Douglas M. Steenland (born September 17, 1951) is an American former corporate attorney and former airline executive. He had a 17-year career at

Northwest Airlines Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWA) was a major American airline founded in 1926 and absorbed into Delta Air Lines, Inc. by a merger. The merger, approved on October 29, 2008, made Delta the largest airline in the world until the American Airlines ...

, where he held numerous executive roles, including as president from 2001 through 2008, and president and CEO of Northwest from October 2004 until its merger with

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline, along ...

in October 2008. Since then he has served on a number of boards of directors, and as an advisor to the

Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. Blackstone's private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyouts in the last three decades, while its real estate bu ...

Education

Steenland received a B.A. in history from

Calvin College Calvin University, formerly Calvin College, is a private Christian university in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Founded in 1876, Calvin University is an educational institution of the Christian Reformed Church and stands in the Reformed (Calvinist) ...

and a J.D. from the National Law Center at

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , presi ...

Career

Early career

Following law school, Steenland worked for two years at the Office of the General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Transportation. He then joined the Washington, D.C. law firm Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand (now part of

DLA Piper DLA Piper is a multinational law firm with offices in over 40 countries throughout the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. In 2021, it had a total revenue of US$3.47 billion, an average profit per equity partner of U ...

), where his focus included work for airlines regarding regulations, acquisitions, and new overseas markets. He rose to become a senior partner at the firm.

Northwest Airlines

After his team at the law firm represented

during a leveraged buyout and other matters from 1989 to 1991, Steenland was hired by the airline as vice president/deputy general counsel in 1991. He was promoted to

senior vice president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...

general counsel A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...

in 1994, and to

executive vice president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...

/general counsel and alliances in 1998. He was subsequently promoted to executive vice president/chief corporate officer in 1999 and to

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

and board member in 2001. From 2004 to 2008 he was president and

Chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

of Northwest Airlines. He led the airline through a period marked by severe economic difficulties for U.S. airlines, caused by factors such as the aftereffects of

9/11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerci ...

and the

SARS epidemic Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease of zoonotic origin caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-1), the first identified strain of the SARS coronavirus species, ''s ...

, the

financial crisis of 2007–08 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of f ...

, rising fuel prices, and the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

. In 2008, Steenland led Northwest into a merger with

. The merger was completed in October 2008; at that time Steenland retired from Northwest and joined the board of directors of the merged company, Delta, and remained on its board till 2011.

Additional positions

Steenland was chairman of the Air Transport Association from January 2008 to December 2009. He was appointed to the board of directors of

International Lease Finance Corporation The International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) was an aircraft lessor headquartered in the Constellation Place in Century City, Los Angeles, California, US. It was the world's largest aircraft lessor by value, though ILFC's rival, General El ...

in September 2009, and was made non-executive chairman in December 2009, serving in that role until June 2012. In 2010, he was appointed the non-executive chairman of Performance Food Group, a position he held until February 2019. In August 2011, he was appointed vice chairman of

Travelport Travelport Worldwide Ltd provides distribution, technology, payment solutions for the travel and tourism industry. It is the smallest, by revenue, of the top three global distribution systems (GDS) after Amadeus IT Group and Sabre Corporation. ...

's board of directors, and in May 2013 he was promoted to chairman, a position he held until the company's acquisition by private equity investors in 2019. He was appointed to the board of directors of

AIG American International Group, Inc. (AIG) is an American multinational finance and insurance corporation with operations in more than 80 countries and jurisdictions. , AIG companies employed 49,600 people.https://www.aig.com/content/dam/aig/amer ...

in June 2009. and has been

non-executive chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of the company since July 2015. He has been on the board of directors of

Hilton Worldwide Hilton Worldwide (legally Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.) is an American multinational hospitality company that manages and franchises a broad portfolio of hotels and resorts. Founded by Conrad Hilton in May 1919, the corporation is now led by ...

since September 2009. He has been a senior advisor at the

since 2009. He is a lifetime director on the board of the

Guthrie Theater The Guthrie Theater, founded in 1963, is a center for theater performance, production, education, and professional training in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The concept of the theater was born in 1959 in a series of discussions between Sir Tyrone Gut ...

in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Personal life

Steenland is married and has two children.Northwest Airlines - Senior Officers, Biography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steenland, Douglas M Lawyers from Washington, D.C. Northwest Airlines Living people Calvin University alumni George Washington University Law School alumni American airline chief executives American corporate directors American International Group people 1951 births