United Airlines Announces New Officer Appointments; Changes Further Company's Focus on Continuous Improvement

Source: UAL Press Release

CHICAGO, May 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- UAL Corporation, parent company of United Airlines, today announced four new officer appointments, each charged with driving continuous improvement efforts in their new roles and throughout the organization.

Allen, who joined the company in 2003, previously served as senior vice president - Onboard Service, a role that is being filled by Sean Donohue, currently United's vice president - Customer Experience.

United appointed Jane Allen senior vice president - Human Resources, with responsibility for United's human resource functions worldwide, including labor relations, personnel policies and issues, benefits and compensation. Allen, who joined the company in 2003, previously served as senior vice president - Onboard Service, a role that is being filled by Sean Donohue, currently United's vice president - Customer Experience. The company also announced it appointed Monique Hines vice president - Information Services Division, and Srisu Subrahmanyam, vice president - Continuous Improvement.

"These appointments leverage key experience in the areas of operations, customer interaction and continuous improvement and will enable us to move toward a more performance-driven culture," said Glenn Tilton, United president, chairman and CEO.

Prior to joining United, Allen held several leadership roles at American Airlines, including vice president of flight service and vice president of employee relations and chief labor negotiator. Having joined American as an attorney, she also served as managing director of compensation and benefits.

"Jane's range of experience in operations, customer service and labor relations makes her the right person to restructure the human resources organization, providing the employee strategy to meet the needs of the business going forward," said Tilton. "She has the right combination of business acumen and the understanding of the importance of our people, which will be key as she focuses on driving change in the organization, improving labor relations and creating a high-performance culture."

Allen will report directly to Tilton in this role.

In his new role as senior vice president -- Onboard Service, Donohue will be responsible for the company's worldwide flight attendant operations, food and beverage operations, flight attendant manpower planning and scheduling, and crew hotel accommodations. Donohue joined United in 1984 and has held a number of leadership positions across the company, including launching Ted in 2004. Donohue also served as vice president of Operational Services, United Express and Ted, where he was responsible for overseeing United's system operations control center as well as ensuring the growth and profitability of Ted and the financial and operational performance of United Express. In his most recent role, Donohue has worked closely with the operational divisions to improve customer satisfaction.

"Sean will heighten our focus on the customer, ensuring that the onboard experience we deliver is consistent with our customers' expectations," said Pete McDonald, executive vice president and chief operating officer. "Sean has a strong operational background, and he understands the important role flight attendants play in delivering service to our customers, which will build on the great work already under way in Onboard Service."

Dennis Cary, senior vice president - Marketing, will continue to lead the customer experience initiative and will work with Donohue and other company leaders to drive improvements for United's customers. The company expects to name Donohue's replacement following an internal and external search for candidates.

In her new role as vice president - Information Services Division, Hines will have responsibility for leading information systems development, deployment and support; technology and service management and IT architecture companywide. Hines joined United in 2004 as managing director, chief of development. Prior to joining United, Hines was vice president and chief information officer for Pactiv Corporation. She also held several leadership roles at Whirlpool Corporation and GE Capital, including vice president of Global Architecture & Business Consulting, vice president of Global Supply Chain, vice president of Enterprise Resource Planning and several Information Services leadership positions, delivering capabilities focused on enabling and significantly improving business operations. She will continue to report to Garry Kelly, senior vice president - Continuous Improvement, Strategic Sourcing and Chief Information Officer.

Also reporting to Kelly in a newly created role as vice president - Continuous Improvement will be Srisu Subrahmanyam. In this role, Subrahmanyam will be responsible for leading overall corporate continuous improvement efforts and driving improved productivity. He joined United in 1999 and held several management positions, including managing projects for Onboard Service, maintenance supply chain management efforts in United Services and IT portfolio management as Director of Business Technology. He also led the corporate Industrial Engineering group and most recently served as a managing director in the Information Services Division.