We are Proud to Call Florida Home

“Choosing Florida means choosing opportunity and economic growth.”

– QUINTIN KENDALL
Vice President of State Government and Community Affairs, CSX Transportation
Florida Chamber Regional Board Chair

Quintin Kendall, Vice President of State Government and Community Affairs at CSX Transportation, Florida Chamber Board member and one of twelve Florida Chamber Regional Board Chairs, shares his opinions on why business should choose Florida, what his time as a Florida Regional Board Chair means to him and on CSX’s crucial relationship to Florida ports.

We are proud to call Jacksonville, Florida home. Florida is a great state to do business and at CSX we have found that it is a state that welcomes innovation. Florida’s trade and logistics efforts are leading the country and that’s part of the reason we invested nearly $250 million in our Florida network last year. Research from the Florida Chamber Foundation’s most recent Trade and Logistics study shows that Florida is growing at a rapid pace and industries like manufacturing and trade are growing with it. Choosing Florida means choosing opportunity and economic growth.

On Florida  Ports:

In Florida alone we operate more than 28,000 miles of tracks and we serve 12 ports across the state, including JAXPORT here regionally… When ports have a reliable mode of transportation to receive and deliver goods, especially an environmentally friendly mode such as freight rails, customers are able to get good and products in a time efficient manner. I would also add that our investment in the new CSX intermodal center at Winter Haven has a potential to really add tremendous value to an already thriving port system here in Florida.

 

On Jacksonville’s Diverse Businesses:

Investments in infrastructure is what comes to mind immediate. At CSX we help connect the state and connect the state to the rest of the country and it’s that partnership that helps out state be successful, especially with international trade and distribution and manufacturing. The Jacksonville region is very diverse, we have many companies that benefit from transportation and infrastructure, from small businesses to larger companies like ours. In order to meet the needs of these companies, a big focus will be education and developing the talent for tomorrow’s workforce. The education needs in the regional vary widely so I hope to have some good discussions on how we can help empower our students. But also in Northeast Florida, military, veteran and defense are also large industries here in this region. At CSX we are [named a] national leader in employing veterans so I hope to build on that in my role at the Florida Chamber to champion the creation of valuable jobs and help Florida’s economy grow.

I’ve seen firsthand the impact that businesses who work together can have on the future of our state. I look forward to helping implement the research found by the Florida Chamber Foundation going forward so that we can help to close some of the gaps and secure our state’s future.

 

On Free Enterprise:

Free enterprise means having the ability to align the needs of our stakeholders and employees, with the needs of our state. At CSX it means having the freedom to follow our core values and build a company that not only drives our economic growth, but that allows us to help make communities and people who thrive there more competitive.