MONTREAL — Canadian National on Tuesday named former Canadian Pacific executive Tracy Robinson as its new president and CEO, and reached an agreement with activist investor TCI Fund Management, which has dropped its proxy contest.
Robinson spent nearly three decades at CP — with experience including positions in operations, finance, and marketing — before joining TC Energy, a Canadian pipeline company, in 2014. She will take over for retiring CN CEO JJ Ruest on Feb. 28.
“This is a transformational period at CN, and I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunities ahead,” Robinson said in a statement. “Our focus is on building the railway of the future — one that creates shareholder value by meeting the needs of our customers, employees, communities, and the economies that depend on us, safely, reliably, and efficiently. I look forward to working closely with CN’s extremely talented railroaders, Board, and management team as we take CN to the next level of performance and industry leadership.”
Ruest said Robinson will help the railway grow.
“She knows the railroad, she knows the network, she knows the competition, she knows CN, she’s passionate about railroading,” Ruest told investors and analysts on the company’s earnings call.
“In my view,” he adds, “she’s a railroader.”
Robinson’s experience in the energy industry will help CN tap into the ongoing energy boom in Western Canada, including the development of hydrogen and growth in the petrochemical sector, Ruest says.
TCI, which became highly critical of CN during its failed pursuit of a merger with Kansas City Southern, agreed to drop its proxy contest in exchange for the appointment of two mutually agreed upon independent directors to the CN board.
The directors were not named, but they will be appointed no later than CN’s annual meeting later this year. TCI, which is CN’s second-largest shareholder, had proposed a slate of four directors and asked CN to call a special meeting of shareholders to consider management and board changes.
TCI also had sought the resignation of Ruest and Chairman Robert Pace, both of whom are retiring this year. The March 22 special meeting of shareholders has been canceled, and TCI agreed to support all CN director nominees this year and in 2023.
CN today appointed former Quebec Premier Jean Charest to its board and named Shauneen Bruder as vice chair of the board.
“We are pleased to reach an arrangement that will strengthen CN’s Board with the addition of two new highly qualified Directors. TCI looks forward to constructive future engagement with CN,” TCI Founder and Portfolio Manager Chris Hohn said in a statement.
I hope this was not a Biden-style Woke appointment. She DOES appear to have the background necessary for the job. As a foreigner she was not elibile for the SCOTUS. Wrong color, too.
Did she leave CP in 2014 following the Ackerman proxy battle that overturned CP’s manage team? Does anyone know the particulars of her resignation?
Puzzle Palace
So CN caved into a foreign activist investor that really needs to be reigned in and brought to it’s knees(as all activist investors should be that don’t know anything about the industry they’re investing in)!
I think TCI caved. They don’t get their full slate of directors and their choice of CEO.