Michael J. Ward

Michael J. Ward was the Chairman and CEO of CSX Corporation, a holding company focused on railroads, from 2003 to 2017.

Michael J. Ward
Born	Michael John Ward September 2, 1950 Baltimore, Maryland
Education	University of Maryland (BBA, 1972) Harvard Business School (MBA, 1976)
Occupation	Railroad executive
Known for	Chairman and CEO of CSX Corporation
Notes
[1][2][3]

Life

Michael Ward served as chairman and chief executive officer of CSX Corporation for fourteen years. CSX is one of the nation's premier transportation and logistics companies. Over his 40-year career, Mr. Ward headed CSX's operations, coal sales and marketing, and finance departments.[4]

He is the oldest of eight siblings; his father owned a pool hall, which he started working in at the age of eleven. He was the first in his family to earn a college degree, which he paid for by working at an asphalt company during the summer. After getting his MBA from Harvard at his father's suggestion, he started working at Chessie System, which would later become CSX.[5] He became President of CSX Transportation in 2000, then of CSX Corporation in 2002, then Chairman and CEO in 2003.[1][6] In 2009, he was named Railway Age's Railroader of the Year.[7] He stepped down as CEO of CSX in May 2017[8] and was succeeded by E. Hunter Harrison.

Under Mr. Ward's leadership, the company continually achieved record safety performances while providing vital services to customers and posting strong financial results for shareholders. On the Harvard Business Review November 2016 ranking of The Best-Performing CEOs in the World, Mr. Ward ranked 26th in generating the best return for shareholders and the environment.[9]

A native to Baltimore, Mr. Ward's commitment to personal philanthropy and corporate citizenship has been recognized with City Year's prestigious "Lifetime of Idealism Award".[10] Mr. Ward is a member of the Board of Directors of PNC Financial Services Group, Inc (PNC). He also serves on various not for profit boards including City Year, One Love, Edward Waters College, Hubbard House, Jacksonville Civic Council, and Gen Wow.[4]

Through his private foundation, the Michael Ward and Jennifer Glock Foundation, he has donated over $35M to various charitable causes. The focus of the giving has been increasing educational opportunities and results in elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and college, as well as promoting healthy relations, preventing domestic violence, support of the military and the arts.

References

1. "Michael J. Ward". NNDB.com. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
2. "Michael Jon Ward: Executive Profile & Biography". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
3. Wrinn, Jim (2016-02-15). "CSX's Michael Ward: I'll be around three more years". Trains. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
4. "Board-One Love Foundation". Join One Love. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
5. Smith Business School (2012-05-24). Michael Ward, Chairman and CEO of CSX, speaks at 2012 Smith graduation. YouTube. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
6. Kapadia, Reshma (2014-02-21). "CSX Boss Has Been Working on the Railroad". Barron's. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
7. "Ward honored as Railroader of the Year". Railway Age. 2009-03-18. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
8. "CSX Is Cutting 1,000 Managers and Losing Its CEO". Reuters via Fortune. February 22, 2017.
9. "The Best-Performing CEOs in the World". Harvard Business Review. November 2016. Retrieved 2018-10-04.
10. Creatv21784 (2011-08-08). "City Year 2011 Idealism Award Video-Michael Ward". YouTube. Retrieved 2018-10-01.