Norfolk Southern Corporation (NS) announced the retirement of James A. Hixon, executive vice president law and corporate relations and chief legal officer, effective December 1, 2016. The Board of Directors named William A. Galanko senior vice president law and corporate communications, effective December 1, 2016. He will assume Hixon’s legal and corporate communications responsibilities, and John M. Scheib, vice president law, will replace Galanko.
Hixon, who joined NS in 1985 as a tax attorney, was first elected an officer of the company in 1993 when he was named vice president taxation. He was later promoted to a series of more senior executive positions, including senior vice president administration and executive vice president finance and public affairs, before being named to his current position in 2005.
He is recognized as an industry leader in legal and government relations matters. He chairs the Policy and Advocacy Committee of the Association of American Railroads, and he played a key role in creation of the National Railroad Retirement Investment Trust and establishment of the Trust’s investment policies and served multiple terms as trustee.
“Jim has served Norfolk Southern in a wide variety of executive capacities for more than two decades,” said James A. Squires, chairman, president, and CEO. “His contributions to the success of our company and to the overall vitality of the American railroad industry are significant and long-lasting.”
Galanko, who joined NS in 1990 as a tax attorney, was named vice president taxation in 1999, vice president financial planning in 2005, and vice president law in 2006.
Galanko earned an undergraduate degree from West Virginia University and law degrees from the College of William and Mary and Georgetown University.
Since joining NS in 2005, Scheib has held positions of increasing responsibility in the NS law department and currently is general counsel commerce. Prior to that, he served as chief of staff and counsel to the chairman of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board and as counsel to the railroad subcommittee in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Scheib earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and a law degree from Villanova University. In 2015, he completed the General Management Program at Harvard Business School.