Keith Creel
Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer

Keith Creel was appointed Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer in January 2010. In this role, Mr. Creel is responsible for the company's rail operations in Canada and the United States. Prior to that, he successively held the positions of Executive Vice-President, Operations (since May 2007), Senior Vice-President of CN's Eastern Region (since January 2004), Senior Vice-President of CN's Western Region (since July 2003), and Vice-President of the Prairie Division (since 2002).

Mr. Creel began his railroad career at Burlington Northern Railway in 1992 as an intermodal ramp manager in Birmingham, Alabama. He entered the Operations department in 1993 as a corporate management trainee in Lincoln, Nebraska and worked as a trainmaster in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Wichita Falls, Texas.

Mr. Creel joined the Illinois Central Railroad in 1996 as a trainmaster in Memphis, Tennessee and was transferred to Jackson, Mississippi as Director of Corridor Operations in 1997.

In preparation for the CN/IC merger, Mr. Creel was transferred to Battle Creek, Michigan as District Superintendent in early 1999, and was appointed General Manager - Michigan Zone, Midwest Division, in June 2000.

Mr. Creel obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing/management from Jacksonville State University. He also completed the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School. Mr Creel has a military background and served as a commissioned officer in the US Army, during which time he served in the Persian Gulf War in Saudi Arabia.