Corporate Partnerships: CSX
CSX is one of the most recognizable names in the rail industry, with its history dating back to 1827.
In addition to giving $10 million to support the University of Florida’s future graduate center in Jacksonville, CSX is also a close partner with the Warrington College of Business.
Warrington graduates are well represented throughout the company, from entry level to the C-suite where alumni currently serve as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Commercial Officer. As one of Jacksonville’s largest employers closes in on its 200th anniversary, CSX continues to grow its presence on the Warrington campus.
CSX has hired more than 30 Warrington graduates since 2020 and continues to strengthen its efforts to recruit Business Gators.
After growing up with an interest in math and financial markets, Pelkey decided to pursue a different career path once he enrolled at Boston University. He earned a sociology degree and spent years volunteering and running mentoring programs in Boston. He turned it into a full-time job with AmeriCorps after graduating and spent years serving the city’s youth.
As he continued to grow the programs, his passion for numbers was always in the back of his mind. Pelkey decided to pivot to the business world and knew an MBA would be the perfect way to jumpstart his career. The south Florida native knew about the reputation of UF’s MBA program and saw it as a natural fit to move to Gainesville with his wife and enroll in the program.
“I was drawn to the one-year program for non-business undergraduate majors,” Pelkey said. “Others have picked up on it since then, but 20 years ago, it wasn’t possible to get an MBA in 12 months without a business undergraduate degree. I wanted to get in and back out to work as quickly as possible.”
Pelkey raved about the program’s small class sizes that allowed him to leverage his cohort in ways that wouldn’t have been possible in a larger class. That combined with the strong knowledge he gained in the classroom provided him with the background necessary to thrive in his career.
“The overall cost and value relative to the quality of the degree made it a great experience,” he said. “I benefitted from the education and working on teams across the curriculum. It gave me tremendous insight to think about things in a corporate finance environment. I still have several books we used and refer to them from time to time in my world today.”
Pelkey used his time in the program to plan his future. He debated a return to his non-profit background as an executive, but he started to learn about CSX at a career fair and was quickly impressed. Pelkey’s uncertainty about his future plan also gave CSX an advantage. Their management training program moved new hires around the company, giving them a chance to see how every team worked before deciding where they wanted to plant their roots.
The more Pelkey looked into CSX, the more he knew the company was trending in the right direction financially. He saw a stable company that was critical to the way the economy functions and what people consume every day.
“You can feel good about working for this company,” Pelkey said. “We essentially do one thing – we transport goods by rail. It’s a simple business model. It feels like a small company with all of our senior leadership team in Jacksonville. It’s easy to get things done and manage relationships, and it truly feels like home.”
The large number of UF Warrington graduate at CSX make it feel even more like home. Pelkey said he works with other alumni on a daily basis and even joked about the healthy rivalry alive in the office between UF and FSU graduates.
“Jacksonville is very close to UF, so there are UF grads are all over the place here,” Pelkey said. “We’ve had a ton of success with Gators here.”
At an early age, Boone learned from his dad and dad’s business associates that accounting was the language of business. That drove his decision to get an accounting degree when he enrolled at the University of Florida, and it gave him the versatility for his career to go in many different directions.
“The accounting foundation allowed me to do a lot of things and my career played out that way,” Boone said. “It gave me an advantage early in my career in investment banking to be an expert in the room with that knowledge. I was a resource to people as a young professional and that opened doors. In many ways, I still think about the things from accounting that are the foundation of what I do every day.”
Boone’s first job out of college came at Arthur Andersen before moving to Ernst & Young. His EY role allowed him to work in finance and be directly involved with transactions and bankers on Wall Street. After earning an MBA from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, Boone took a role working in mergers and acquisitions for Merrill Lynch.
With his first child on the way in 2008, Boone and his wife decided it was time to move to a more stable industry, so he transitioned to an analyst role at Morgan Stanley. Boone’s efforts there inspired an ask to move into a new role in Singapore. But with bags packed and an apartment already chosen, he got a last-minute call from a hedge fund asking him to consider a role running an industrial portfolio.
He accepted the offer and continued in the role for several years before asset management firm Marsico Capital was interested in moving him to Denver. After transitioning from Marsico to Janus Henderson, Boone acquired his largest holding – CSX. In late 2016, an activist investor began building a position in CSX’s stock proposing railroad legend Hunter Harrison as the new CEO.
“I got really excited about the idea, and I told my wife later how much fun it would be to be part of that transformation,” he recalled. “So, I said, hey, why not just go after it and reach out to then EVP of Corporate Affairs and Chief of Staff Mark Wallace? I didn’t know him personally, but I made the call and pitched myself to him and why I wanted to join the company.”
