MONTREAL, CANADA — Tracy Robinson has been named president and chief executive officer of Canadian National Railway Co. (CN), effective Feb. 28. She will succeed Jean-Jacques Ruest, who will step aside from the board on Feb. 28 but remain in an advisory role until March 31.

Robinson will join CN from TC Energy, where she has spent the past seven years in a variety of roles, most recently as executive vice president, president of Canadian Natural Gas Pipelines and president of Coastal GasLink. Prior to TC Energy she was with Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) for 27 years, where she worked as vice president of marketing and sales, and treasurer.

She received a bachelor’s degree at the University of Saskatchewan and a master’s degree in business administration at The Wharton School.

“We are thrilled to have Tracy join CN as president and CEO and are confident that CN has the right team to lead it into the next phase of growth,” said Robert Pace, chair of the board of directors at CN. “She brings more than 35 years of operational management, strategy development, and project execution experience to drive growth and profitability.”

Robinson will be charged with leading CN’s strategic plan for the future, which was announced in mid-September 2021, shortly after the company came up short in its protracted battle with rival rail carrier CP to acquire Kansas City Southern. As part of its plan, CN will seek to lead on safety, customer value, operational excellence, sustainability and social inclusion, while also delivering industry-leading shareholder returns.

CN also announced that Jean Charest has been named an independent director and Shauneen Bruder has been named vice chair of the board.