Keith Creel

Last updated
Keith Creel
Born1968 (age 55–56)
Alabama, United States
NationalityAmerican
OccupationBusiness executive
Years active1992–present
Employer Canadian Pacific Kansas City

Keith Creel (born 1968) [1] is the president and chief executive officer of Canadian Pacific Kansas City.

Contents

Earlier career

Creel was born in Alabama. [2] He served as a commissioned officer in the United States Army and took part in the Gulf War. [2] He took a degree in marketing at Jacksonville State University. [3] Upon graduation in 1992 he joined Burlington Northern Railroad as an operations manager, at first in Birmingham, Alabama. [2] In 1996 he joined the Illinois Central Railroad, which later merged with Canadian National Railway (CN), and in 1999 became general manager of the Michigan Zone within the Midwest Division of Grand Trunk Western (GTW). He moved to Canada in 2002 as vice president of CN's Prairie Division in Winnipeg, and successively took the posts of senior VP of the western region, senior VP of the eastern region, executive VP (2007), and Chief Operating Officer (2010). [2] He merged GTW and two other railroads within CN, and pursued a system of "precision railroading" [2] using fewer trains but ensuring that they run fast and on time. [4]

Canadian Pacific

Creel moved to Canadian Pacific Railway, as President and Chief Operating Officer, in early 2013. [2] He received the Progressive Railroading Railroad Innovator Award for 2014, in recognition of outstanding achievements in the rail industry. [2] He deputized for Chief Executive Hunter Harrison on several occasions, [5] and succeeded Harrison as Chief Executive in January 2017, [6] earlier than the originally planned handover date of July 2017. [7] As CEO he has made efforts to improve services and attract more customers, [8] and to improve relations between company and workforce after earlier staff cuts. [4] [9]

In 2020, industry trade journal Railway Age named Creel Railroader of the Year for 2021 and 2022. [10] [11] The Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern Railroad (CPKC) merged in April 2023 to form the only single line rail entity connecting the US, Canada and Mexico. The success of this merger, experts say, resulted in increased compensation packages for the company’s top executives. Creel received $20 million (Can) making him one of the highest paid individuals in the country. Creel’s base salary was $1.8 million (Can); the remainder was in share-based, option based and other reward incentives. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian National Railway</span> Canadian Class I freight railway company

The Canadian National Railway Company is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CSX Transportation</span> Class I railroad system in the US

CSX Transportation, known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles (34,000 km) of track, it is the leading subsidiary of CSX Corporation, a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kansas City Southern (company)</span> American railroad holding company

Kansas City Southern (KCS) was a transportation holding company with railroad investments in the United States, Mexico, and Panama that existed from 1887 to 2023. The KCS rail network included about 7,299 miles (11,747 km) of track in the U.S. and Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grand Trunk Western Railroad</span> American railroad

The Grand Trunk Western Railroad Company was an American subsidiary of the Grand Trunk Railway, later of the Canadian National Railway operating in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Since a corporate restructuring in 1971, the railroad has been under CN's subsidiary holding company, the Grand Trunk Corporation. Grand Trunk Western's routes are part of CN's Michigan Division. Its primary mainline between Chicago and Port Huron, Michigan serves as a connection between railroad interchanges in Chicago and rail lines in eastern Canada and the Northeastern United States. The railroad's extensive trackage in Detroit and across southern Michigan has made it an essential link for the automotive industry as a hauler of parts and automobiles from manufacturing plants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CSX Corporation</span> American transportation company

CSX Corporation is an American holding company focused on rail transportation and real estate in North America, among other industries. The company was established in 1980 as part of the Chessie System and Seaboard Coast Line Industries merger. The various railroads of the former Chessie System and Seaboard Coast Line Industries that are now owned by CSX Corporation were eventually merged into a single line in 1986 and it became known as CSX Transportation. CSX Corporation currently has a number of subsidiaries beyond CSX Transportation. Previously based in Richmond, Virginia after the merger, the corporation moved its headquarters to Jacksonville, Florida, in 2003. CSX is a Fortune 500 company.

Railroader of the Year is an annual award presented to a North American railroad industry worker by trade journal Railway Age. The award was first presented in 1964 by trade journal Modern Railroads and has continued through the magazine acquisition in 1992 to the present.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian Pacific Kansas City Police Service</span> Private railroad police force

The Canadian Pacific Kansas City Police Service, formerly known as Canadian Pacific Police Service (CPPS) is a private railroad police force enforcing safety and policing along Canadian Pacific Kansas City properties and rail lines in Canada and the United States. It includes limited sections of the Milton line of GO Transit in the Greater Toronto Area, which is being secured by its Transit Safety Officers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meridian and Bigbee Railroad</span> Railroad in Alabama and Mississippi, U.S.

