ATLANTA — Amid a proxy struggle with an activist investor, Norfolk Southern on Wednesday will title Canadian Pacific Kansas Metropolis government John Orr as its chief working officer, Trains Information Wire has discovered.
Norfolk Southern will title CPKC government John Orr its chief working officer on Wednesday. CPKC
Orr brings a Precision Scheduled Railroading operations background — which is prized on Wall Road — to Norfolk Southern as the corporate seeks to fend off an investor group led by Cleveland-based Ancora Holdings.
Citing lagging operational, monetary, and security efficiency, Ancora goals to oust CEO Alan Shaw and desires to put in former CSX operations chief Jamie Boychuk as NS’s chief working officer. At CSX, Boychuk labored alongside CEO E. Hunter Harrison because the Japanese railroad applied the low-cost PSR working mannequin in 2017. CSX dismissed Boychuk in August 2023.
Orr, who’s CPKC’s government vp and chief transformation officer, beforehand served as Kansas Metropolis Southern’s chief working officer from 2021 to 2023. A fourth-generation railroader, Orr started his profession in 1985 as a conductor at Canadian Nationwide, the place he rose by the ranks and was named senior vp and chief transportation officer in August 2018. He left CN in February 2019.
At CPKC, Orr’s obligations embrace Mexico operations, community operations planning and design, labor relations, and regulatory affairs.
Orr replaces Paul Duncan, a former BNSF Railway government who joined NS in March 2022 as vp of community planning and operations. Duncan was promoted to senior vp of transportation and community operations in September 2022.
Paul Duncan. NS
Duncan grew to become chief working officer on Jan. 1, 2023, simply over a month earlier than the disastrous hazardous supplies derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, which has been blamed on the catastrophic failure of a wheel bearing.
Duncan led the implementation of Norfolk Southern’s TOP|SPG working plan in 2022 and performed a central function within the railroad’s restoration from service issues associated to widespread crew shortages.
Ancora has proposed a majority slate of eight board candidates and has touted former UPS government Jim Barber Jr. as its chief government candidate.
Norfolk Southern declined to remark.