Alaska Air Group Announces Senior Management Changes
27 Aprile 2007 - 3:00PM
PR Newswire (US)
SEATTLE, April 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Alaska Air Group
board of directors today announced changes to Alaska Airlines'
senior management structure. Three senior executives have been
elected to new divisional leadership roles, and the company
announced the upcoming retirement of Kevin Finan, executive vice
president of operations. The realignment will foster greater
collaboration between divisions, accelerate operational
improvements, unify company planning efforts, and further the
airline's ongoing transformation. Gregg Saretsky, 47, formerly
executive vice president of marketing and planning, has been
elected executive vice president of flight and marketing. In this
position, he will oversee the airline's Flight Operations, Inflight
Services, Sales, Customer Experience and Brand Marketing
organizations. Glenn Johnson, 48, was promoted to executive vice
president of airport services and maintenance and engineering,
adding oversight of the Maintenance and Engineering Division. He
was previously Alaska's senior vice president of customer
service-airports. Brad Tilden, 46, Alaska Air Group's chief
financial officer and executive vice president of finance, will
assume responsibility for the Planning, Revenue Management and
Corporate Real Estate departments, in addition to Finance, with an
expanded title of executive vice president of finance and planning.
Until his retirement at the end of 2007, Finan, 60, will serve as
executive vice president of strategic projects and interim vice
president of flight operations. He formerly oversaw Flight
Operations, Customer Service- Airports, Maintenance and
Engineering, and Corporate Real Estate. "Kevin's desire to retire
at the end of the year presented an opportunity to revisit our
organizational makeup on the ground and in the air, and explore
options to enable better cross-team solutions for serving our
customers," said Bill Ayer, Alaska Air Group's chairman and chief
executive officer. "This restructuring aligns Alaska's maintenance,
ground support and airport customer service functions under one
leader, promoting increased teamwork and more streamlined
operations," Ayer said. "Unifying our inflight services, flight
operations and customer experience areas is designed to achieve
similar cross-division collaboration and focus. "Likewise, shifting
planning, revenue management and corporate real estate to our
finance organization creates further alignment with our overall
strategic planning efforts," Ayer said. As part of the realignment,
Captain Ben Forrest, previously vice president of flight
operations, will return to his line pilot and check airman role.
Saretsky will lead the search for a new vice president of flight
operations. "Ben has made significant contributions this past year,
including overseeing the operational transition from the 737-200 to
the 737-400 Combi and Freighter, and expanding the use of RNP
flight guidance technology," Saretsky said. "His passion for
improving the operation and dedication to the company will continue
to benefit Flight Operations as he returns to line flying." Alaska
Airlines and sister carrier, Horizon Air, together serve 90 cities
through an expansive network throughout Alaska, the Lower 48,
Canada and Mexico. For reservations visit http://alaskaair.com/ .
For more news and information, visit the Alaska Airlines/Horizon
Air Newsroom at http://alaskaair.com/newsroom . DATASOURCE: Alaska
Air Group CONTACT: Amanda Tobin Bielawski, +1-206-392-5134, or,
Caroline Boren, +1-206-392-5799, both of Alaska Air Group Web site:
http://www.alaskaair.com/
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