David R. Goode, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of
Norfolk Southern Corporation, Receives BCA Leadership Award
For Distinguished Service to the Arts
Sponsored by Business Committee for the Arts, Inc. and FORBES Magazine
New York, NY, October 6, 2005 – David R. Goode, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Norfolk Southern Corporation, Norfolk, Virginia, received the 2005 BCA Leadership Award, sponsored by the Business Committee for the Arts, Inc. (BCA) and FORBES Magazine, on October 5 during a black-tie gala attended by business and arts leaders from throughout the country at the Rubin Museum of Art, New York, New York. He was recognized for his extraordinary vision, leadership and commitment to supporting the arts and for encouraging other businesses to follow his lead.
Since joining the company in 1965, he has been a champion of the arts in and out of the workplace. He is, or has served, as the Chairman of the Virginia Commission for the Arts, the Art Museum of Western Virginia in Roanoke, and the national Business Committee for the Arts, Inc. He is an active or former director of the Virginia Arts Festival, the Hampton Roads Business Consortium for Arts Support, the Center in the Square, the Virginia Symphony and the Chrysler Museum of Art. He has also served as a member of the Corporate Fund Board of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C., and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Under his direction, the Norfolk Southern Foundation was established in 1984. Since its inception, it has systematically provided about one-third of $85 million in grants to the arts. Four years later he lead the effort to develop the company's museum-quality art collection of more than 400 works that are displayed throughout the company and loaned to museums and the Art in Embassies Program.
To promote economic development and tourism, David Goode was a driving force in the establishment of the nationally recognized Virginia Arts Festival in Hampton Roads, Virginia. It was founded in 1996 to showcase international artists and local arts organizations. He also committed Norfolk Southern to a $3 million leadership grant for Virginia's Jamestown 2007 - a celebration of America's 400th birthday. And, he directed the company to make the first grant of $50,000 toward the construction of the Pilot Schooner, Virginia - a replica of the ambassadorial vessel that is being built by the Virginia Maritime Heritage Foundation in Richmond.
To further the development of the arts, David Goode makes certain that the company provides support for arts organizations large and small. The Virginia Symphony, for example, receives annual operating support and the company sponsored the orchestra's New York debut at Carnegie Hall. He also oversees annual support to the Chrysler Museum of Art, The Virginia Opera, WHRO, Virginia Stage Company, Virginia Musical Theatre, as well as the Hampton Roads Business Consortium for Arts Support.
Guided by David Goode, the company donated its former Norfolk & Western Railway passenger station building in Roanoke to establish the Roanoke Visitors Center and the O. Winston Link Museum - the first photographic museum in the country dedicated to the work of one artist. Additionally, he made a personal contribution to the project, encouraged other executives to do the same and pledged $300,000 from the company.
He also arranged for Norfolk Southern to provide rail access for Artrain, America's Museum in Motion, and he has been at the forefront of developing a new museum, to be located on the main floor of the company's headquarters, about railroads past, present and future that is scheduled to open this November.
"David Goode's vision, leadership and commitment to the arts and his untiring efforts to increase business involvement with the arts have spurred growth and appreciation of the arts throughout the United States," said Judith A. Jedlicka, President, Business Committee for the Arts, Inc.
"In business, the challenge is to spark the creativity that will make a business great. In both business and the arts, you have to find the right combination - one that ignites creativity and manages the bottom-line," said David R. Goode, as he accepted the BCA Leadership Award. "The arts are a means of human expression. They transmit culture from one generation to the next. By enriching every aspect of life, the arts contribute to the quality of life in the communities Norfolk Southern proudly serves."
The BCA Leadership Award was established in 1993. Since BCA was founded in 1967 by David Rockefeller to bring business and the arts together, business support to the arts has grown from $22 million in 1967 to $3.32 billion in 2003. The mission of the Business Committee for the Arts is to ensure that the arts flourish in America by encouraging, inspiring and stimulating business to support the arts in the workplace, in education and in the community. For information about BCA, visit www.bcainc.org.