MONTREAL/June 12, 2008—
Educated at McGill (BSc 1967) and the Richard Ivey School at Western (MBA 1970), retired Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Pacific Robert Ritchie is a prominent and distinguished businessman who joined Canadian Pacific Ltd., the railway's former parent company, in 1970 as a research analyst.
By 1979, he was General Manager of Marketing and Sales for the railway's Pacific Region, stretching from western Saskatchewan to the Pacific Coast. He was appointed Vice President of Marketing and Sales, based in Montreal, in 1984 and in 1987 became Executive Vice President for the CPR system, responsible for the operations and marketing of the railway's Intermodal Freight Systems division in Toronto. In 1990, Ritchie became President of the Company, once again relocating to its headquarters in Montreal. He held that position until being promoted to CPR President and Chief Executive Officer in March 1995.
In 1996, he orchestrated the successful move of CPR headquarters to Calgary, the largest Canadian corporate relocation in history, and has led the railway through the complex spin-off from Canadian Pacific Limited. He headed one of Canada’s most significant publicly traded companies.
Under his leadership, the CPR was able to rebuild its track network, increase its capacity, renew its locomotive fleet, revitalize its rolling stock, modernize its IT systems and evolve into one of the safest railways in North America.
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Source :
Tanya Churchmuch
Senior Media Relations Advisor
Concordia University
