UNB Engineering News

Anne Tennier (BSc Chem’79, MEng’83) didn’t really have a plan when she graduated from science at UNB and began working in a lab in Saint John. She just wanted a job and didn’t look a whole lot further down the road. Little did she know that her road would lead her to some of Canada’s largest corporations, important community work, leadership roles, and even riding the rails.

Originally from northern Quebec, Tennier returned to UNB Fredericton after her stint in Saint John to complete a Masters in Chemical Engineering, focusing on water and wastewater analysis and treatments. Those were early days in environment pollution work and it led her to a job as a research engineer in ADI’s wastewater lab. Soon though, she was recruited by McCain Foods as a water and wastewater supervisor, and she moved from Fredericton to Florenceville, causing a few heads to turn when she arrived for her first day on the job on her motorcycle. This position was the first in which she gained hands-on experience in managing people – an art she says is “the most difficult thing to master, but something that’s extremely important to learn early on.”

After a couple of years, Tennier was picked up by Boise Cascade and moved to the pulp and paper industry – a new experience for her, but an area she was familiar with since her father had worked at a mill for 46 years. Her next move came via an unexpected connection she made on a flight when she sat next to an executive from Canadian Pacific Railway. It led to becoming Director of Environmental Affairs at CP, a role in which she started an environmental department from scratch and grew to 25 people across Canada and the U.S. over the next nine years.

But Anne wasn’t done trying new things yet. When asked by CP to move to Thunder Bay to become the lead for train operations and oversee 500 employees, she jumped at the opportunity. She even trained to be a certified conductor while also dealing with safety, operations, unions and the odd train derailment.  “I’ve learned to never turn down an opportunity to grow,” she asserts. While managing operations at CP, she honed her ability to ask the right questions, make critical judgments and figure out root causes of problems. “I had been given the tools at UNB to be technically curious and use critical thinking, and I used them fully here.”

After eleven years with CP, a contact she had made during her time at McCain Foods asked her to come over to Maple Leaf Foods and set up their environmental department. In this role, she developed management systems, compliance procedures, and oversaw facility upgrades. It was just as the concept of sustainability in industry was taking root, and she became the first VP of Environmental Affairs with Maple Leaf Foods.

Having gained much experience on the corporate side, Anne decided she wanted to put her skills to use in the community and ran in federal politics. “It’s unlike anything else to put yourself out there publicly.” Though she wasn’t elected, she got to know her community much better and was humbled by what people were accomplishing even when faced with very tough challenges. “The amount of community work going on to make lives better is amazing.” It led her to become involved herself in volunteering for various organizations, including the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction and the Hamilton Conservation Foundation, to name a few.

Since retiring from Maple Leaf Foods (after fifteen years with the company), Anne is now consulting and putting even more effort into helping others. She works with community organizations to help them with governance and community development. She also mentors students at McMaster University and dedicates a lot of time to community and philanthropic  Boards.  “You really need to feel like you’re making a contribution, and I want to continue doing that.”

Anne feels that UNB gave her a solid base to begin a life that now, looking back, perhaps followed a plan all along. “I built a career based on the technical skills I learned and acquired management skills along the way. Both have helped me make a difference and a contribution I feel very satisfied with.”