by Donald Wood
Last updated: 8:40 AM ET, Tue November 28, 2023
Southwest Airlines announced several Executive Leadership
changes and organizational alignment, starting on December 1.
The executive moves provided additional focus and clarity to
support Southwest’s strategic priorities. The first change was elevating Justin
Jones to Executive Vice President of Operations, reporting to Chief Operating
Officer Andrew Watterson. Jones will lead the Teams coordinating modernization
and oversight of the daily operation of the airline.
In addition, Tony Roach was promoted to a new role as Senior
Vice President and Chief Customer Officer under Executive Vice President and
Chief Commercial Officer Ryan Green, who will now report to Watterson. Roach
will oversee the end-to-end Customer Experience.
“We're closing out a year of purposeful investment in our
capabilities and resiliency, having made enormous strides in a more seamless
experience for our customers,” Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said. “These changes
solidify Southwest's Executive Leadership Team as we work to achieve our
objectives for 2024 and beyond.”
Southwest also revealed that Elizabeth Bryant will advance
to Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer, and Whitney Eichinger will
move to Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer.
Bryant and Eichinger will continue reporting to Chief
Administration Officer Linda Rutherford.
Angela Marano will join Rutherford’s Executive Leadership
Team as Vice President of Artificial Intelligence and Data Transformation to
lead a new organization defining infrastructure and governance to harness the
power of data and artificial intelligence and the Company’s Data Privacy
Office.
The airline also announced Jason Van Eaton was promoted to
Senior Vice President and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, reporting to
Executive Vice President and Chief Legal and Regulatory Officer Mark Shaw.
“These changes not only individually recognize the excellent
contributions from these Executive Leaders,” Jordan continued. “We're
collectively creating an organizational structure that reflects our priority of
caring for the employees who serve our customers, elevating the experience of
traveling, and bolstering our foundational Reliability and financial
performance.”
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