CP's Keith Creel to receive Railroad Innovator Award from Progressive Railroading, RailTrends

Progressive Railroading and RailTrends® have named Canadian Pacific President and Chief Operating Officer Keith Creel the 2014 recipient of the "Railroad Innovator Award," which recognizes an individual's outstanding achievement in the rail industry.



A strategic thinker renowned in rail circles for his operating acumen, Creel began his railroad career in 1992 at Burlington Northern Railroad as an intermodal ramp manager in Birmingham, Ala. In 1996, he joined the Illinois Central Railroad (IC), then helmed by current CP CEO E. Hunter Harrison. Creel served as a trainmaster and director of corridor operations at the IC, which CN acquired in 1999.

At CN, Creel rose through the ranks, holding several key management positions, including executive vice president of operations, senior VP of the eastern and western regions, and VP of the prairie division. By age 35, Creel was the "youngest operating officer in North America," as then-CN CEO Harrison told Progressive Railroading in 2004. Creel was CN's EVP and chief operating officer before joining CP in February 2013.

Progressive Railroading previously presented Railroad Innovator Awards to Norfolk Southern Corp.'s Wick Moorman, Union Pacific Corp.'s Jim Young, Kansas City Southern's Mike Haverty, BNSF Railway Co.'s Matt Rose and Harrison.

Creel will receive the award during Progressive Railroading’s annual RailTrends® conference, to be held Nov. 20-21 at the W New York in New York City. For more information, log onto www.RailTrends.com.