Michael J. Ward

Michael J. Ward was the Chairman and CEO of CSX Corporation, a holding company focused on railroads, from 2003 to 2017.
Life.
Michael Ward served as chairman and chief executive officer of CSX Corporation for fourteen years. Over his 40-year career, Mr. Ward headed CSX's operations, coal sales and marketing, and finance departments.
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. He became President of CSX Transportation in 2000, then of CSX Corporation in 2002, then Chairman and CEO in 2003. In 2009, he was named Railway Age's Railroader of the Year. He stepped down as CEO of CSX in May 2017 and was succeeded by E. Hunter Harrison.