Delta finalises senior team following closing of Delta-Northwest merger
Published: 16 Jul 2008
Delta Air Lines has shared the composition of senior team responsible for leading the company after the closing of its merger with Northwest Airlines.
The focus will be on ensuring a seamless transition of Northwest's operations into Delta over the next 12-24 months.
The team of officers will be led by Delta CEO Richard Anderson and it will comprise operational, corporate and strategic leaders selected from both companies to represent the respective strengths of Delta and Northwest.
In addition, Delta announced the senior officers who will be members of its Corporate Leadership Team (CLT). The CLT will have overall responsibility for the strategy of the airline, including major decision-making and overall supervision of the merger process. The CLT, which will be effective upon the closing of the merger, includes:
· Richard Anderson, CEO – Delta Air Lines
· Ed Bastian, President and CFO - Delta Air Lines; CEO and President - NWA
· Mike Becker, EVP, Chief Operating Officer - NWA
· Mike Campbell, EVP - HR, Labor & Communications
· Steve Gorman, EVP - Operations
· Glen Hauenstein, EVP - Revenue & Network
· Ben Hirst, SVP - General Counsel
· Laura Liu, SVP - International
· Theresa Wise, SVP – Chief Information Officer
Upon closing, NWA, Inc. will be an operating subsidiary of Delta Air Lines.
Ed Bastian, who is Delta's current president and CFO, will also become CEO and president of Northwest.
Mike Becker, who is currently senior vice president of Human Resources and Labor Relations at Northwest, will become the new executive vice president and chief operating officer of Northwest during the transition period.
As previously announced, Northwest's current president and CEO, Doug Steenland, will leave to assume his seat on the new Delta Board of Directors.
Each of the officers of the new NWA structure will be officers of both NWA and Delta upon closing.
The new Delta will be headquartered in Atlanta and will maintain a significant long-term presence in Minnesota that includes both operation and staff functions beyond the 12-24 month transition of Northwest operations into Delta.
Together, Delta and Northwest will have more than $35 billion in aggregate annual revenues, operate a mainline fleet of nearly 800 aircraft, employ approximately 75,000 people worldwide, and have one of the strongest balance sheets in the industry. The merger is subject to the approval of Delta and Northwest stockholders and regulatory approvals, which are targeted for completion later this year.
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tromba said on 16 Jul 08:
As an American customer of both of these airlines, I hope that this merger goes well. But, I don't recall reading of any successful merger of US airlines since deregulation some 30 years ago.
Perhaps I am swayed by my labor sympathies, but it doesn't seem to me that the problems in such a merger are not with integrating the management of the two airlines, but rather with combining the two teams of employees. Top management is much easier to replace than a large work force.