Glenn Tilton

Glenn F Tilton (born April 1948 in Washington, DC) is the Chairman, President, and CEO of UAL Corporation and its subsidiaries, most notably United Air Lines, Inc. He has held this role since September 2002, 3 months before UAL Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. He came to UAL from ChevronTexaco.

Tilton grew up in Latin America, and attended high school in Brazil, where his father worked for America's Central Intelligence Agency. After attaining a bachelors degree in International Relations from the University of South Carolina, Tilton originally was going to follow his father's footsteps and join the Central Intelligence Agency. However, Tilton began a career in the private sector working for Texaco in 1970, servicing gas stations throughout Washington, D.C.

Tilton attained positions of increasing responsibility over the next three decades, and would be named Chairman and CEO of Texaco, Inc. in 2001. Tilton was instrumental in leading the merger of Chevron and Texaco and he would become Vice-Chairman of the combined company after the close of the merger to lead the integration.

In September 2002, Tilton was recruited by the Board of Directors of the struggling UAL Corporation to be Chairman, President, and CEO, replacing John "Jack" Creighton as Chairman and CEO, and Rono Dutta as President. A slowing economy, contract agreements with its unions that UAL could not afford, and the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001 put the company on the verge of liquidation and the board believed that only an airline outsider such as Tilton could save the struggling carrier.

Upon taking the job, Tilton inherited a host of problems. First and foremost, UAL only had weeks to strike a deal with unions to scale back pay and work rules to qualify for a loan backed by the government's new Air Transportation Stabilization Board (ATSB). The company and the unions were unable to come to an agreement and UAL Corporation and it's subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy in December 2002.

After entering bankruptcy, Tilton, known for his tough negotiating abilities, sought and achieved major adjustments in employees' pay and benefits, which were some of the most expensive in the industry, to avoid liquidation of the company.

Tilton then launched a complete restructuring of the company including improving airline operations, restructuring the airline’s maintenance and cargo businesses, launching “Operation Starfish,” later to be known as Ted, and focusing on more profitable, international routes. Tilton believed that after turning around United’s operations and negotiating more manageable wages, the federal government's ATSB would this time back the airline's exit facility and allow it to emerge from bankruptcy.

Yet with strong political pressure, the ATSB rejected UAL's application. Upon rejection of the federal loan guarantee in June 2004 and stiff competition from low-cost carriers with no defined-benefit pensions, Tilton was presented with a choice. The banks would fund a non-guaranteed exit facility only if UAL's grossly underfunded pensions, from the pre-Tilton days, were terminated. Thus, Tilton could either halt operations and liquidate the carrier, or go to the unions to force termination of the airlines pensions so it could acquire the exit facility needed to leave bankruptcy. Tilton decided on the latter and after reaching a deal with the federal Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC) to assume UAL's pensions, and striking difficult deals with all of its unions, UAL's pensions were terminated and transferred to the PBGC and the company came to an agreement on an exit facility.

Tilton led UAL Corporation out of bankruptcy on February 2, 2006, by ringing the opening bell on the NASDAQ stock exchange along with other employees.

One of Tilton's major goals post-bankruptcy has been to end the last three decades of booms and busts that have crippled airlines, especially UAL's United. Tilton is a major advocate for consolidation in the airline industry, which he believes is a major stepping stone toward achieving that goal. Since 2006, Tilton has been searching for a merger partner. After failed negotiations with Continental Airlines and US Airways Group, Tilton settled on an agreement with Continental to form a marketing agreement in the summer of 2008, but not an official merger like he hoped for. The agreement is scheduled to take effect in 2009. Tilton still claims to be open and willing to participate in a merger transaction when the right opportunity arises.

In the meantime Tilton has launched a project, dubbed "back-to-basics" where the United division is trying to improve its operational reliability and customer service metrics, which have suffered as traffic has increased since 9/11 and due to its route system, with hubs in some of the most populated airports in the nation. Additionally, United is rolling out new international First Class and Business Class cabins, along with leather seats in Economy Class. Several other major projects are also planned.

Tilton continues to have a difficult relationship with UAL's unions who are still seething at the steep contract cuts and pension losses that occurred during bankruptcy. When the unions failed to pressure Tilton into renegotiating the company's step contract cuts that were needed for the company to be competitive, labor launched a media assault. The Air Line Pilots Association, under the leadership of Captain Steve Wallach, a member of UAL's Board of Directors and Human Resources Committee, which oversees Tilton, have been the most vocal of late. On August 11, 2008, ALPA launched a website calling for Tilton's resignation at GlennTilton.com.

Tilton has also been under fire for his compensation packages, both after bankruptcy and currently. Because of accounting rules, upon exiting bankruptcy Tilton received compensation officially valued at $39,700,000, in 2006 even though the real amount was less than a quarter of that amount. Yet the unions and many press reports used the $39 million figure to paint Tilton in a negative light. Tilton and his management team continue to struggle with UAL's unions.

Tilton speaks 3 languages - English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Tilton and his wife, Jackie, have two children. He lives in Chicago.

References

External links

* [http://www.staralliance.com/star_alliance/press_room/executive_biographies/glenn_f.html Biography (Star Alliance)]
* [http://www.forbes.com/finance/mktguideapps/personinfo/FromPersonIdPersonTearsheet.jhtml?passedPersonId=137723 Biography (Forbes)]
* [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50916F7395B0C718EDDA80894DE404482 Excessive stock bonuses to executives at bankrupt United (NY Times)]
* [http://www.planebusiness.com/bestofthebanter/2006/04/13/bestof.shtml PlaneBusiness First-Ever Glenn Tilton 'Self-Enrichment' Award - Why is this man smiling?]
* [http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3242961 The Oil Man in the Jump Seat: How Glenn Tilton is Struggling to Stop United Airlines Crashing (The Economist)]