New BNSF Group Vice President of Industrial Products

Date
Nov 11, 2021

Dear BNSF Customers,

I would like to introduce myself to you as the new Group Vice President of Industrial Products at BNSF Railway. 

As you know, we lost an exceptional leader and friend last month with the sudden passing of John Miller. His leadership of our Industrial Products group was filled with significant accomplishments during the past four years. As a fellow Missourian, John was a mentor to me and provided great advice throughout my tenure here.  

I joined BNSF in 2015 as Assistant Vice President of Economic Development. In this role, I have been responsible for promoting rail-oriented development and managing BNSF's real estate and facility portfolio. This includes managing the development of rail-owned and rail-served industrial, intermodal and transload facilities where I have worked with various BNSF customers, including many of you who ship industrial products. Prior to coming to BNSF, I spent 12 years leading strategic real estate capacity initiatives at various divisions of Wal-Mart Stores.

One of things that John always stressed to me was the importance of collaboration with customers, and that approach to your business is unchanged. We will continue to offer the most flexible and effective transportation solutions for your freight. In addition, as I will continue to oversee BNSF’s Economic Development and Corporate Real Estate teams, assisting customers with a new or expanded rail-served facility on our network will remain a key priority. 

All of us in BNSF’s Industrial Products group are focused on ways that we can grow together. We also understand that our service performance needs to meet your expectations. During these challenging times, we are taking actions to ensure that the necessary resources and capacity are available to support your supply chains. 

As always, thank you for your business. I look forward to meeting many of you in the coming year. In the meantime, if I can assist with anything, please do not hesitate to contact me. 

Best regards,

Colby Tanner
Group Vice President, Industrial Products
BNSF Railway