Josh Raglin is Chief Sustainability Officer at Norfolk Southern Corporation, one of the nation’s premier transportation companies. Norfolk Southern connects customers to markets and communities to economic opportunity, with safe, reliable, and sustainable shipping solutions. The company’s network spans 22 states, every major container port in the eastern United States, and a majority of the U.S. population and manufacturing base.
Appointed Chief Sustainability Officer in 2020, Raglin leads Norfolk Southern’s sustainability strategy by championing sustainable practices in the company’s daily operations to achieve efficiencies, control costs, generate revenue, and reduce environmental impacts. These efforts include close collaboration with department leaders company-wide, along with external stakeholders including customers, investors, suppliers, and regulators.
Raglin, a wildlife biologist, joined Norfolk Southern in 1996 as a Forest Ranger at Brosnan Forest, the company’s 14,400-acre conference and research facility in South Carolina. He would continue rising through the ranks at Brosnan Forest before being named General Manager in 2006.
For two decades, Josh led the railroad’s efforts to create a nature-based solutions platform. This innovative approach optimizes multiple ecological assets such as forest carbon sequestration, wetland and stream restoration, and land conservation while generating revenues from both forestry and traditional land-management practices.
He shares his experience with the next generation of environmentalists by serving on college advisory boards for Auburn University and Georgia Tech. He serves the greater community as an active board member for the US Endowment for Forestry and Communities and The Longleaf Alliance. He is also a founding member and active advisor to Drawdown Georgia and Sustain SC which bring together commerce and conservation for solutions.
Raglin graduated from Oklahoma State University with a bachelor’s degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Ecology and completed the executive development program from The Darden School at the University of Virginia.