A fifth-generation railroader from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Jon McGrath started working for his father at the age of 14 during the summers on a railroad track crew. McGrath would later move up to equipment operator, track foreman, superintendent, vice president and president.

Since 1990, he has hosted the McGrath Breakfast in Tulsa every Saturday morning, so that national, state, tribal and local elected officials and community leaders may introduce each other and break down barriers. Recently, his colleagues from around the world elected him to the Global Ukraine Rail Task Force to assist the Ukrainian Railroad in operating under war conditions. McGrath and his father, J. M. “Bud” McGrath, were inducted into the Railroad Hall of Fame in 2023.