Canadian Pacific announced the appointment of Keith Creel as President and Chief Operating Officer effective February 5, 2013. E. Hunter Harrison will remain CEO. Creel previously served as Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer of Canadian National Railway Company (CN).
“Keith joins CP after a very successful operating career where he rose from a management trainee in the operations department at Burlington Northern in 1992 to becoming EVP & COO at CN in 2010,” said E. Hunter Harrison. “I have worked with many talented operating people in this industry over the last four decades and Keith is by far one of the best young operating talents that I have ever seen,” continued Harrison. “Canadian Pacific recently began its transformational journey to becoming the best railroad in North America and we look forward to benefiting from Keith’s strong leadership and operational expertise as we move forward.”
Reporting to Creel will be Jane O’Hagan, EVP & CMO, Scott MacDonald, SVP Operations System, Guido De Ciccio, SVP Canadian Operations and Doug McFarlane, SVP US Operations.
“I am thrilled to be joining CP during this historic time in its turnaround story,” said Creel. “I worked for Hunter for many years and am proud to be working alongside him once again. I am also proud to be leading an outstanding team in sales and marketing and operations that I know to be exceptionally talented railroaders. I am confident that together, we will continue down the path that has already begun to restore superior customer service and operational excellence at CP.”
Upon Creel’s announcement that he will join Canadian Pacific Railway Company as its President and Chief Operating Officer, CN stated that it had settled its differences with CP and its former CEO, Hunter Harrison. The settlement ends the outstanding litigation between CN and CP before the Federal Court in Chicago, Illinois. As part of the settlement, CP has undertaken not to hire certain CN employees until December 31, 2016. Other terms of the settlement remain confidential.
CN has a deep bench of executive talent and will be announcing shortly a replacement to Keith Creel as Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer. CEO Claude Mongeau said: "We wish Keith success in his new role and are pleased to turn the page with respect to the matter of CP’s hiring of CN’s former CEO, Hunter Harrison. The settlement will allow CN and CP to focus on their respective agendas and create value for their customers and shareholders."