Howard Putnam
As the former CEO of the highly successful Southwest Airlines, Howard led the fledgling carrier through airline deregulation and the development and implementation of the "vision" that has guided Southwest to revered heights over the past twenty years. Southwest tripled in size and tripled in profitability during his tenure, and today is still a corporate model for organizations that put their people first in their culture.
Howard was later recruited to be Chairman and CEO of the financially failing Braniff International and became the first CEO to take a major airline through Chapter 11 successfully. It was at Braniff that he learned crisis management while rallying 10,000 employees to new heights as they fought to save their company. The reorganization was accomplished so efficiently that Harvard University used it as a model and wrote “The Ethics of Bankruptcy,” a case study for ethically leading an organization through turbulence.
Howard Putnam was raised on an Iowa farm and learned to fly out of a pasture in his Father's J-3 Piper Cub. He entered the airline business at age 17 as a baggage handler for Capital Airlines at Midway Airport in Chicago. Capital was soon merged into United and 13 different positions later, In 1976, he was named Group Vice President of Marketing for United Airlines, then the world's largest airline.
He is the author of "The Winds of Turbulence" on leadership and ethics. He has also been an entrepreneur, serving as Chairman of a startup investment company and two small manufacturing and distribution companies.
Howard was later recruited to be Chairman and CEO of the financially failing Braniff International and became the first CEO to take a major airline through Chapter 11 successfully. It was at Braniff that he learned crisis management while rallying 10,000 employees to new heights as they fought to save their company. The reorganization was accomplished so efficiently that Harvard University used it as a model and wrote “The Ethics of Bankruptcy,” a case study for ethically leading an organization through turbulence.
Howard Putnam was raised on an Iowa farm and learned to fly out of a pasture in his Father's J-3 Piper Cub. He entered the airline business at age 17 as a baggage handler for Capital Airlines at Midway Airport in Chicago. Capital was soon merged into United and 13 different positions later, In 1976, he was named Group Vice President of Marketing for United Airlines, then the world's largest airline.
He is the author of "The Winds of Turbulence" on leadership and ethics. He has also been an entrepreneur, serving as Chairman of a startup investment company and two small manufacturing and distribution companies.