Gary Clayton Kelly (born March 12, 1955) is an American business executive. He is the

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 group ...

and former

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 ...

Southwest Airlines Southwest Airlines Co., typically referred to as Southwest, is one of the major airlines of the United States and the world's largest low-cost carrier. It is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has scheduled service to 121 destinations in the U ...

Personal life

Kelly was born in

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_ ...

on March 12, 1955. Kelly received a

Bachelor of Business Administration Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is a bachelor's degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of business administration and usually including advanced ...

Accounting Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non financial information about economic entities such as businesses and corporations. Accounting, which has been called the "languag ...

from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. He is a

Certified Public Accountant Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is the title of qualified accountants in numerous countries in the English-speaking world. It is generally equivalent to the title of chartered accountant in other English-speaking countries. In the United Sta ...

. Kelly first met his wife Carol in eighth grade. They married in 1976. Together, they have two daughters.

Career

Prior to his work at Southwest, Kelly worked as an Audit Manager for Arthur Young & Co. and a

controller Controller may refer to: Occupations * Controller or financial controller, or in government accounting comptroller, a senior accounting position * Controller, someone who performs agent handling in espionage * Air traffic controller, a person w ...

for

Sterling Software Sterling Software was an American Software industry, software company founded in Dallas, Texas in 1981 by Sterling Williams and brothers Sam Wyly, Sam and Charles Wyly. The company was acquired by CA, Inc, Computer Associates International in 2 ...

. Kelly first joined Southwest Airlines in 1986 as a

. In 1989, Kelly was promoted to

Chief Financial Officer The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and fina ...

and Vice President of Finance. In 2001, he was promoted to Executive Vice President. Kelly spent 3 years in this role until he was promoted to become Southwest's fifth CEO and vice chairman in 2004 replacing James Parker who succeeded

Herb Kelleher Herbert David Kelleher (March 12, 1931 – January 3, 2019) was an American billionaire airline businessman and lawyer. He was the co-founder, later CEO, and chairman emeritus of Southwest Airlines until his death in 2019. Early life Kelleher w ...

in 2001. Kelly was named Chairman of the Board of Directors of

on May 21, 2008, replacing co-

founder Founder or Founders may refer to: Places *Founders Park, a stadium in South Carolina, formerly known as Carolina Stadium * Founders Park, a waterside park in Islamorada, Florida Arts, entertainment, and media * Founders (''Star Trek''), the ali ...

. Gary Kelly also became

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 ...

of Southwest Airlines the same year, replacing

Colleen Barrett Colleen C. Barrett (born September 14, 1944) is the President Emerita of Southwest Airlines, and an influential figure in the founding and development of the company. In 2001 she became the first woman to serve as president of a major airline. P ...

when her contract expired on July 15, 2008. Bob Fornaro and Gary Kelly

As CEO, Kelly has guided the airline to become the largest carrier of domestic passengers in the United States. He has led the company through a number of transformative, large-scale initiatives including the revamp of the airline’s Rapid Rewards program, the introduction of the Boeing 737–800 and

737 MAX The Boeing 737 MAX is the fourth generation of the Boeing 737, a narrow-body airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA), a division of American company Boeing. It succeeds the Boeing 737 Next Generation (NG) and competes with th ...

aircraft to Southwest’s fleet, the acquisition of

AirTran Airways AirTran Airways was a low-cost U.S. airline that was originally headquartered in Orlando, Florida, and ceased operation following its acquisition by Southwest Airlines. AirTran Airways was established in 1993 as Conquest Sun Airlines by th ...

, the launching of Southwest's first international service, an update to the airline’s branding, the adoption of the Amadeus reservation system, and large expansion projects at the company’s corporate headquarters in

Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

. On January 10, 2017, Kelly announced changes to the Company's executive Leadership ranks with Thomas M. Nealon named as President and Michael G. Van de Ven named as the airline's Chief Operating Officer. These changes were effective immediately. Kelly retained the title of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. After agreeing to take a salary cut to prevent employee furloughs, his base salary reduced to zero until the end of 2021. After Congress passed additional Payroll Support Program (PSP) measures, the SWA BoD retroactively reinstated Gary Kelly's full salary. On 23 June 2021, Kelly announced he would relinquish his role as CEO in February 2022, with Bob Jordan announced to take his place at that time. He will remain as Executive Chairman of the board until at least 2026. On December 15, 2021, Kelly testified against mask mandates on airplanes at a

Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation The United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is a standing committee of the United States Senate. Besides having broad jurisdiction over all matters concerning interstate commerce, science and technology policy, ...

hearing while sitting unmasked next to other unmasked senior airline executives opposed to mask mandates; two days later he tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

Awards and recognition

Kelly was named one of the best CEOs in America for 2008, 2009 and 2010 by

Institutional Investor An institutional investor is an entity which pools money to purchase securities, real property, and other investment assets or originate loans. Institutional investors include commercial banks, central banks, credit unions, government-linked ...

magazine and serves on the President's Council of Jobs and Competitiveness. In 2014, Kelly received the Advertising Innovation and Marketing Excellence (AIME) Award. Kelly was the 2016 recipient of the Tony Jannus Award for distinguished achievement in commercial air transportation. In 2017,

Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...

named Kelly the #3 most underrated CEO in America (after

Satya Nadella Satya Narayana Nadella (, ; born 19 August 1967) is an Indian-American business executive. He is the executive chairman and CEO of Microsoft, succeeding Steve Ballmer in 2014 as CEO and John W. Thompson in 2021 as chairman. Before becoming CEO, ...

and

Jeff Bezos Jeffrey Preston Bezos ( ;; and Robinson (2010), p. 7. ''né'' Jorgensen; born January 12, 1964) is an American entrepreneur, media proprietor, investor, and commercial astronaut. He is the founder, executive chairman, and former presi ...

) based on a survey of

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune (magazine), Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States Joint-stock company#Closely held corporations and publicly traded corporations, corporations by ...

CEOs asking them which of their fellow CEOs do not get enough credit. Kelly received 85 votes. On February 18, 2020, Gary Kelly was named as the recipient of the 2020 Philanthropic Leadership Award from

The Ireland Funds The Ireland Funds are a global fundraising network for people of Irish ancestry and friends of Ireland, dedicated to raising funds to support programs of peace and reconciliation, arts and culture, education and community development throughout t ...

. On October 25, 2021, Gary Kelly was the recipient of the 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award from 3BL Media.

References

External links

Gary C. Kelly's executive profile

CEO of the Year (Again!): Gary Kelly of Southwest Airlines

Nuts About Southwest Blog

Gary C. Kelly Shares His Views on Leadership (Video)

Gary C. Kelly on Becoming CEO of Southwest Airlines (Video)

Gary C. Kelly Describes A Story of Caring (Video)

Southwest Airlines Employee Testimonials (Video)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Gary C. American airline chief executives Living people 1955 births McCombs School of Business alumni Southwest Airlines people American chief financial officers