Haverty spent 21 years at Santa Fe, mostly in operating department positions, before being elected president in 1989.
He formed his own company, Haverty Corp, after leaving Santa Fe and traveled internationally looking for railroad investments.
In 2001 he became chairman, president and CEO of Kansas City Southern, a transportation holding company with railroads in the United States, Mexico and Panama.
[citation needed] Haverty has been married to his wife, Marlys, for fifty-seven years and they have three children and eleven grandchildren.
[citation needed] Since 2020, Haverty has been a minority stakeholder in the ownership group of the Kansas City Royals.