United Appoints Three New Independent Directors

[FWAAA]

United replaces at least four of the directors:

CHICAGO, March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- United Continental Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: UAL) today announced that its Board of Directors has appointed three new highly qualified independent directors to the Board: James A.C. Kennedy, Robert A. Milton and James M. Whitehurst, effective immediately.

Henry L. Meyer III, Non-Executive Chairman of the Board, said, "We are always looking at ways to enhance corporate governance at United. For some time, the Board has been evaluating potential director candidates with the assistance of a leading search firm and with the benefit of shareholder input. We are very pleased to announce the appointment of three new independent directors to the Board today and expect to announce a fourth in the near term."

ames Kennedy, 62, is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc., a global investment management organization which provides mutual funds, sub-advisory services, and separate account management. During his tenure, T. Rowe more than doubled its assets under management, which increased from $335 billion at the end of 2006 to $763 billion as of December 31, 2015. Prior to his appointment as President and Chief Executive Officer in 2006, Mr. Kennedy served in roles of increasing responsibility at T. Rowe since 1978, including VP & Director of the Equity Research Division beginning in 1997. He has been a director of T. Rowe since 1987. Prior to joining T. Rowe, Mr. Kennedy participated in the Financial Management training Program at General Electric. He graduated from Princeton University with a BA degree and Stanford University with an MBA. He is a recipient of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business Excellence in Leadership Award.

Robert Milton, 55, was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ACE Aviation Holdings Inc., and was Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada. Having joined Air Canada in 1992 in a consulting capacity, Mr. Milton moved from the role of Senior Director of Scheduling to Vice President, Scheduling and Product Management, Senior Vice President, Marketing and In-Flight Service and Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Milton became President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada in 1999. He is currently the lead director of Air Lease Corporation, a director of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, and a trustee of the Georgia Tech Foundation Inc. Mr. Milton was a past director of US Airways, Inc., and was also a past Chairman of the Board of Governors of IATA (The International Air Transport Association). Mr. Milton graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a BS in Industrial Management.

James Whitehurst, 48, is President and Chief Executive Officer of Red Hat, Inc., a leading provider of open source enterprise IT products and services. Since joining Red Hat in January 2008, he has more than tripled the company's revenue from $523 million to $1.8 billion, while more than tripling the company's stock price. Under his leadership, Red Hat was named to Forbes' list of "The World's Most Innovative Companies" in 2015, 2014, and 2012; added to Standard and Poor's 500 stock index in 2009; and named one of the best places to work by Glassdoor in 2014. Prior to Red Hat, Mr. Whitehurst spent six years at Delta Air Lines, Inc., where he managed airline operations and drove significant international expansion as Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Whitehurst helped put the company back on firm footing as it emerged from bankruptcy in 2007. Before Delta, he held several corporate development leadership roles at The Boston Consulting Group, with clients across a wide range of industries. Mr. Whitehurst currently serves on the Board of DigitalGlobe, Inc. In June 2015, Whitehurst published a book with Harvard Business Review Press entitled "The Open Organization: Igniting Passion and Performance" showing how open principles of management, based on transparency, participation, and community, can help organizations navigate and succeed in a fast-paced connected era. He is a graduate of Rice University with a BA in Computer Science and has an MBA from Harvard Business School.

http://newsroom.united.com/2016-03-07-United-Appoints-Three-New-Independent-Directors

Good to see the board remove the Smisek cronies who stood by while their boy Smisek flew UA toward terrain.

Whitehurst and Milton bring some industry expertise to the UA board - definitely a good thing.

 

[700UW]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/airline-industry-veteran-gordon-bethune-131500955.html
 

Airline Industry Veteran Gordon Bethune Leads Stockholder-Nominated Slate for Election to the United Continental Holdings, Inc. Board of Directors

Seeking to Revitalize an Underperforming Board, Long-Term UAL Stockholders Altimeter Capital and PAR Capital Launch Proxy Contest

 

[xUT]

Well, They need to dump this one:
 
Sito Pantoja
General Vice President Transportation Department, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
 
Probably this one too:
 
Todd M. Insler
Master Executive Council Chairman, Air Line Pilots Association
 
JHO
B) xUT

 

[xUT]

Ex-Continental CEO: UAL board is a country club
 
 

"I do know the front end from the back of the airplane and that would be a novel experience for a board member at Continental or United," Bethune said. He went on to criticize the board for failing to lead United to success.
"The board has got a kind of country club atmosphere," he said, adding that the board "obviously hasn't been paying attention, hasn't set the right goals, frankly hasn't followed good governance processes and procedures."
 

 
This could get interesting....

 

[eolesen]

I don't see this ending well for Bethune's ego:
 

The United MEC today issued the following statement from MEC Chairman Captain Todd Insler regarding the attempt by two activist investors to gain control of United's Board of Directors.
 
“United's pilots have grave concerns about the sudden attempt by two activist investors to gain effective control of United’s Board of Directors. This coup attempt, being done for their own benefit and without publicly stating their intentions for the future of the airline, unnecessarily distracts all employees from our commitment to improve customer service and grow United Airlines.

“Through the sacrifice of pay and benefits of over $10 billion, the United pilots helped save the Company in its darkest days. United Airlines is now on stable ground and making record profits while investing in its employees, aircraft and facilities. We are concerned that these activists will instigate a program focusing on short term gains to the detriment of United’s customers and employees. Our returning CEO, Mr. Munoz, has renewed hope in our pilots through his genuine belief in our product and our people. The pilots of United Airlines share his vision and fully support Mr. Munoz. We will work with him to reestablish United Airlines as the industry leader.”

It says a lot that the pilots would back the current CEO.

On Gordon's Facebook page, you'd think from the comments that he'd come back and rename the airline Continental.

Meanwhile, they forget that Bethune is the one who hired Smisek and was grooming him to be able to take over for Kellner:


http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/united-airlines-mileageplus/1645654-how-does-gordon-bethune-think-jeff-smisek-doing.html

"Jeff was my first choice as General Counsel and was an outstanding contributor to our early successes in 1995 through my departure in December 2004. He is completely honest and trustworthy. I know no one with higher integrity."

Since Smisek was fired by the board, it looks like the morale at UA is better than ever before, and UA's financials have been performing reasonably well for the last two fiscal years.

Typically, activist shareholders and their board picks are interested in only two things: shareholder returns and cutting costs. Maybe that's why the pilots are backing Munoz, but once thing is for certain -- if they aren't onboard with the way the leadership is heading, things are going to get ugly.

If the other unions are of the same mindset as ALPA, and assuming Munoz has struck a chord with labor, screwing with that right now would be disastrous.

 

[Kev3188]

Munoz has gained a ton of credibility with IAM members at UA for getting rid of the cuts certain stations took to stay open. On a station visit to IND, workers confronted him about it, he said he'd fix it, and within two weeks, he did. That may have been a little gamesmanship to get labor to come around to his way of thinking. Regardless of the reason(s), it worked.