BNSF adds director of tribal relations

Written by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor
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BNSF

BNSF's new director of tribal relations, Chris Howell, will focus on strengthening and reinforcing BNSF relationships with Native American tribes. That focus will include a lot of "windshield" time as Howell travels the system making connections with the 86 tribes that BNSF touches every day – and more than 150 within close driving range of the BNSF rail network.

 

Howell, who joined BNSF in mid-November, most recently served as executive director for the Kansas Native American Affairs Office and as tribal liaison for Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback. In this new position at BNSF, Howell will help build relationships with the Indian Nations in the states where BNSF operates. He’ll soon be joined by two additional tribal liaisons, one to support the Pacific Northwest and another in the Great Plains.

“Chris and his team will help BNSF engage these communities, exploring economic development and other opportunities that can both grow our business while enhancing tribal economies, jobs and educational opportunities,” said Andrew Johnsen, assistant vice president, community affairs. “We have some pretty good examples of working together on projects, such as double-tracking through Abo Canyon in New Mexico. But going forward, we want to make sure BNSF has an institutional awareness of the vast community of diverse peoples across our network.”

“In this new role at BNSF, my job is to build a level of understanding and find commonalities on both challenges and opportunities,” said Howell. “I don’t know any other company that is putting this kind of effort into building tribal relationships. There are many opportunities for BNSF and the tribes to work cooperatively and I think we’ll soon have some tangible examples of how this benefits all of us.”

 

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