UNO grads tops at U.P.

Graduates of one university hold three of the top four positions at Union Pacific Corp., ranked 143rd on Fortune magazine's list of the nation's 500 largest companies and second, in terms of revenue, of the Big Four railroads.

That university is the blue-collar, hometown University of Nebraska at Omaha, not an Ivy League institution like Harvard or Yale.

CEO Jim Young and Executive Vice Presidents Dennis Duffy and Jack Koraleski all graduated from UNO in the 1970s. Executive Vice President Rob Knight graduated from Kansas State University in 1980.

Jim Young - Title: President, chairman, CEO - Age: 56 - Hometown: Omaha

Dennis Duffy - Title: Chief of operations - Age: 58 - Hometown: Sioux City, Iowa

Jack Koraleski - Title: Chief of marketing and sales - Age: 58 - Hometown: Omaha

Rob Knight - Title: Chief financial officer - Age: 51 - Hometown: Born in Omaha; grew up in Overland Park, Kan.

The four joined Union Pacific right out of college, and reached their current positions after years of assignments with increasing responsibility within the 23-state network.

“That's a photo of the four amigos,” Young said, reaching for a framed photograph of the four executives, relaxed and smiling in business-casual clothing. “It does reflect how we work as a team.”

Louis Pol, dean of UNO's College of Business Administration, said Union Pacific has a long history of hiring the school's top graduates.

And the kind of students attending UNO is as significant as the education they receive, Pol said. They generally don't have a lot of money, he said, and they work while going to school, which encourages valuable lifelong traits such as perseverance, industriousness and leadership.

Young, Duffy, Koraleski and Knight come from families considered economically lower and middle-class, and all worked full time while attending college.

Young worked for the telephone company and drove a truck for a food distributor. Duffy cut weeds and removed railroad switches for Chicago & North Western Railroad, and worked in the college cafeteria and at a supermarket warehouse.

Koraleski worked for a department store, and Knight painted houses and played baseball on scholarship.

UNO offered flexibility for working students, Young said, and professors connected textbook instruction with practical experience.

A desperate need for employment, not the romantic lure of railroading, brought Young to Union Pacific in 1978.

“I needed a job,” he said. “I'm not kidding. I was broke, in debt, and I couldn't borrow any more.”

Young grew up the oldest of six children. His mother, Josephine, died when he was 11. His father, Richard, who died seven years ago, drove a truck for a local bakery, a job that required him to get up at 4 a.m.

“My father was the hardest-working man I've ever known,” Young said. “He provided for his family. But he was not there for other kinds of support. It taught me to be independent.”

After Jim Young graduated from South High School there was one less mouth to feed at home.

“My father, when I graduated high school, said, ‘Great job, Jim, when are you moving out?'”

Young married Shirley Samples of Omaha halfway through college. They have three grown children and two grandchildren.

“No question my wife helped me get through school. She accuses me of putting some of my school on her credit card.”

Two companies appeared ready to hire Young after he graduated in 1978 with a bachelor's degree in business administration. He vowed to take the first position offered.

One company was Omaha-based Northern Natural Gas, which later was renamed Internorth and bought Houston Natural Gas. The late Kenneth Lay eventually became head of the company, moved its headquarters to Houston and renamed it Enron.

The other company was Union Pacific.

He recalls that U.P. called on a Friday with a job offer. The call from Northern Natural Gas came the following Monday.

“That day somebody was looking over me,” Young said.

Enron imploded in accounting and fraud scandals in 2001 and declared bankruptcy. The company's name became synonymous with lax, even criminal, corporate governance.

Young rose to senior management positions in customer service and re-engineering and design at U.P.

He served as treasurer and chief financial officer before being elected president and chief operating officer in 2004, president and CEO in 2005 and chairman in 2007.

This is how he explains his ascent to the top job:

“In 2003, I was given an opportunity. I was CFO and we had a real problem in our service. We got caught short in people and resources, and our reputation really went backward. It gave me an opportunity to be in front of the board (of directors), in front of Wall Street and in the field. At the end of the day the board decided I was the guy.”

Similar backgrounds for Young and his three executive vice presidents produced management styles that stress approachability, family values, honesty and concern for the company, said Duffy and Koraleski.

But that commonality goes only so far, Young and Knight said. Union Pacific is a sprawling company with employers and leaders of diverse backgrounds. Railroad executives from Texas to California report directly to Young.

“They're from all over the place,” he said. “One common attribute, though, is leadership. That's what they need to succeed.”

Knight said his Midwest roots don't hurt. “But I don't think it's anything magical.”

Nor can UNO graduates expect a free pass.

“I don't care what school you went to when you walk through that door,” Young said. “It is a level playing field. You have to prove yourself.”

By Joe Ruff
World-Herald Staff Writer
8/30/2009 Omaha World-Herald