CSX promotes Oscar Munoz to president; Cindy Sanborn to EVP of operations

CSX Corp. said yesterday that it named Oscar Munoz, currently chief operating officer (COO), to be its new president. Munoz, who will keep the COO position, succeeds Michael J. Ward, who will remain chairman and CEO.

Munoz has served as CSX's executive vice president and COO since January 2012. He was executive vice president and chief financial officer (CFO) from the time he joined Jacksonville, Fla.-based CSX in 2003 through 2012. Prior to CSX, Munoz was CFO and vice president of AT&T Consumer Services. He also held executive positions with Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc., among others.

CSX also promoted Cindy Sanborn, vice president and chief transportation officer, to executive vice president of operations. She will report to Munoz, the railroad said.

Sanborn, a 25-year CSX veteran, has also served as vice president of northern operations.

In an announcement today, CSX said it promoted Mike Pendergrass to vice president-transportation and Jermaine Swafford to vice president regional transportation-southern region. Pendergrass had been in Swafford's new role, while Swafford ran the railroad's Atlanta division, the company said.

CSX reported all-time records in 2014 in revenue, operating income, net earnings, and earnings per-share. It's operating ratio, the percent of each revenue dollar used to run the railroad and a key metric of operating efficiency, ended the year at 71.5 percent. This means that 71.5 cents of every revenue dollar was allocated to operations.

In November, the company unveiled a series of cost-cutting measures designed to reduce its "long-term" operating ratio to the mid-60s range. At the time, CSX declined to disclose a time line for meeting that objective. However, Ward acknowledged that severe and permanent declines in demand for coal and the services required to transport lent a sense of urgency to the task. Over the past few years, CSX's revenue from coal movements has declined by $900 million, according to Melanie Cost, a company spokeswoman. That drop has been offset by increases in its intermodal business and merchandise traffic like energy and chemicals, she said.

Under the cost reduction plan, CSX cut 10 percent of its general and administrative expenses by the end of last year, while 298 employees at headquarters accepted voluntary separation packages. An additional 52 headquarters workers were laid off in late January following a restructuring, Cost said. Those employees received a severance package and career planning services and remain eligible for their 2014 bonus, she added.