Supply Chain Management is essential to the future of our economy and our society

Dec. 4, 2020

The challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic have emphasized the importance of the supply chain, in Canada and throughout the world. Without it, our very survival can be put at risk.

We need to provide young people with the education and opportunities they need to become the innovative transportation leaders of tomorrow.

The outstanding reputation of the Centre for Supply Chain Management at Wilfrid Laurier University is well-earned, and we at CN are thrilled that a Master’s program in SCM will be introduced through the Lazaridis School of Business & Economics in the fall of 2021.

One of the most rewarding parts of my job as a senior leader at CN has been my relationship with Laurier’s Centre for Supply Chain Management.

Through CN’s partnership with Laurier, I’ve had the privilege of meeting many of the SCM students who will be transforming our industry. They inspire me.

Over the last five years, CN has worked closely with the Centre for Supply Chain Management to support student internships and a cooperative education program (where students are employed at CN), establish a ‘CN Fellow’ in Supply Chain Management, and hold an annual conference on supply chain and logistics in Milton, ON.

For the 2019-20 academic year, CN provided support for six CN Graduate and six Undergraduate Scholarships in Supply Chain Management.

We’ll be committed to the Master’s program as well.

In the coming years, SCM will be transformed in ways that are quite unimaginable today. Certainly, analytics supported by technology will play a major part, but so will the creativity and boldness of the next generation.

I’m highly optimistic about the future of SCM, and about the influential role that Laurier’s Centre for Supply Chain Management will play in it.

Keith Reardon

Senior Vice-President, Consumer Product Supply Chain

CN