CN Taps Mongeau as Future CEO

Claude Mongeau will replace E. Hunter Harrison at the end of this year as president and CEO of Canadian National Railway, the company said.

Board Chairman David G. A. McLean said the board chose to promote Mongeau, 47, from executive vice-president and chief financial officer. Mongeau joined the company in 1994 and moved through a number of senior positions since then. McLean said Harrison groomed his successor.

Harrison took CN’s helm in 2003, after being its chief operating officer and executive vice president, and is considered one of the most effective managers of top North American railroads. He had earlier announced his intention to retire.

Harrison had been president and CEO of Illinois Central Railroad and its parent corporation before CN acquired it in 1998. A railroader since 1963 when he was a carman in Memphis while still in school, Harrison began with St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad and later worked for Burlington Northern. He moved to the IC in 1989.

McLean said Mongeau “is one of the architects of CN's industry-leading financial performance and the key strategist behind the highly successful rail acquisitions that have grown CN's reach throughout North America and made it a key industry player.”

In the past decade, CN absorbed not only the IC property that runs down the center of the United States, but also various Canadian rail links, Wisconsin Central in the U.S. market and just this year a key Chicago-area short line – Elgin, Joliet and Eastern – to smooth out congested train traffic there.

Harrison, McLean said, has been “a seminal figure in the railroad business, with his ground-breaking Precision Railroading operating model that's driven significant efficiency gains and shareholder value at CN.”

“He has provided outstanding leadership and service at CN, leading to the creation of a great North American railroad and grooming an excellent successor. Hunter also devoted countless hours to training the next generation of great railroaders at CN. Today's announcement begins an orderly period of leadership transition at CN that will maintain CN's position as an industry leader in creating value for customers and shareholders," McLean said.

Harrison said, "Claude is a key member of my management team at CN, and I have the greatest confidence in his abilities. I've worked very closely with him on every aspect of the business. Over the next few months Claude and I will work very closely together to ensure a seamless transition at year-end."