CN CEO JJ Ruest receives Railroader of the Year award

MONTREAL, March 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CN (TSX: CNR) (NYSE: CNI) is very proud that President and Chief Executive Officer JJ Ruest received the prestigious Railroader of the Year Award Tuesday night in Chicago.

“Throughout his career, and especially over the last year as CEO, JJ has demonstrated his desire to lead CN’s historical commitment to safety, service excellence and innovation to a new level,” said Robert Pace, Chairman of CN’s board of directors. “JJ is the third CN CEO to receive this award since the privatization of the company in 1995. Within the first few months of his tenure as CEO, he identified what needed to be done and took immediate action, sending a strong signal to our stakeholders, customers and partners. Under his leadership, CN has announced two record years of capital investments totaling at $7.4B.”

“I am greatly honoured and humbled to accept this award on behalf of all of us, CN railroaders,” declared JJ Ruest, President and Chief Executive Officer of CN. “I want to thank all of our people at CN for their unwavering support in these exciting and challenging times. The way we make things happen is by working as one team. None of what we do would be possible without the effort and commitment of every single one of the 25,000 railroaders at CN. This recognition is as much about the contribution of the CN team as it is about my personal contribution.”

“This year, we are celebrating the 100-year anniversary of CN’s creation and it is a great opportunity to look back on how far we have come: from the merger of a collection of railroads in 1919 to give them a new life as a crown corporation, to privatization in 1995, to instilling economic vitality at the turn of the century, to today, as we have become a growth company and a leading scheduled railroad. CN is well positioned to continue the next 100 years as a leader in safety, innovation and growth,” concluded Ruest.

JJ Ruest was appointed CN President and CEO in March 2018. He was previously Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer since January 2010, with responsibility for providing strategic direction and leadership for CN’s Sales, Marketing and CN Supply Chain Solutions groups. Ruest joined CN in 1996 as Vice President Petroleum and Chemicals. He was appointed Vice President Industrial Products in 2003, Vice President Marketing in 2004, and Senior Vice President Marketing in June 2006. Prior to that, Ruest worked for 16 years at a major international chemical company.

Ruest holds a Master of Business Administration degree in Marketing from HEC Montréal (Université de Montréal) and a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Chemistry from Université de Sherbrooke. He also completed the executive program of the University of Michigan Business School and CN’s Railroad MBA program.

About Railway Age’s Railroader of the Year Award

The Railroader of the Year Award was initiated by Modern Railroads magazine in 1964 as the “Man of the Year” award. Railway Age acquired Modern Railroads in 1991 and has presented the award annually since then.

Railway Age formally presented JJ Ruest with the Railroader of the Year Award at the Union League Club of Chicago on March 12, 2019, during the Western Railway Club dinner.

About CN

CN is a true backbone of the economy, transporting more than C$250 billion worth of goods annually for a wide range of business sectors, ranging from resource products to manufactured products to consumer goods, across a rail network of approximately 20,000 route-miles spanning Canada and mid-America. CN – Canadian National Railway Company, along with its operating railway subsidiaries – serves the cities and ports of Vancouver, Prince Rupert, B.C., Montreal, Halifax, New Orleans, and Mobile, Ala., and the metropolitan areas of Toronto, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Calgary, Chicago, Memphis, Detroit, Duluth, Minn./Superior, Wis., and Jackson, Miss., with connections to all points in North America. For more information about CN, visit the Company’s website at www.cn.ca.