Five CPKC executives brought home more than $10M last year, data show
Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd.'s top-five executives were paid more than $10 million last year — an annual bump of more than $6 million compared to the previous year for all but its chief executive.
CPKC CEO Keith Creel was paid a total $20 million last year — a figure that likely places him among the highest-paid executives in Calgary and Canada.
Creel had a base annual salary of $1.8 million before share-based and option-based awards, CPKC'S annual incentive plan, pension values and all other compensation.
Meanwhile, chief financial officer Nadeem Velani earned $11.9 million — a major bump from 2022, when he earned $4.7 million. Similarly, chief marketing officer John Brooks, chief operating officer Mark Redd and chief transformation officer John Orr all crossed the $10-million threshold.
The numbers were included in CPKC'S 2024 management proxy circular, published Thursday.
Those pay increases are largely due to increases in share-based awards and boosts to CPKC'S annual incentive plan. Executives, with the exception of Creel, typically earn about $1.5 million annually in share-based awards. Last year, those four executives earned between $6 million and $7 million from those awards.
That's largely due to the merger between Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern that was sealed last April, said Arden Dalik, senior partner at Global Governance Advisors.
“We certainly see a fairly regular practice of doing special awards like this that are specifically focused on doing those mergers or finishing the project,” Dalik said.
Executive compensation still requires shareholder approval. Dalik said she expects the compensation package to pass when investors meet on April 24.
Creel's annual pay means he earns 159 times that of the average CPKC employee, according to the company report.
It wouldn't be the first time Creel has topped such a list. Creel was Calgary's highest-earning executive in 2021, when he collected more than $26.7 million in salary, shares and incentives.
CPKC has several strong governance principles related to executive compensation, Dalik said, such as a requirement that the CEO own shares worth more than seven times their annual salary. That means Creel would be required to hold more than $12 million in CPKC shares.
“That is definitely skin in the game,” Dalik said.
Creel's earnings for 2023 will once again make him one of Canada's highest-paid CEOS.
The last time executive compensation data was collected, Creel was the highest-paid CEO in Calgary, in front of former Enbridge CEO Al Monaco ($19 million), according to Postmedia's annual survey of executive compensation at Calgary's top 11 publicly traded companies, compiled by Global Governance Advisors.
“I think he'll be right at the top,” Dalik said.