Norfolk Southern sets salary and bonus for newly promoted CEO after firing Alan Shaw

Norfolk Southern said Thursday that its new CEO's salary will jump to $1 million now that Mark George has been promoted from chief financial officer, and he will be eligible for a $2.25 million bonus and significant stock awards for performance.

George was previously making $675,000 as CFO, but he got the top job at the railroad Wednesday after Norfolk Southern's board fired Alan Shaw for having an inappropriate consensual relationship with the chief legal officer.

The Atlanta-based railroad disclosed the details of George's compensation in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Norfolk Southern said Shaw won't receive any severance and will have to forfeit any outstanding stock awards because he was fired for cause.

Norfolk Southern has been at the center of a national examination of railroad safety ever since one of its trains derailed and caught fire in February 2023 in East Palestine, Ohio. Half the town had to evacuate when officials decided to blow open five tank cars of vinyl chloride and burn the plastic ingredient inside generating a huge plume of thick, black smoke.

Norfolk Southern said George will also receive $4 million in stock grants.

In January, George will be eligible for a long-term incentive grant of $10 million in stock.

The railroad said Shaw's firing was unrelated to the company's financial performance, and it expects to continue meeting its goals for this year as George will continue the planned overhaul of operations that began this spring while Norfolk Southern was fending off activist investor Ancora Holdings. Ancora was able to elect three directors but not enough to take control of the railroad and fire Shaw like it recommended.

Norfolk Southern is one of the nation's six largest railroads with tracks crossing the Eastern United States.