Howard G. Buffett
Chairman / CEO, Howard G. Buffett Foundation

Howard G. Buffett grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and has been active in agriculture, business, conservation, philanthropy, photography, and politics. He currently spends the majority of his time managing the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, a private charitable foundation. Mr. Buffett oversees a 1,500-acre family farm in central Illinois and farms in Nebraska with his son. He oversees three foundation-operated research farms: over 3,100 acres in Arizona, 4,400 acres in Illinois, and 9,200 acres in South Africa. Mr. Buffett has served in a number of public positions. In 1989, he was elected to the Douglas County Board of Commissioners in Nebraska; he has served on two Office of the United States Trade Representative committees; and as Chairman of the Nebraska Ethanol Authority and Development Board. Mr. Buffett served in senior executive positions at Archer Daniels Midland Company and The GSI Group. Mr. Buffett currently serves on the Corporate Boards of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., an investment holding company, The Coca Cola Company, the world’s largest beverage company, Lindsay Corporation, a worldwide leader in the manufacturing of agricultural irrigation products, and Sloan Implement, a privately owned distributor of John Deere agricultural equipment. Mr. Buffett has served on the boards of Archer Daniels Midland, a leading global food processor, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc., the largest Coca-Cola bottler in the world, ConAgra Foods, one of North America’s largest food service manufacturers and retail food suppliers and Agro Tech Foods, a publicly traded food manufacturing company in India. He serves or has served on numerous non-profit boards. In 1997, Mr. Buffett was appointed as a member of the Commission on Presidential Debates; he received the Aztec Eagle Award from the President of Mexico in 2000, the highest honor bestowed on a foreign citizen by the Government of Mexico; and in 2002, he was recognized by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture as one of the most distinguished individuals in the field of agriculture. In 2005, he received the Will Owen Jones Distinguished Journalist of the Year Award, and in 2007, he was appointed a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador Against Hunger on behalf of the World Food Program. In 2011, Mr. Buffett was awarded the Triumph of Agriculture Exposition Agri Award, the World Ecology Award, and the George McGovern Leadership Award. In 2012, he was awarded the National Farmers Union Meritorious Service to Humanity Award, the Columbia University Global Leadership Award, and an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Pennsylvania State University. Mr. Buffett has traveled to 130 countries documenting the challenges of preserving our biodiversity while providing adequate resources to meet the needs of a growing global population. In the process, he has authored eight books on conservation, wildlife, and the human condition. His writing has been published in periodicals including The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. He is also the author of 40 Chances: Finding Hope in a Hungry World.

Matt Rose
Executive Chairman, Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway Company

Matthew Rose was elected Chairman of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway in March 2002 and served as CEO through January, 2014, when he retired as CEO and assumed his current role of Executive Chairman. He joined the Burlington Northern in 1993. Before joining BN, Rose was Vice President-Transportation for Triple Crown Services (a Norfolk Southern subsidiary) where he had functional responsibility for all facets of the truck/rail operation. Prior to that, he held various positions with Schneider National and International Utilities, a trucking conglomerate. He began his railroad career in 1981 as a Corporate Management Trainee with Missouri Pacific Railroad. Rose holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Missouri, where he majored in marketing and minored in logistics. He is a member of the Board of Directors of AMR Corporation, AT&T Inc., the Association of American Railroads, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He is also a member of the Texas Governor’s Business Council, the Business Roundtable, The Business Council, the Board of Trustees of Texas Christian University, and the Boy Scouts of America National Executive Board. He was also a member of the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission. He and his wife live in Westlake, Texas.

Mike Mohan
Former CEO, Australian Railroad Group; Former COO, Southern Pacific

Mike has 45 years of experience in the railroad industry. He served as the CEO of the Australian Railroad Group, and as President and COO of Southern Pacific Lines. At both companies, he was the recipient of industry awards for leadership in safety. He also served as Vice President of Maintenance for Southern Pacific during the rebuilding of its infrastructure and fleet. Prior to his appointment to senior management positions, he worked in field operations for 15 years, establishing a reputation for managing operations efficiently. Since retirement from line responsibilities, Mike has provided counsel to the 2009 BNSF Central Corridor Railroad Feasibility Study and 2013 BNSF CCR Feasibility Study Update, the privatization of the National Railways of Mexico, the Norfolk Southern acquisition of Conrail lines, and to other infrastructure projects in the Middle East and Afghanistan. Mike is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley with both B.S. and MBA degrees, and completed the 92nd Harvard Advanced Management Program.

Jim Sinegal
Co-Founder and Former CEO, COSTCO

James D. Sinegal co-founded COSTCO in 1983 and was CEO of the company until his retirement on December 31, 2011. He was also President until February 2010 and served as a non-officer employee from January 2012 through April 2013. Sinegal attended San Diego State University, when he began working as a bagger at the discount chain Fed-Mart in 1954. When he received a promotion, he discontinued his studies. Under the tutelage of Fed-Mart head Sol Price, Sinegal rose through the company ranks, eventually holding the position of Executive Vice President. He credits Price with teaching him not only the basics of retailing but also the importance of establishing relationships with customers based on trust. Price’s other business principles had a clear influence on the culture Sinegal would create at Costco: obeying the law, taking care of employees, and keeping inventory lean. In 1979, Sinegal moved to Sol Price’s next venture, the membership-based warehouse chain Price Company, also known as Price Club. By 1982 the company had established 10 outlets and garnered sales of $366 million. In 1983 Sinegal left Price Company to found Costco Wholesale Corporation with fellow entrepreneur Jeffrey Brotman. During his tenure as President and CEO, Costco became the top warehouse-club retailer in the United States, with more than four hundred stores in the U.S. and overseas, amassing $40 billion in sales in 2003 alone. Known as much for his voluntarily low salary as for his insistence that adequate employee compensation was good for business, Sinegal was named one of BusinessWeek ‘s “Best Managers” in 2003. Jim Sinegal and his wife Janet live in Washington State.

Troy Griepp
Managing Director, Morgan Stanley

Troy Griepp is a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley and the managing partner and Chief Investment Officer of a ten-member Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management team. Troy and his partners currently customize advice and solutions to manage and allocate approximately $7 billion in capital globally. He and his team have been named to Barron’s “Top 100 Financial Advisers” each year since 2006. Troy earned his B.S. in Finance from the University of Minnesota, where he graduated summa cum laude, and his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Troy holds the CFA designation. Troy and his wife Angelique live in San Francisco, California. Troy serves on the Board of Mercy Ships International.