ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern voiced confidence in its new CEO Mark George, who was tabbed to replace Alan Shaw after Shaw was terminated for violating the company’s code of conduct.

“The board has full confidence in Mark and his ability to continue delivering on our commitments to shareholders and other stakeholders. Mark has played an integral role in our recent progress and brings decades of financial experience and strong operational expertise,” said Claude Mongeau, chairman of the Norfolk Southern Board, via a press release. “He embodies our corporate values and is a champion of our safety culture.”

George said he was looking forward to “creating a safe and satisfying workplace and delivering enhanced value for our employees, customers, shareholders, and communities.”

According to the press release, George had served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Norfolk Southern since 2019. Prior to joining Norfolk Southern, he held successive roles of responsibility across multiple commercial and business segments of United Technologies Corporation and its subsidiaries, including six years in Asia as the regional CFO for the Otis Elevator Company. He holds a Bachelor of Science in finance from Central Connecticut State University and a Master of Business Administration from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

George’s appointment came after Shaw was fired for engaging in an undisclosed relationship with Nabanita C. Nag — the railroad’s Executive Vice President Corporate Affairs and Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary. Nag was also terminated when the relationship came to light.

The NS board announced Sept. 8 that it had launched an investigation into what it called “potential conduct by CEO Alan Shaw that is inconsistent with the company’s Code of Ethics and company policy.” Shaw was removed from his position on Wednesday.

“This change in leadership comes in connection with preliminary findings from an ongoing investigation that determined Shaw violated company policies by engaging in a consensual relationship with the company’s Chief Legal Officer,” the railroad said. “Shaw’s departure is unrelated to the company’s performance, financial reporting and results of operations.”

While his termination was unrelated to operations of the railroad, Shaw had come under fire for various decisions made by NS following last year’s train derailment and chemical release. In the spring, the investment group Ancora led a failed proxy fight to oust Shaw as CEO, charging among other things that he mishandled the derailment, calling the response to the rail disaster “tone deaf.” Shaw faced criticism for Norfolk Southern’s decision to reopen the tracks to rail traffic before evacuated East Palestine residents were allowed to return to their homes. He faced even heavier criticism for the decision to vent-and-burn 1.1 million pounds of vinyl chloride over the village in the days following the derailment. The vent-and-burn event was later deemed “unnecessary” by the National Transportation and Safety Board who accused the railroad of withholding crucial information from Incident Command. Incident Command ultimately made the decision to vent and burn the five tank cars based on the railroad’s assertion an explosion was imminent. NTSB Chair Jennifer Hommendy went a step further and admonished Norfolk Southern for allegedly attempting to interfere with the agency’s investigation and influence its findings. Shaw received more backlash when it was revealed just after the one-year anniversary of the rail disaster had passed that he received a significant raise, receiving a 37% increase and $13.4 million in total compensation.