Robert L. Fornaro (also known as Bob Fornaro, born 1952 or 1953) was the CEO of

Spirit Airlines Spirit Airlines Inc. (stylized as spirit) is a major ultra-low-cost U.S. carrier headquartered in Miramar, Florida, in the Miami metropolitan area. Spirit operates scheduled flights throughout the United States, the Caribbean and Latin Americ ...

. He was the chairman, 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 especial ...

of AirTran Holdings Inc. and its subsidiary, AirTran Airways, in Orlando, Florida, until AirTran was acquired by Southwest Airlines in May 2011, when he became a full-time consultant on the acquisition, sitting on the integration board.

Career

After he left

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, Fornaro worked for Trans World Airlines in scheduling and planning. He was senior vice president for marketing and planning at Braniff, Inc, vice president for research at Jesup & Lamont Securities, Inc. and director of future schedule planning for Trans World Airlines. He was then senior vice president for marketing planning 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 ...

from 1988 to 1992, where he managed international alliances and regional airline partner relationships. From 1992 to 1997, Fornaro was senior vice president for planning at

US Airways US Airways (formerly USAir) was a major United States airline that operated from 1937 until its merger with American Airlines in 2015. It was originally founded in Pittsburgh as a mail delivery airline called All American Aviation, which soon ...

where he directed the company's route planning, pricing and

revenue management Revenue management is the application of disciplined analytics that predict consumer behaviour at the micro-market levels and optimize product availability, leveraging price elasticity to maximize revenue growth and thereby, profit. The primary ...

and overall corporate strategy. Before joining AirTran Airways, he operated an aviation consulting practice. Fornaro joined AirTran Airways in March 1999 as president and chief financial officer. He was named

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the " C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if ...

and elected to the board of directors in March 2001. He became chief executive officer on 1 November 2007, taking over from

Joe Leonard Joe Leonard (August 4, 1932 in San Diego, California – April 27, 2017 in San Jose, California) was an American professional motorcycle racer and racecar driver. Biography Motorcycle career Leonard won the first A.M.A. Grand National Champion ...

. When AirTran was acquired by Southwest Airlines in 2011, Fornaro received a payment of $2.9 million. Fornaro acted as a consultant for the integration of the airlines. In May 2014, Fornaro was elected to the board of directors of

. On 5 January 2016, Fornaro was appointed CEO of Spirit Airlines, replacing

Ben Baldanza Basil Ben Baldanza (born December 3, 1961) is an economist and was the chief executive officer and president of Spirit Airlines from 2005 to 2016, a period in which he led the transformation of the company into an ultra-low-cost carrier. Biogr ...

. In December 2017, it was announced that he would step down as CEO in January 2019 and be replaced by CFO Ted Christie.

Education and personal life

Fonaro is originally from Long Island, New York. He attended

Rutgers College Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on a

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

scholarship and earned a bachelor's degree in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

. He was a lacrosse midfielder. He also received a master's degree in city and regional planning from Harvard. He is a director of the

Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce The Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce is the chamber of commerce for the Atlanta metropolitan area. It was founded in 1859. History The first Atlanta Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1859, and was chiefly concerned with fighting railroad rate d ...

and is on the board of the

Georgia Aquarium Georgia Aquarium is a public aquarium in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It exhibits hundreds of species and thousands of animals across its seven major galleries, all of which reside in more than of water. It was the largest aquarium in the wo ...

. He and his wife, Karen, whom he married in the 1970s, reside in

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

and have three adult children, two daughters and a son.

References

External links

Profile at ''Forbes''CEO Interview: AirTran's Robert Fornaro

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

, 23 April 2009 (''YouTube'')
Down to Business: AirTran Expands, Competes in MKE Market
interview with Milwaukee Public Radio, 28 December 2009 {{DEFAULTSORT:Fornaro, Robert L. AirTran Airways American airline chief executives People from Long Island Living people Rutgers Scarlet Knights men's lacrosse players Southwest Airlines people Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni American chief operating officers American chief financial officers 1952 births