Two Major US Airlines Announce Leadership Changes
American Airlines and Southwest Airlines officials announced leadership changes to help shape their companies heading into 2023 and beyond.
At American, the carrier revealed Devon May has been named Chief Financial Officer following a long-planned succession process. May, currently the airline’s senior vice president of Finance and Investor Relations, will assume the CFO role effective January 1, 2023.
May will report to CEO Robert Isom. The airline’s current CFO Derek Kerr will remain at the airline as Vice Chair, President of American Eagle and Strategic Advisor. Kerr will continue to lead American’s Regional and Cargo teams and serve as a strategic advisor to the company.
“Devon is the perfect person to lead our finance organization going forward as we continue to focus on achieving sustained profitability and reducing debt,” Isom said. “He is a world-class executive who has built a great team around him, and he has played a critical leadership role inside American for many years.”
“This move follows a long-planned succession process, and the entire senior leadership team is looking forward to working alongside Devon even more closely in his new role,” Isom continued.
At Southwest, the company announced two leadership promotions within its Internal Audit and Legal Departments, both effective immediately.
The carrier revealed Ted Gordon was promoted to Vice President of Internal Audit, where he will be responsible for leading Internal Audit functions. Gordon will provide strategic and tactical leadership of audit plan development; delivering assurance on the design and operating effectiveness of the company’s governance, accounting, financial, operational, and IT controls.
In addition, Kevin Minchey was promoted to Vice President—Legal, Labor & Litigation from Associate General Counsel. In his new role, he will lead Labor and Employment, Labor Administration, Regulatory and Litigation functions in the Legal Department.
Minchey’s work will include overseeing compliance with federal, state and local employment laws, collaborating with the Labor Administration team to administer collective bargaining agreements and managing the company’s litigation docket.