CPKC's Creel to receive 2024 Railroad Innovator Award

Progressive Railroading and RailTrends^® have named Canadian Pacific Kansas City President and CEO Keith Creel the 2024 recipient of the Railroad Innovator Award, which recognizes an individual's outstanding achievement in the rail industry.

Creel, who became CPKC's first president and CEO in 2023 with the combination of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern, is the first two-time winner of the Railroad Innovator Award.

"A strategic thinker renowned for his operating acumen and his focus on driving smart growth, Creel sees both the forest and the trees — the bigger picture, always — and he leads accordingly," says Progressive Railroading Editor-in-Chief Pat Foran. "It was apparent when we presented him the award the first time, in 2014, and again in a different context this year, with the creation of CPKC and his approach to moving the new railroad forward." 

Adds transportation analyst Tony Hatch, who is the program consultant for the annual RailTrends conference: "The man for all seasons, Keith Creel, is our Railroad Innovator Award winner 10 years after his first award! CPKC has its own goals to accomplish, but it also is carrying a lot of water for the rail industry as a whole as it continues to push its growth agenda — the first major merger in the modern era with growth as a goal."

Creel previously served as president and CEO of Canadian Pacific, a position he assumed in January 2017. He was appointed CP president and chief operating officer in 2013. 

Prior to joining CP, Creel was executive vice president and COO at CN, where he held various positions, including EVP of operations, senior vice president of the Eastern Region, SVP of the Western Region and VP of the Prairie Division. He began his railroad career in 1992 at the Burlington Northern Railroad as an intermodal ramp manager. In 1996, he joined the Illinois Central Railroad (IC) as a trainmaster and director of corridor operations. CN acquired the IC in 1999.

In addition to Creel, Progressive Railroading and RailTrends previously presented Railroad Innovator Awards to Norfolk Southern Corp.'s Alan Shaw, Watco’s Rick Webb, CN's JJ Ruest, CSX's Jim Foote, Kansas City Southern's Pat Ottensmeyer, Association of American Railroads' Ed Hamberger, Genesee & Wyoming Inc.'s Jack Hellmann, CN's Claude Mongeau, CSX's Michael Ward, NS' Wick Moorman, Union Pacific Corp.'s Jim Young, KCS's Mike Haverty, BNSF Railway Co.'s Matt Rose and CN's Hunter Harrison.

Creel will receive the award during RailTrends 2024, which will be held Nov. 14-15 at the New York Marriott Marquis in New York City. For more information about the event, log onto RailTrends.com.