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One of Canadian National Railway Co.'s chief culture change-agents is retiring. Senior Vice President-People Les Dakens will retire May 1, according to an announcement CN President and Chief Executive Officer E. Hunter Harrison issued on March 12.

Dakens joined CN in 2001 after serving H.J. Heinz Co. as a human resources executive for more than 10 years, including VP of human resources and administration-Heinz North America. During his career, he also held various management positions with a number of U.S., Canadian and U.K. companies, including Cadbury Schweppes and Nortel.

"I want to especially thank him for all his efforts in the areas of culture change, leadership development and labor relations," said Harrison. "In particular, Les was instrumental in the establishment of our Employee Performance Scorecard process."

Dakens' direct reports VP of Human Resources Peter Edwards and VP of Labor Relations Kim Madigan now will report to Harrison on an interim basis.