CSX appoints Kevin Boone as CFO, promotes Maryclare Kenney to CCO, with a focus on driving long-term growth

Following a late September announcement, in which it named Steve Angel as its new President and Chief Executive Office by the company’s Board of Directors, replacing previous president and CEO Joe Hinrichs, whom departed the company and had been with at the helm for three years, joining the company in September 2022, Jacksonville, Fla.-based Class I railroad carrier CSX said today it has made additional leadership appointments that it said are, “designed to strengthen the company’s strategic focus and advance its long-term growth objectives.”

The company announced that Kevin Boone has been named executive vice president and chief financial officer, taking the place of Sean Pelkey, with Pelkey having left CSX. Boone joined CSX in 2017 and prior to today’s announcement, he served as CSX executive vice president and chief commercial officer for the last two years. And prior to that, he was in other key leadership roles, including a previous stint as executive vice president and chief financial officer, amid various supply chain challenges resultant of the pandemic, according to a CSX statement.

Boone’s other previous roles at CSX included vice president of corporate affairs and investor relations, and he has almost two decades of experience in the investment sector, with a focus on accounting, finance, and M&A.

CSX also announced that Maryclare Kenney has been promoted to senior vice president and chief commercial officer.

Kenney has been with CSX for the majority of the last 14 years, with the company noting she has played a key role in driving growth for CSX’s commercial operations in different business segments. Prior to today’s announcement, Kenney oversaw various efforts for CSX, including Merchandise Sales and Marketing, TRANSFLO, Automotive, and Total Distribution Services, Inc. (TDSI). Before that she was Vice President of Intermodal and Automotive. Prior to joining CSX in 2011, Kenney held sales leadership and strategy roles at PepsiCo and served in the U.S. Army for seven years, achieving the rank of captain.

“I am pleased to appoint Kevin and Maryclare to these critical leadership roles,” said Steve Angel, president and chief executive officer of CSX. “They are the right leaders at the right time to build on our momentum and position CSX for long-term success. Their exceptional expertise and proven track records will be instrumental in advancing a high-performance culture and realizing our vision of becoming the best-performing railroad in the nation. We thank Sean for his many years of dedicated service to CSX and sincerely wish him well in his future endeavors. I look forward to partnering with these dynamic leaders as we continue developing a strong pipeline of talent and making CSX the standard of operational success in the railroad industry.”

Baird Equity Research analyst Daniel Moore wrote in a research note that with a new CEO these kinds of leadership changes are not uncommon, and he added it would not be surprising to see Angel implement further changes as he formalizes his strategic plan and brings additional resources and management talent to bear across the organization. 

“We believe two critical elements for CSX at this stage are operational execution and commercial execution,” wrote Moore. “The company has demonstrated meaningful progress in operations prior to Steve's arrival, but we expect increased focus on strengthening commercial execution—particularly in light of recent partnership announcements and collaborations aimed at expanding service capabilities and capturing new market opportunities ahead of the proposed Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger.”

In its third quarter earnings announcement earlier this month, CSX reported $1.35 billion in net income, down 19.3% annually, and net earnings, at $694 million, fell 22.4% annually.