CANADA: The board of Canadian National Railway announced on March 5 that President & CEO Luc Jobin would be leaving the company with immediate effect. He had succeeded Claude Mongeau as President & CEO on July 1 2016, having previously been Chief Financial Officer.
Jean-Jacques Ruest has been appointed Interim President & CEO while an international search is undertaken to appoint a permanent successor. Ruest has been with CN for 22 years, the last eight as Executive Vice-President & Chief Marketing Officer.
‘The board believes the company needs a leader who will energise the team, realise CN’s corporate vision and take the company forward with the speed and determination CN is known for’, said Chairman Robert Pace when Jobin’s departure was announced. ‘Ruest is well known to customers and investors, and is well positioned to focus the company and its very experienced and proven team of railroaders to rapidly address operational challenges during the transition.’
The board said it believed that in an ‘increasingly competitive’ marketplace, CN must ‘respond with speed and innovation to retain its leadership position’. It also ‘recognises the immediate operational and customer service challenges’ the company has been facing since autumn 2017, with high demand but insufficient network resiliency and severe winter weather conditions.
‘CN must accelerate execution of the innovation strategy articulated at our investor day last June’, said Pace. ‘The Board is confident this remains the right course to restore and retain industry-leading metrics and best in class customer service.’
