Keith Creel (born 1968) is an American-Canadian business executive, and is the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Canadian Pacific Kansas City Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited, Trade name, doing business as CPKC (known as Canadian Pacific Railway Limited until 2023), is a Canadian railway holding company. Through its primary operating railroad subsidiaries, Canadian Pacific Railw ...

Earlier career

Creel was born in

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. He served as a commissioned officer in the United States Army and took part in the

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

. He took a degree in marketing at

Jacksonville State University Jacksonville State University (JSU or Jax State) is a public university in Jacksonville, Alabama, United States. Founded in 1883, Jacksonville State offers programs of study in six academic schools leading to bachelor's degree, bachelor's, mas ...

. Upon graduation in 1992 he joined

Burlington Northern Railroad The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States–based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1995. Its historical lineage begins in the earliest days of railroad ...

as an operations manager, at first in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

. In 1996 he joined the

Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, is a railroad in the Central United States. Its primary routes connected Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama, and thus, ...

, which later merged with

Canadian National Railway 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. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

(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 Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, 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). He merged GTW and two other railroads within CN, and pursued a system of "

precision railroading Precision railroading or precision scheduled railroading (PSR) is a concept in freight railroad operations pioneered by American railroad executive E. Hunter Harrison in 1993 and has since been adopted by nearly every North American Class I rail ...

" using fewer trains but ensuring that they run fast and on time.

Canadian Pacific

Creel moved to

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

, as President and Chief Operating Officer, in early 2013. He received the ''Progressive Railroading'' Railroad Innovator Award for 2014, in recognition of outstanding achievements in the rail industry. He deputized for Chief Executive Hunter Harrison on several occasions, and succeeded Harrison as Chief Executive in January 2017, earlier than the originally planned handover date of July 2017. As CEO he has made efforts to improve services and attract more customers, and to improve relations between company and workforce after earlier staff cuts. In 2020, industry trade journal ''

Railway Age ''Railway Age'' is an American trade magazine for the rail transport industry. It was founded in 1856 in Chicago (the United States' major railroad hub) and is published monthly by Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation. History The magazine ...

'' named Creel

Railroader of the Year 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 ac ...

for 2021 and 2022. 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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Creel, Keith Living people 1968 births 20th-century American railroad executives 21st-century American railroad executives Businesspeople from Alabama Canadian National Railway executives Canadian Pacific Railway executives Illinois Central Railroad people Jacksonville State University alumni