Karen (Borlaug) Phillips, ’77

Former Vice President, Public & Goverment Affairs
Canadian National Railway Company

Executive Committee | Audit Committee | Recruitment & Governance Committee | Compensation Committee

Terms served: 2018-2021, 2021-2024, 2024-2027

Career

Karen Borlaug Phillips has had extensive experience in the private and federal government sectors.  Her private sector experience includes serving as an executive at Canadian National Railway Company (CN) for more than 14 years, where she was responsible for development and implementation of the company’s public and government affairs strategies and its activities in Washington, DC, Ottawa, and throughout its North American service territory.   Her other private sector employers included the consulting firm Policy & Advocacy Associates (President) and the Association of American Railroads (AAR) (Senior Vice President – Policy, Legislation & Communications). 

Karen also served in the U.S. Government in various capacities.  She was a member of the Interstate Commerce Commission as an appointee of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.  She also worked on Capitol Hill as Chief Economist and Tax Economist for the Senate Committee on Finance and as a Professional Staff Member on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.  Prior to her work on Capitol Hill, Karen was an Economist at the U.S. Department of Transportation.

During her tenure at CN, Karen was a member of two U.S. Government advisory committees, serving four years as a member of the Departmental Advisory Committee on the Commercial Operations of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (COAC), and for two years on the Surface Transportation Board’s Railroad-Shipper Transportation Advisory Council (RSTAC).  In addition, she served on the Boards of the Canadian-American Business Council and the Canadian/American Border Trade Alliance.