1 Tracking the Road to Success with
Canadian Pacific Railway CLO Jeffrey Ellis
By Matthew Sullivan
4 See This, Canada
By ACC
a special supplement to ACC Docket
Tracking the Road to Success with
Canadian Pacific Railway CLO
Jeffrey Ellis
By Matthew Sullivan, ACC
Jeffrey Ellis
To Jeffrey Ellis, chief legal officer of Canadian
Pacific (CP), cutting to
the chase and provid-ing executives with
his recommendation
first — and reasoning
afterward — is something he learned at
Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto,
Canada. However, when speaking with
Ellis, you begin to get the sense that his
quick wit and candor are more than
just communications theories — they’re
tangible skills for success.
experience, each mentor served as an
advisor, and each position served as
a stepping-stone that ultimately led
him to where he is today. Through his
unwavering focus and commitment
to efficiency, Ellis has assisted in CP’s
transformation from a laggard to a
leader in the transportation industry.
“It’s the classic legal memo model
of conclusion first. Consultants call it
the Pyramid Principle [after the book
by Barbara Minto]. You don’t bury the
advice at the bottom of your executive
communication and make your CEO
dig for it,” he explains.
“It’s pretty remarkable,” says Ellis,
who joined CP in November of 2015.
“This is roughly a six billion dollar
annual revenue company that’s iconic
in Canada, and yet it’s a very young
management team with a dynamic and
entrepreneurial culture. It has been a
great opportunity for me at this stage
in my career.”
Interested in authoring for Canadian
Briefings Visit www.accdocket.com/
digitaldocket/edguide.cfm, or contact
Associate Editor Joshua Shields at
j.shields@acc.com.
While discussing his life, Ellis is
meticulous, direct, and perceptive.
Each moment served as a learning
Growing up in Windsor, Ontario,
Ellis initially intended to become a
literature professor. It was not until the
first year of his doctorate in Italian literature that he started to crave a more
collaborative working environment,
and began looking into the possibility
ACC Canadian Briefings May 2017.indd 1
4/26/17 11:33 AM
