July 11, 2000
BRIAN MACNEILL TO RETIRE JANUARY 1, 2001, PAT DANIEL NAMED AS HIS
SUCCESSOR
Enbridge Inc. today announced the retirement of Brian F. MacNeill,
President & Chief Executive Officer, effective January 1, 2001.
As part of a phased succession, the Company also announced the
intention of the Board of Directors to appoint Patrick D. Daniel,
currently President & Chief Operating Officer, Energy Delivery, to
the position of President & Chief Executive Officer upon Mr.
MacNeill's retirement. Mr. MacNeill will remain on the Board of
Directors.
The designation of Mr. Daniel as the next CEO will ensure a
seamless transition to new leadership at Enbridge. Effective
September 1, 2000, Mr. Daniel is appointed President & Chief
Operating Officer, reporting to Brian MacNeill, Chief Executive
Officer.
Commenting on Mr. MacNeill's decision to retire, Donald J. Taylor,
Chairman of Enbridge, noted, "In the past decade, Mr. MacNeill
transformed Enbridge from strictly a liquids pipeline company to a
major and diversified North American energy transportation and
distribution enterprise. Under Brian's leadership, Enbridge
experienced significant growth and greatly enhanced shareholder
value as evidenced by a compound annual shareholder return of
approximately 16% from 1991 to 1999.
"Brian is responsible for a number of important accomplishments
during his tenure as CEO," added Mr. Taylor. "Perhaps the most
significant was the setting of a new strategic direction after
substantial corporate and ownership changes between 1990 and 1992.
Other notable achievements include the acquisition of The
Consumers' Gas Company Ltd. in 1994, which solidified Enbridge's
position in the natural gas business; introduction of the
industry's first incentive based tolling structure; and completion
of several pipeline expansions. Mr. MacNeill established Enbridge
as one of the founding partners of the Alliance natural gas
pipeline system, he spearheaded the Company's entry into
unregulated retail energy services, and he led the Company into
its first international investments. He also was the force behind
the creation of the Enbridge brand. On behalf of the Board of
Directors, we thank Mr. MacNeill for his outstanding leadership
and many contributions to Enbridge."
Commenting on the CEO succession plan, Mr. MacNeill said,
"Succession management is a continuous process at Enbridge and one
for which the Board and I are responsible, to lay the groundwork
for change at all levels of the organization, most particularly
senior management. The CEO succession plan was triggered in late
1998 when I informed the Board of my intention to retire at the
end of 2000, coincident with my serving 10 years as CEO. At that
time, the Board asked me to develop a seamless process of
management transition, and this has now been achieved. I am also
pleased that the Board has agreed with my recommendation to
appoint Pat Daniel as my successor. I have every confidence that
Pat will continue the pattern of profitable growth that he helped
to establish at Enbridge. I am also pleased that the rest of our
senior management team will remain intact, with some different
responsibilities, to support Pat in his new role."
Mr. MacNeill also noted, "Pat has taken on increasing levels of
responsibility within Enbridge and demonstrated a keen sense for
identifying future trends in our business, a valuable trait of a
good leader. He has an in-depth understanding of the business and
while he has enjoyed many operational successes, he has also been
very instrumental in positioning the Company for future growth.
Perhaps most important, his leadership skills make him ideally
suited to guide the Company through a rapidly changing energy
business and to further develop our strategies so that Enbridge
can capitalize on these changes. Mr. Daniel is the right person
to lead the Company into the future."
His current responsibilities cover a substantial portion of the
Company's core operations and the majority of its earnings. His
executive experience in both the upstream and pipeline sectors is
a definite asset and an attribute that fits well with the
customer-driven organization that Enbridge has built. Mr.
Daniel's accomplishments include development and implementation of
major pipeline expansion projects when he served as CEO of
Enbridge Pipelines Inc., and negotiation and implementation of a
new incentive tolling agreement with Enbridge's liquids pipeline
customers. He has been instrumental in the implementation of
performance based regulation at Enbridge Consumers Gas, he has
directed the Company's participation in the Alliance and Vector
pipelines, and he established the Company's International business
group and Enbridge Technology. Over the last two years, he has
also taken on increasing responsibility for communications with
the investment community.
Mr. Daniel is a member of the Enbridge Board of Directors;
Chairman of Enbridge Pipelines Inc. and Enbridge Pipelines (NW)
Inc.; and a director of Enbridge Consumers Gas, Lakehead Pipe Line
Company, Inc., Gaz Métropolitain and Company L.P., and Alliance
Pipeline Ltd. He is a director of Enerflex Systems Ltd., a member
of the Board of Governors of the Conference Board of Canada, and a
member of the Business Advisory Council for the University of
Alberta's Faculty of Business. He serves on the Alberta
Provincial Audit Committee and the Board of the University of
Alberta Hospitals Foundation. He holds a Bachelor of Science
degree from the University of Alberta and a Master of Science
degree from the University of British Columbia, both in Chemical
Engineering. Mr. Daniel and his wife, Dora, live in Calgary and
have two sons.
As part of the succession management process, Enbridge also
announced the following changes, effective September 1, 2000.
