Canada’s largest railway company is getting a new top executive.
Canadian National Railway announced Jan. 26 that Tracy Robinson will serve as the company’s new president and chief executive officer, effective Feb. 28.
Robinson will replace outgoing CN president JJ Ruest, who announced his retirement late last year.
Ruest will continue to serve in an advisory role until March 31 to ensure a “seamless transition,” the company said in a news release.
Robinson joins CN from TC Energy, where she serves as an executive vice-president as well as president of Canadian Natural Gas Pipelines and president of Coastal GasLink.
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Prior to joining TC Energy, Robinson spent 27 years at Canadian Pacific Railway, CN’s top railway rival in Canada, where she served in a variety of executive roles.
She also serves as a board member at the Business Council of British Columbia and represents TC Energy on the board of the Canadian Gas Association.
CN also announced a number of additional changes to its board of directors, including the appointment of former federal Conservative leader and Quebec premier Jean Charest and the appointment of Shauneen Bruder as board vice-chair.
The company also confirmed that it has reached an agreement with CIFF Capital and investment fund manager TCI Fund Management (TCI), which will see CN appoint two additional independent directors to CN’s board of directors before the company’s 2022 annual general meeting.
The agreement stipulates that the two appointments will be mutually agreed upon by CN and TCI.
As part of the agreement, TCI has also agreed to withdraw its requisition for a special meeting of CN shareholders, which was previously scheduled to take place March 22.
In a news release, CN welcomed Robinson as the company’s new president and CEO, saying the company is confident it has the “right team to lead (CN) into the next phase of growth.”
“We are pleased to have appointed a world-class CEO to lead CN during our next phase of growth and announced that we are continuing to add more highly qualified independent directors to our board,” said Robert Pace, chair of CN’s board of directors.
“We have appreciated the input we have received from our shareholders throughout this process and are very excited about all that CN can achieve as we build the railway of the future.”
The changes to CN’s leadership come a few months after a failed bid to merge with American railway carrier Kansas City Southern (KCS).
CN’s bid to merge with KCS was rejected late last year when KCS opted instead to accept a competing merger proposal from Canadian Pacific Railway.
Shortly after CN’s merger proposal was rejected, officials at TCI Fund Management launched a campaign seeking changes to CN’s leadership.
TCI, one of CN’s largest shareholders, suggested that the company’s failure to successfully execute the proposed KCS deal was the result of poor leadership and flawed decision making.
“We are pleased to reach an arrangement that will strengthen CN’s board with the addition of two new highly qualified directors,” said TCI founder and portfolio manager Chris Hohn.
“TCI looks forward to constructive future engagement with CN.”
