Canadian Pacific has announced the appointment of Keith Creel as CP’s president and chief operating officer effective February 5, 2013.  E. Hunter Harrison will remain chief executive officer (“CEO”) of the company.

Creel previously served as the 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, CP’s CEO. “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.”

Creel obtained a Bachelor of Science in marketing from Jacksonville State University and completed the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School.  Creel served as a commissioned officer in the US Army and served in the Persian Gulf War in Saudi Arabia.