The Meridian and Bigbee Railroad is a Class III railroad that operates over 168 miles (270 km) of track between Meridian, Mississippi and Burkville, Alabama. Additionally, the M&B has trackage rights over CSX from Burkville to Montgomery, Alabama. MNBR operates with a 286,000-pound railcar loading capacity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">E. Hunter Harrison</span> American railway executive (1944-2017)

Ewing Hunter Harrison was a railway executive who served as the CEO of Illinois Central Railroad (IC), Canadian National Railway (CN), Canadian Pacific Railway (CP), and CSX Corporation. He died on December 16, 2017, two days after taking medical leave from CSX. He is known for introducing precision scheduled railroading to the companies he ran.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CPKC Toronto Yard</span>

CPKC Toronto Yard is a facility located in northeast Toronto, Ontario, Canada owned by the Canadian Pacific Kansas City, often incorrectly referred to as Agincourt Yard because it is located in Agincourt, a neighbourhood of Toronto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian Pacific 2816</span> Preserved CP H-1b class 4-6-4 locomotive

Canadian Pacific 2816, also known as the "Empress", is a preserved class "H-1b" 4-6-4 Hudson-type steam locomotive built by the Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) in December 1930 for the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). It is the only non-streamlined H1 Hudson to have survived into preservation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keith Heller</span> Canadian transport executive (born 1948)

Keith Louis Heller is a Canadian transport executive in the rail freight transport industry. In 2005 he was ranked 57 in the Power 100 listing published by Country Life magazine. Heller is notable for having run major rail freight providers in both North America and Europe.

Claude Mongeau is a Canadian railroad executive who served as the president and chief executive officer of Canadian National Railway (CNR) from January 1, 2010, to July 1, 2016. He succeeded Hunter Harrison. During his tenure as president of CN, he "tried to improve ... frayed relations with the railway's customers and partners through a series of service agreements."

Edward L. Moyers, Jr. was an American railroad executive of the 20th century. He served as president and CEO of several railroads including MidSouth Rail, Illinois Central Railroad and Southern Pacific Railroad. In 1995, Railway Age magazine named Moyers its "Railroader of the Year".

David L. Starling was an American businessman and railroad executive, best known for running the Kansas City Southern Railroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian Pacific Kansas City</span> Class I North American railroad

Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited, doing business as CPKC, is a Class I railroad in North America that resulted from the merger of Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) and Kansas City Southern (KCS) on April 14, 2023. It is the first and currently the only single-line railway connecting Canada, Mexico, and the United States, operating approximately 32,000 kilometres (20,000 mi) of rail across the three countries. CPKC is headquartered in Calgary and led by Keith Creel as President and CEO.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Canadian Pacific Railway</span>

The history of the Canadian Pacific Railway dates back to 1873. Together with the Canadian Confederation, the creation of the Canadian Pacific Railway was a task originally undertaken as the "National Dream" by the Conservative government of Prime Minister John A. Macdonald. He was helped by Alexander Tilloch Galt, who was the owner of the North Western Coal and Navigation Company. British Columbia, a four-month sea voyage away from the East Coast, had insisted upon a land transport link to the East as a condition for joining Confederation, after initially requesting a wagon road.

References

  1. ↑ "Keith Creel, President & Chief Executive Officer at Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd". Relationship Science. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Stagl, Jeff (August 2014). "Rail Insider-Canadian Pacific's Keith Creel: A stickler for superior service (profile)". Progressive Railroading.
  3. ↑ "Executive profile: Keith Creel". Canadian Pacific. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  4. 1 2 Derocher, Robert J. (September 2017). "Keith Creel: Canadian Pacific's passionate pusher and puller". Progressive Railroading.
  5. ↑ "CP Rail hires Keith Creel to succeed Hunter Harrison as CEO". CBC News. 20 July 2016.
  6. ↑ "Keith Creel to become CEO of Canadian Pacific; E. Hunter Harrison to retire". Canadian Pacific. 18 January 2017.
  7. ↑ "New CEO Keith Creel looks to make his mark on Canadian Pacific Railway". The Globe and Mail. 22 May 2017.
  8. ↑ "Canadian Pacific changing tracks to win customers". Reuters. 9 May 2017.
  9. ↑ Thomas, David (26 March 2017). "Precision railroading, with a humane face". Railway Age.
  10. ↑ "2021 Railroader of the Year: Keith Creel, Canadian Pacific". 10 December 2020.
  11. ↑ "Canadian Pacific's Keith Creel and Kansas City Southern's Pat Ottensmeyer Named Railway Age 2022 Railroaders of the Year". 9 December 2021.
  12. ↑ Scace, Matt (22 Mar 2024). "CPKC CEO Keith Creel earned total compensation of $20 million in 2023". Calgary Herald.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.