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Institutional Investor Magazine Honors our CEO and CFO

pberg
Frequent Flyer B
Institutional Investor Magazine recently conducted surveys to identify America's Best CEOs and CFOs for 2008. The results told us what we already knew: Gary Kelly topped the list as the #1 CEO in the airline sector, and Laura Wright took top honors as the #1 CFO in the airline sector. Laura Wright Most of you know Gary, but for those of you that don't know Laura, allow me to introduce you. As CFO for Southwest Airlines, Laura is responsible for our overall finance activities including reporting, accounting, investor relations, treasury/tax, fleet planning, insurance, and Employee compensation and benefits. She reports directly to Gary and works with a team of more than 450 Employees to make sure that Southwest maintains its strong financial position and low-cost advantage. Laura earned both a Bachelors and a Masters of Science in Accounting from the University of North Texas in 1982. Additionally, she is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Texas. Prior to joining Southwest, she was a Tax Manager with Arthur Young & Company in Dallas, Texas. Since 1988, when she became a part of the Southwest Family, she has held the positions of Director Corporate Taxation, Director Corporate Finance, Assistant Treasurer, Treasurer, and Vice President Finance and Treasurer. That's the technical stuff, but below are 19 interesting facts about Laura that we were able to dig up with the help of her Executive Assistant, Pam Liebrum (thanks, Pam!): 1. Her twin sister, Linda, is her best friend, and they had a double wedding. 2. She was born in Colorado, grew up in Nebraska, and finished high school in East Texas. 3. She won her class spelling bee almost every year, and usually won her grade level spelling bee. The only year she didn't win was in second grade–she misspelled the word "ribbon." (She's still mad about it!!) She was the County Spelling Bee Champion in the 8th grade. 4. She could stand on her head for hours as a kid. Literally, she was timed. 5. She worked as an Intern for Ernst & Whitney, and worked for Arthur Young after college - the same firm that our CEO, Gary Kelly, and COO, Mike Van de Ven, had previously worked for. 6. She played the flute when she was in school. 7. Her first car was a Ford Maverick. 8. Her first job was during high school in the bookkeeping department at a bank. 9. She talks to herself in the shower. 10. She runs on her toes. 11. She ran eight miles a day in college, regardless of the weather. 12. She played softball and was a star pitcher. She always made the All-star Team. 13. She graduated from the University of North Texas in only four and a half years with both her Bachelors and Masters degrees. 14. She was President of her sorority in college. 15. She passed all four parts of her CPA exam the first time she took it, her Junior year of college. (She hadn't even had all her accounting classes yet!) 16. She is a sports fan, and the Nebraska Cornhuskers are her favorite Team. 17. She is married to Randy and they have two children, Lindsay and Jeff. 18. She met her husband in college– he was a graduate student and a cost accounting teacher. 19. Her hobbies include traveling and spending time with her kids and family. Congratulations to Gary and Laura – We're very fortunate to have such talented and respected Leaders!
11 Comments
jmk22574
Explorer B
I know this comment doesn't pertain to this particular story, so I apologize, but when will we find out the winners of the DING contest that ended on 3/7/08? Did I miss it somewhere?
Anonymous4064
Explorer B
Speaking of finance, it would be nice to see Southwest pick up some of those Aloha Airlines 737's and expand into more cities.
joe-mdw-plane-d
Frequent Flyer C
Steve, Those planes are leased so it is up to the leasing companies to find a new owner. I'm sure Gary's phone has already rang for that. I don't believe any new cities are going to open this year. Just connecting of the dots between some existing ones. The schedule extension is set for april 17. Jill, a copy and paste from John for you. Hello everyone. Wow! WeÃ
sparky
Explorer A
It is good to see that you have such a great employee here, and of course want to make her feel welcom, but I also must point out there are alot of outstanding employees at SWA. In the past 3 months, I have delt with many of them, and ALL of them have been above the level of standards that I would expect... But of course SWA as a whole is more than I expected as well. Congrats to all the employees of your company.
jmk22574
Explorer B
Thanks for the information, Joe (via John). I appreciate it! 🙂
Juno
Explorer C
Are you people crazy when it comes to safety, you really need to remove or re-format your safety guidelines. I'll be cancelling my flight in June due to the lying sack of crap airline you really are!!!!!
Anonymous4064
Explorer B
Now that ATA has folded, is Southwest going to start another code-share agreement with another airline? Would be nice to see Sun Country code-share since neither airline code-shares with anyone. Maybe Southwest can start flying to Hawaii now.
LaToshaDC
Explorer C
Wow obviously there are no standards for this honor. Like oh being committed to safety, concern for employees' or customers' lives, not putting profits before human beings those kind of standards. Well congrats on being awarded for your great leadership and service.
Helen_Houston
Explorer C
I have been flying SWA for years, and have always been happy with you. Right now I am frustrated. My son is in the Army, stationed in HI. He will be DEPLOYING to IRAQ next month. I have been waiting months to see him. I found out today about ATA, and my son is SUPPOSED to be home in 2 days. This afternoon I spent 1.5 hours on hold with your toll free number, and could not wait any longer. As of right now, I've been on hold for 3.5 hours trying to get him home. Why do you not have this line staffed with more people? To spend 5.0 hours and counting on hold is not right. All I would like is to have some help getting him home.
Helen_Houston
Explorer C
Believe it or not, I'm still on hold. I've been disconnected 2 times, and I'm still waiting. I've been trying to get this resolved since 3pm on thursday.
Helen_Houston
Explorer C
Since I did all the complaining, I thought I would follow up with a positive. I just got off the phone with your CS Rep, Marlene. She was very nice, considerate, and helpful. She managed to get my son on another flight and he'll be home on Saturday. THANK YOU. As always, I have been pleased with the employees I have dealt with over the years; however, I am rather dismayed that I had to spend so much time "waiting" for assistance. I don't believe this to be up to the normal customer service standards that have helped SWA become the organization they are today.