ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern has added two new marketing vice president positions for its intermodal and carload business segments.
Yannik Thomas was named vice president of intermodal and automotive operations, while Stefan Loeb was named vice president of first and final mile markets. Both appointments are effective on April 2.
“At Norfolk Southern, our goal is to safely deliver profitable and industry-leading growth as a customer-centric, operations-driven service organization,” Chief Marketing Officer Ed Elkins said in a statement. “With that growth in mind, I’m pleased to welcome these two proven leaders to our talented team.”
“Together, we’ll safely and reliably execute our ambitious intermodal strategy, capturing a greater market share of flexible freight, and innovate first- and last-mile solutions that expand our service beyond the railhead,” Elkins said.
Thomas is currently NS’ assistant vice president of financial planning and analysis. The focus of his new role will be delivering a high-quality customer experience, efficient and proactive management of terminal and equipment services, development and implementation of system design engineering solutions and alignment with enterprise commercial and operating strategies, the railroad said.
Loeb is currently executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Watco, which operates a network of short line railroads, terminals, and ports. At NS, Loeb’s priority will be local service innovation.
Chuck Baker, president of the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association, said Loeb’s new role will benefit short line railroads.
“This new job being created and Stefan filling it is a great sign for short lines and I’m excited about what that will mean for Norfolk Southern, the hundreds of short lines that connect to NS, and the growth and service that they can drive together,” Baker said. “We know Stefan will give this responsibility everything he has, which is a prodigious amount of talent and energy. I expect that his success in this new role will inspire other Class I railroads too and benefit our entire industry.”
Congrats to Mr. Loeb. As long as Mr. Loeb’s responsibilities are “coupled” with authority, it will enhance service and grow traffic. “Think Global, Act Local”.
The big problem is that the far greatest number of shares are held by hedge funds, who have no interest whatever in the railroad business, only how much they can skim off until they move their money to another “hot industry”. I long for the “good old days” when the shares were held by individual investors like me, when we were interested in the company’s performance via long-term growth and dividend increases, and C suite execs were rewarded in reasonable amounts, not sweepstakes winnings!
Boy Al, you nailed the big problem with the whole US economy.
This will be interesting to watch; the marketing folks will sell an Olympic weightlifter, while the operating folks will provide a skeleton crew.
Can the trainer, Mr. Shaw, make it happen? Will his sponsors let him try?
They can only MARKET what operations WILL provide. Can operations give them the service that customers want?
How dare you suggest such a thing. I mean… can anyone think about shareholders and their rights, for once?