Thomas, 1st Lord Shaughnessy (1853-1923)

He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Irish Catholic immigrant parents. He began his career at sixteen years old (1869), working for the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, where he came to the attention of William Van Horne who brought him to the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in 1882 as a general purchasing agent. By 1891, he was Vice-President and he succeeded Van Horne as President in 1898, serving until 1918. During his presidency, he transformed the CPR through systematic management reforms, centralizing financial operations while delegating operational control. He expanded the company's steamship services and hotel operations, and nearly doubled the railway's mileage in western Canada. In recognition of his contributions, particularly during the World War I, he was elevated to the peerage in 1916 as Baron Shaughnessy. The present Lord Shaughnessy is his great-grandson, Charles.