President Obama named BNSF CEO Matt Rose, AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka and United Food and Commercial Workers' Secretary-Treasurer Joseph Hansen to the White House Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.

The three join a long list of mostly business executives and bankers on the council.

Its task is to recommend ways to promote growth and bolster U.S. competitiveness in fulfilling Obama's State of the Union pledge to "out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build" other nations.

Additional positions that Rose has held include president and chief operating officer, senior vice president and chief operations officer and senior vice president of the company's Merchandise Business Unit. He is a member of the Board of Directors of AMR Corporation; a member of the Board of Directors of Centex Corporation; a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of American Railroads; a member of the Board of Directors of American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity; a member of the Texas Governor's Business Council; a member of Business Roundtable; a member of The Business Council; a member of the Board of Trustees of Texas Christian University; and a member of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council. Mr. Rose received a B.S. from the University of Missouri.