Norfolk Southern announces board appointments

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Jul 20, 2023, 08:30 ET

ATLANTA, July 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) announced Thursday the addition of two new independent directors to its board of directors and a series of corporate governance updates.

Board Appointments
The company has appointed Admiral Philip Davidson, U.S. Navy (Ret.) and Francesca DeBiase to the board, effective immediately. Davidson will serve on the Safety and Finance and Risk Management committees. DeBiase will serve on the Audit and Governance and Nominating committees.

Davidson is an experienced senior executive and leader of large-scale organizations in dynamic environments. He has extensive experience in safety, strategic planning, risk management, and organizational design across his more than 30-year career in the United States Navy. Davidson retired in 2021 as a Senate-confirmed four-star admiral, leading the Indo-Pacific Command from 2018-2021.

DeBiase is an accomplished executive with more than 30 years of experience across food, packaging, logistics, construction, real estate, and marketing services. She previously served as Executive Vice President and Global Chief Supply Chain Officer of McDonald's Corporation, where she held leadership roles in supply chain and sustainability initiatives for nearly 15 years.

"The Norfolk Southern board regularly evaluates its composition to be responsive to shareholders and ensure a diversity of skills, experience, and perspectives," said Amy Miles, Chair of the Norfolk Southern board of directors. "On behalf of the board, I welcome Phil and Francesca, who bring a wealth of expertise and fresh perspectives on important topics including safety, supply chain integration, and sustainability."

"I look forward to working with the board and management team to help safely deliver long-term growth that benefits Norfolk Southern's stakeholders," said Davidson. "Norfolk Southern is taking an important leadership role in safety, advocating for improvements across the industry, and I look forward to contributing to those efforts."

DeBiase said, "Norfolk Southern plays a pivotal role in the U.S. economy, and I look forward to lending my expertise to help the company become an even more integral part of customers' supply chains. I am honored to join the Norfolk Southern board at such an important time as the company continues to chart a new course for the rail industry."

"The appointments of Phil and Francesca enhance our efforts to create a customer-centric, operations-driven service organization and to execute on our industry-leading growth strategy," said Alan Shaw, Norfolk Southern President and Chief Executive Officer. "We are fortunate to have such a dynamic, diverse, and engaged set of leaders on our board of directors."

In connection with the appointments of Davidson and DeBiase, the board will expand to 15 directors, 14 of whom are independent. Current Directors Mitchell Daniels, Jr. and Michael Lockhart will retire from the board following the company's 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. The board will then comprise 13 directors.

As part of the board's succession planning process, Norfolk Southern also announced the appointments of current directors Christopher Jones as Chair of the Safety Committee, succeeding Lockhart; and Jennifer Scanlon as Chair of the Governance and Nominating Committee, succeeding Daniels. Jones' appointment will be effective September 1, 2023, and Scanlon's at or before Daniels' retirement.

As a former senior executive at Northrup Grumman, a retired U.S. Air Force maintenance officer, and an engineer by training, Jones brings a deep background in operations-driven environments to his new role as Chair of the Safety Committee. The Safety Committee will be further strengthened by the addition of Davidson, who had command of U.S. Fleet Forces Command in the Navy prior to his time at Indo-Pacific Command and led large safety initiatives.

New Director Biographies

Admiral Philip Davidson, U.S. Navy (Ret.)
Adm. Philip Davidson retired from the U.S. Navy in 2021, following a distinguished military career that spanned 39 years of service and culminated in his appointment as a four-star Admiral and 25th Commander of United States Indo-Pacific Command. INDOPACOM is the United States' oldest and largest military combatant command, based in Hawaii, and encompasses more than 100 million square miles or about 52 percent of the Earth's surface. Prior to his tenure as Commander of INDOPACOM he led a comprehensive review of the Surface Navy's safety protocols that resulted in the implementation of measures to enhance safety, including new training and assessment processes. He founded Davidson Strategies, LLC, a management, technical, and strategic advisory firm.

He currently serves on the boards of Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. (PARR) and AeroVironment, Inc. (AVAV) as well as several private organizations, including the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments and Board of Governors of the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University. Adm. Davidson holds an M.A. in National Security and Strategic Studies from the United States Naval War College and a B.S. in Physics from the United States Naval Academy. His military decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with Combat "V," and a Superior Honor Award from the U.S. Department of State.

Francesca DeBiase
Francesca DeBiase is a seasoned supply chain, sustainability, and finance executive, with more than 30 years of global supply chain expertise across restaurant, food, toys, packaging, logistics, construction, real estate, and marketing services. Most recently, Ms. DeBiase served as Executive Vice President and Global Chief Supply Chain Officer of McDonald's Corporation, where she held leadership roles in supply chain and sustainability initiatives for nearly 15 years. Earlier in her time at McDonald's, she served as Chief Sustainability Officer, where she was a champion for sustainability across the McDonald's system, working with leaders to embed social and environmental goals into long-term plans to drive meaningful, industry-wide change. Francesca led the revitalization of McDonald's sustainability vision under the platform of Scale for Good. Prior to that role, she held various accounting, finance, and supply chain positions at McDonald's. She began her career at Ernst & Young as an auditor in the retail and consumer products practice.

Ms. DeBiase is on the Board of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and a member of several organizations advocating for women's empowerment including The Chicago Network, where she is a board member, and Achieving Women's Excellence in Supply Chain (AWESOME). She holds a B.B.A. in economics from Loyola University Chicago.

About Norfolk Southern
Since 1827, Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) and its predecessor companies have safely moved the goods and materials that drive the U.S. economy. Today, it operates a customer-centric and operations-driven freight transportation network. Committed to furthering sustainability, Norfolk Southern helps its customers avoid approximately 15 million tons of yearly carbon emissions by shipping via rail. Its dedicated team members deliver more than 7 million carloads annually, from agriculture to consumer goods, and is the largest rail shipper of auto products and metals in North America. Norfolk Southern also has the most extensive intermodal network in the eastern U.S., serving a majority of the country's population and manufacturing base, with connections to every major container port on the Atlantic coast as well as the Gulf of Mexico and Great Lakes. Learn more by visiting www.NorfolkSouthern.com.

SOURCE Norfolk Southern Corporation