NS EVP and CMO Seale to retire March 1

Donald Seale, Norfolk Southern Corp.'s executive vice president and chief marketing officer, yesterday announced plans to retire March 1.

Seale has played a central role in building a culture of continuous improvement and customer focus since the corporation's creation, said NS Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Wick Moorman in a press release.

"His leadership has helped position railroads not only as engines of economic growth but as true partners with the people and industries we serve," Moorman said.

Seale joined NS in 1976 as a management trainee. He held numerous sales and marketing positions related to merchandise and coal customers prior to being named senior VP of marketing services in 2003, executive VP of sales and marketing in 2004, and executive VP and CMO in 2006.

During Seale's tenure as leader of marketing, the division saw expansion in demand for quality rail service. The corporation recorded its first $10 billion railway operating revenue in a given year and annual revenue climbed $4 billion during that time, NS officials said.

During the past three years, Seale's team directed marketing services that led to new and expanding energy-sector businesses. Additionally, he advocated industrial development to spur new industries and jobs in NS' network, culminating in $5.7 billion in new investments and more than 4,400 new jobs in 2014 alone, NS officials said.

NS' board plans to name Seale's successor at a later time.