American Airlines has hired Mecole "Cole" Brown to join the airline as its chief people officer. Brown will lead all aspects of the airline's People organization, including the teams supporting Global Talent and Recruitment, Benefits and Compensation, People Operations and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. She will report to Elise Eberwein, executive vice president of people and global engagement.
"Cole is an extraordinary leader and the right person to lead American's People function as we recover from a global pandemic and welcome our customers back to American Airlines," Eberwein said. "Her experience with large, multi-national service businesses will translate well into the airline industry, and the breadth and depth of her human resources experience will support our coworkers in the best way possible. Above all, Cole has a servant leader's mindset that complements American's mission to care for people on life's journey."
JetBlue has also announced a new chief people officer. Laurie Villa will take on the role as JetBlue's current chief people officer, Mike Elliott leaves the airline in August.
"Even though we must say goodbye to Mike, I'm thrilled to welcome Laurie to JetBlue as we begin a historic rebound in travel and continue to transform our People and training functions to support our crewmembers in the new landscape," JetBlue's CEO, Robin Hayes. "Laurie has deep knowledge of our industry and a love for the JetBlue brand. I'm confident she'll be a terrific addition to the senior leadership team and will help inspire our crewmembers as we tackle new challenges in our industry and work to bring greater diversity and equity to JetBlue."
For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter.
Topics From This Article to Explore