These individuals form the Corporate Leadership Team and will
report to Mr. Daniel:
* MEL F. BELICH, GROUP VICE PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL. Mr. Belich
will be responsible for and focus solely on International
operations, reflecting an increasing emphasis on International
investment. His areas of responsibility will include the
Company's Latin American projects, Enbridge Technology, and
International liquids, gas and electric development. Prior to
this new assignment, Mr. Belich was responsible for Enbridge's
International and Corporate Law groups. Recent accomplishments
include a restructuring of the Technology group, and the lead role
in negotiating the acquisition of TransCanada PipeLines' interest
in the OCENSA pipeline in Colombia. Mr. Belich joined Enbridge in
1994 after 20 years of service in senior management positions at a
Calgary law firm.
* J. RICHARD BIRD, GROUP VICE PRESIDENT, TRANSPORTATION. Mr. Bird
will be responsible for all energy transportation operations
including Enbridge Pipelines and its related liquids pipelines
operations, the Alliance and Vector natural gas pipeline
investments, and midstream investments such as AltaGas Services.
Mr. Bird joined Enbridge in 1995 after holding senior financial
executive positions at a number of other companies. He has led
Enbridge's involvement in the Vector pipeline, which is currently
under construction. Mr. Bird's new role complements his most
recent experience as Senior Vice President, Corporate Planning &
Development.
* BONNIE D. DUPONT, GROUP VICE PRESIDENT, CORPORATE RESOURCES. In
addition to her current responsibilities for Human Resources,
Public & Government Affairs and Office Services, Ms. DuPont will
be responsible for Corporate Information Technology, Law and the
Corporate Secretariat function. Ms. DuPont joined Enbridge in
1998 with 15 years of executive experience in human resources and
administrative roles. She recently took a lead role in the
creation and implementation of Enbridge Commercial Services, a
business unit that provides common services such as call centres,
fleet management and customer billing to Enbridge businesses and
to third party customers.
* STEPHEN J. J. LETWIN, GROUP VICE PRESIDENT, DISTRIBUTION &
SERVICES. Mr. Letwin will be responsible for Energy Distribution
operations and Energy Services, including oversight of Enbridge
Consumers Gas, Enbridge Gas New Brunswick, and Cornwall Electric.
He will also be responsible for Enbridge Commercial Services,
Enbridge Services Inc. and the Company's investment in Noverco
Inc. Mr. Letwin joined Enbridge as President & Chief Operating
Officer, Energy Services, in 1999, and has been responsible for
leading the relatively new retail energy services business unit to
profitability. Prior to that he held senior executive positions
with a number of companies in the energy transmission, exploration
and production sectors.
* RUDY G. RIEDL. Mr. Riedl will continue with his current role as
President, Enbridge Consumers Gas, reporting to Mr. Letwin. In
addition, he will become Senior Vice President, Energy
Distribution and will provide oversight for Cornwall Electric.
Mr. Riedl joined Enbridge Consumers Gas in 1968 and became
President in 1997 after having served in a number of senior
capacities in engineering, operations and gas supply.
* DEREK P. TRUSWELL, GROUP VP & CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER. Mr.
Truswell will continue to be responsible for Treasury, the
Controller's area, Risk Management, and Audit Services. He will
also be responsible for the Financial Services group which will
include Investor Relations, Pension Fund Investment and Tax, and
he will lead the Supplier Management Program, a Company-wide
initiative to improve efficiency and generate significant savings
in the acquisition of products and services from suppliers. Mr.
Truswell has over 30 years of experience with Enbridge, and has
served as Chief Financial Officer since 1994.
* STEPHEN J. WUORI, GROUP VP PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT. Mr. Wuori's
mandate will be to lead the critical corporate aspect of mergers,
acquisitions and business development. He will also be
responsible for northern pipeline development and long-range
planning. Mr. Wuori has 20 years of experience in the liquids
pipelines business at Enbridge. He has served as President of
Enbridge Pipelines Inc. and Lakehead Pipe Line Partners, L.P.
since 1997, and has been responsible for the acquisition and
integration of several feeder pipelines into the overall Enbridge
system, and for optimizing savings from the implementation of
incentive tolling.
Commenting on the appointments, Mr. Daniel noted, "These new
assignments establish a strong leadership team and continue the
process of developing our intellectual capital. The team's goal
is to continue to deliver superior returns to our shareholders and
maintain the credibility we have earned with all of our
stakeholders, particularly investors that have been with us for
the long haul."
Enbridge Inc. is a leader in energy transportation, distribution
and services. As a transporter of energy, Enbridge operates, in
Canada and the U.S., the world's longest crude oil and liquids
pipeline system. The Company also is involved in liquids
marketing and international energy projects, and has a growing
involvement in the natural gas transmission and midstream
businesses. As a distributor of energy, Enbridge owns and
operates Canada's largest natural gas distribution company, which
provides gas in Ontario, Quebec and New York State; and is
involved in the distribution of electricity. In addition,
Enbridge provides retail energy products and services to a growing
number of Canadian and U.S. markets. The Company employs
approximately 5,500 people, primarily in Canada, the U.S. and
South America. Enbridge common shares trade on the Toronto Stock
Exchange in Canada under the symbol "ENB" and on The NASDAQ
National Market in the U.S. under the symbol "ENBR". Additional
information about Enbridge is available on the Company's web site
at www.enbridge.com.
Enbridge will host a conference call at 5:00 p.m. EDT (3:00 p.m.
MDT) today to provide further information. The call will be
broadcast live and will be available for replay at the Enbridge
investor web site at www.enbridge.com/investor.