Krebs joined the Board of Directors for

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, a position from which he resigned on September 9, 2005, citing personal reasons. On December 10, 2024, Krebs became the interim President of

Lake Forest College Lake Forest College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Lake Forest, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Lind University by a group of Presbyterian ministers, the college has been coeducatio ...

after having served on the college's Board of Trustees since 1990. Prior to becoming interim President Krebs was twice Chairman of the Board of Trustees.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Krebs, Robert D. Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century American railroad executives Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway presidents Southern Pacific Railroad people American railroaders