Men, women, and families were wading across the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, Texas, skirting razor wire strung along the Mexican border as they struggled to get into the United States.
Beth Whited, president of Union Pacific Railroad, was among those watching from the U.S. side of the riverbank. She was there on business, meeting with federal officials about cross-border trade, when she saw firsthand the immigration crisis unfolding on our nation’s southern border.
She found herself counting her blessings.
“There was a woman carrying a toddler, I’m going to say 18- or 24-months old, and she stumbled and hit that wire,” Whited recalled. “I was very upset. It’s a real humanitarian crisis. Nobody thinks, ‘Oh, yeah, I’m going to have to get up, walk 100 miles, cross the river, deal with razor wire, to get my kids someplace where they might have a chance at a better life.’ Nobody should have that experience.”
A top executive at one of Omaha’s biggest companies, Whited reacted to the scene unfolding before her not as a business leader, but as one mother witnessing a moment of crisis for another.
Her focus on humanity during a crisis is something Elizabeth Farris Whited brings to her job as president of Union Pacific, the nation’s largest U.S.-based freight rail company. Whited is the first female president of the railroad known affectionately as “Uncle Pete,” rising to the role in August 2023.
It is a first that Whited, 59, embraces, although she is just as proud of the multifaceted career she has enjoyed during her 37-year tenure at Union Pacific, where she has risen steadily through her leadership of numerous corporate departments.
“I came to the railroad with a public college accounting degree,” Whited said. “Everybody doesn’t have to go to Harvard or get a master’s degree. You just have to open your eyes to the opportunities and go after them.”
Born in Illinois and raised in Indianola, Iowa, Whited joined Union Pacific right after college, earning a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Iowa on a Saturday and starting work at the railroad the following Monday.
She used her accounting skills in various roles for 15 years in the finance department and was then invited to consider working in marketing and sales.
“I was asked, ‘You want to try marketing?’ In my mind, I’m thinking, ‘I’m not going to be any good because I’m an introvert,’ but I did it anyway,” Whited said.
She eventually went on to run marketing and sales.
Another big career move came much the same way: she was asked to use her problem-solving skills to lead human resources. It turned out to be one of the most fulfilling roles of her railroad career. “I think I made a huge difference there, more than anywhere else I’ve worked.”
One of Whited’s first jobs in her role as chief human resource officer (CHRO) was to revise the railroad’s parental leave policies. As a woman in a male-dominated industry, Whited understood the complexities and challenges of being a working mother and balancing family responsibilities with work demands.
She and her husband, Kelvin, have three children, and both worked outside the home. Parenting was always a “team sport” in her household, she said.
Whited changed the rules to allow up to 12 weeks of parental leave for employees, nearly double the leave time she received when she had her first child in 1993.
She also spearheaded an effort to allow two weeks of “parental time” for the parent who did not give birth, including fathers and people who adopt.
“I will say we get very strong support from the men who work here, in general, for things like enhancing parental leave,” she said.
During her years as CHRO, Whited worked to ensure there was more diversity within the workforce and to give everyone an opportunity to succeed.
One step toward gender diversity was reviewing the language used in job postings to advertise positions. For example, when a job posting required someone to be “proficient” in a specific skill, women were less likely to apply, Whited found.
“Women won’t call themselves ‘proficient’ until they’ve done the thing with excellence,” she said. “If the job posting says ‘proficient,’ we’ll get way more men who are unqualified for the job than women who are qualified.”
She said using neutral words like “experience” draws a more diverse field of candidates, including qualified women. “We try to make it a more welcoming posting for everyone.”
Whited firmly believes in cultivating diversity, saying people with various skin colors, sexual orientations, and other differences add value to any company’s bottom line.
“People with different backgrounds and life experiences come at problems and issues and communications and everything else from a variety of points of view, and you end up with a better product,” she said.
For example, she was in a diversity and inclusion training discussion group when someone mentioned that the company’s holiday policy recognized Christian festivals but not those of other religions.
“I left the meeting, and we changed the policy,” she said. “If you want to celebrate a different religious holiday, you can trade. Just work with your supervisor.”
Although she may find this hard to believe, Whited has been around railroading long enough to be a bona-fide “senior elder statesman” among Union Pacific executives. She’s been around long enough that she even has a story about the late John Kenefick, a legendary CEO at Union Pacific who enjoyed a good cigar.
“When we moved into the new building (in 2004 in downtown Omaha), we had a no-smoking policy,” Whited said. “Mr. Kenefick had an office in the building, but every one of us would look the other way when he was smoking.
“Nobody’s telling John Kenefick not to smoke his cigar.”
Besides finance, H.R., and marketing and sales, Whited also led offices dealing with sustainability, strategy, and investor relations. But there’s one job she has never tried: locomotive engineer.
“I’m not allowed to because I’ve never been trained and licensed,” she said. “But I’ve been in locomotives a bunch of times. The coolest one was the Big Boy (a historic 1940s-era steam locomotive–the world’s largest and only operating Big Boy). There’re two guys and a whole bunch of valves and levers.”
Whited is now on the board of Humanities Nebraska, the Omaha Symphony, and the Aksarben Foundation, and is 2025 chair-elect for the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce. If there is one lesson she has learned in her career of wearing many hats, it’s to embrace new challenges.
“Be open to the possibilities. Don’t close your mind off and think, ‘I wouldn’t be good at it.’”
Visit unionpacific.com for more information.
This article originally appeared in the December 2024/January 2025 issue of B2B Magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
