CSX Corporation (NYSE: CSX) was formed in 1980 by the merger of Chessie System and Seaboard Coast Line Industries and eventually merged the various railroads owned by those predecessors into a single line that became known as CSX Transportation. Based in Richmond, Virginia, USA after the merger, in 2003 headquarters moved to Jacksonville, Florida. The chairman, president, and chief executive officer since 2003 is Michael J. Ward.
The founding chairman was Prime F. Osborn III of Seaboard and the first CEO and second chairman was Hays T. Watkins Jr. of Chessie. Watkins was succeeded by John W. Snow as CEO in 1989 and as chairman in 1991. When Snow left the company in 2003 to become United States Secretary of the Treasury, Ward, who then headed CSX Transportation, was promoted to succeed him.