Following up with Wallace a few weeks after their initial conversation, Boone noted he was going to be in the company’s hometown of Jacksonville and would have some time to meet with Wallace to discuss the idea more.
“I didn’t really have plans to be in Jacksonville,” Boone laughed. “But Mark agreed to meet with me, so I flew to Orlando and my mom picked me up and drove me to Jacksonville.”
Boone’s strong impression on Wallace got him a conversation with then-CEO Harrison, who offered him a job leading the investor relations team on the spot. A few years into the role and significant growth of the company’s stock, Boone’s finance expertise landed him the role of CFO in 2019.
A sad and unexpected turn in the company’s leadership would bring radical change to Boone’s role. Wallace, who was leading the company’s sales and marketing at the time, passed following a battle with cancer in 2021. Boone was tapped by then-CEO Jim Foote to lead the company’s growth initiatives and would ultimately become CSX’s Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, the role he still holds today.
“We get to touch every part of the economy,” Boone said of working at CSX. “From consumer goods that people buy on Amazon to the housing sector to oil and gas, we touch every spectrum and it gives you a great view of the whole economy.”
As a third generation Gator, Boone understands the power of the University of Florida network. He works daily with other Warrington graduates at CSX and shares a bond with them because of their alma mater.
“I have a lot of pride in my experience at UF,” Boone said. “It was the gateway to my success and furthering my career. UF is a main recruiting area for us. If someone at UF is talented and works hard, we have a job for them.”
When Abby Morris started the recruiting process as a student at Warrington, she wanted to find a company where she would stay until she retired. The Jacksonville native grew up knowing people who worked at CSX and noticed that the company didn’t seem to experience large turnover rates.
When it came time for her to find her first job as a student at Warrington, CSX was always at the forefront of her mind.
“I knew I wanted to work in a company who would hire me for life,” Morris said. “I wanted a place that could showcase interdepartmental moves and build up their employee base by building your skills.”
Morris planned to attend a CSX information session during her junior year but was disappointed to see it was cancelled. She reached out to a contact with the company to see how she could meet with someone and was quickly invited to a dinner with CSX recruiters the following week. That’s where she met Kevin Boone and three other employees who started recruiting her.
It started with an internship in procurement during the summer of 2020 when many internships looked different because of COVID. She received a full-time offer with the mechanical procurement group and was promoted in August 2022 to an engineering procurement buying position. After two years in the role, she recently accepted her current position of marketing analyst.
“I price military and non-standard dimensional moves for our customers,” Morris said. “My day-to-day is quoting prices for the U.S. government and other customers. I’m also working on special projects to identify and fix any reporting gaps that we have.”
Morris’ ascent through the company was aided by her time at Warrington. Through leadership opportunities like Florida Blue Key, Heavener’s Leadership Development Program and her sorority Alpha Phi, Morris was ready to make an instant impact in her role.
“There were so many leadership opportunities that taught me how to network and connect with people,” Morris said. “There are skillsets I learned from class, but there are also intangibles you get outside of class that prepare you for interviews and your time in your career.”
Morris works on a team with three other UF graduates, providing her with constant reminders of her alma mater.
“We’re everywhere,” Morris said with a laugh. “It’s an instant connection (with other alumni) and something you can always talk about.”
Fletcher first met CSX at a virtual career fair at the beginning of her senior year. She didn’t have an internship because of COVID, but she made sure CSX was a priority employer during her recruiting process. She applied during the fall of her senior year and accepted a position with the company.
She started as a leadership development associate and worked directly with the engineering finance support team before transitioning to financial planning and analysis where she has been for more than two years.
“I like the responsibility I have and the access to the overall business,” Fletcher said. “I’m able to use my finance degree to evaluate how a company is doing.”
She works closely with CSX’s accounting department and does heavy lifting as the company prepares for its earnings calls. The beginning and end of the month is also busy as they’re closing the books and aiming to explain any variances in their numbers.
Even in the busiest times, working at CSX has been exactly what Fletcher was hoping for when she was going through the job search process as a student.
“I really like the culture here,” Fletcher said. “We have a good team here and we know CSX values us and wants us to stay here. There’s always something to do that’s interesting, and it’s fun see my work in the public eye and how it translates to the real life.”
Fletcher’s time at Warrington played an important role in preparing her for CSX. She was heavily involved as an undergraduate student, participating in Business Undergraduate Mentorship Program and other leadership offerings.
“Aside from classes, there was a business-focused culture and everyone’s mindset was on finding a job,” Fletcher said. “There were so many opportunities to go to anyone in college for advice. Anyone was willing to help and there were so many resources. It was hard to procrastinate getting job because the culture there was always pushing you to get a job.”
