David Neeleman

David G. Neeleman
Born	October 16, 1959 (1959-10-16) (age 52) São Paulo, Brazil
Occupation	CEO Azul Brazilian Airlines
Known for	Commercial airline entrepreneur
Religion	The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Spouse	Vicki Neeleman

David G. Neeleman (born October 16, 1959) is a Brazilian-born American entrepreneur who has founded three commercial airlines, Morris Air, JetBlue Airways and Azul Brazilian Airlines.

Biography

Neeleman was born in São Paulo, Brazil, and raised in the United States, to a family of Dutch and North American descent. He lived in Brazil until he was five.^[1] He attended Brighton High School in Cottonwood Heights, Utah, and attended the University of Utah for three years before dropping out. He served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.^[2]

He co-founded (with June Morris) Morris Air, a low-fare charter airline, and from 1984 to 1988, he was executive vice president of the company. In 1988 Neeleman assumed the helm of Morris Air as its president. Then when Morris Air was acquired by Southwest Airlines for $130 million in 1993, he worked for a short time on their Executive Planning Committee.

After leaving Southwest, Neeleman became the CEO of Open Skies, a touch screen airline reservation and check-in systems company, later acquired by HP in 1999. At the same time, he helped with another upstart airline, WestJet.

As the CEO of JetBlue Airways, his 2002 salary was $200,000 with a bonus of $90,000. Neeleman donated his entire salary to the JetBlue Crewmember Crisis Fund, which was established for JetBlue employees who had fallen on hard times.^[3]

On May 10, 2007, David Neeleman was replaced by David Barger as CEO of JetBlue^[4] and on May 21, 2008 he was replaced as chairman of the board by Joel Peterson.^[5]

On March 27, 2008 Neeleman officially announced plans to launch a new airline, Azul (Portuguese for "blue"), a domestic carrier in Brazil.

Personal

Neeleman lives with his wife Vicki in New Canaan, Connecticut, United States. They are the parents of nine children.^[6] In 2000, he disclosed to CNN that he has adult attention-deficit disorder.^[7]

He is the 2005 recipient of the Tony Jannus Award for outstanding leadership in the commercial aviation industry.^[8]

He speaks fluent Portuguese and holds both U.S. and Brazilian citizenship.

Notes

1. ^ Sellers, Patricia (July 26, 2010). "The Next JetBlue: What's David Neeleman Doing Starting a New Airline in Brazil? Setting Records, For One Thing". Fortune 162 (2): 97–100. http://money.cnn.com/2010/07/13/news/companies/azul_neeleman_jetblue.fortune/index.htm. Retrieved 17 July 2010. 
2. ^ Home Sourcing the Blue Way
3. ^ Wade, James B.; O'Reilly III, Charles A.; Pollock, Timothy G. (September–October 2006). "Overpaid CEOs and Underpaid Managers: Fairness and Executive Compensation". Organization Science 17 (5): 527. doi:10.1287/orsc.1060.0204. ISSN 1047-70-39. 
4. ^ JetBlue Air Names Barger to Succeed Neeleman as Chief
5. ^ Shwiff, Kathy (May 21, 2008). "JetBlue Solidifies Succession Plan". The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121140727897312183.html?mod=us_business_whats_news. Retrieved 2008-05-22. 
6. ^ "TBR Board of Directors: David Neeleman, Chief Executive Officer, jetBlue Airways". Travel Business Roundtable. Archived from the original on 2007-03-10. http://web.archive.org/web/20070310021255/http://www.tbr.org/about/neeleman.htm. Retrieved 2007-05-07. 
7. ^ Integris-Health.com, Integris Health Essentials
8. ^ "Tony Jannus Award past recipients". Tony Jannus Society. http://www.tonyjannusaward.com/legacy.html. Retrieved 2008-03-29. ^{[dead link]}

External links

• David Neeleman's profile at Azul's official site (Portuguese)
• Speaking at Stanford
• Forbes Person
• David Neeleman Interview
• Q&A with Inc. Magazine

Persondata
Name	Neeleman, David
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	October 16, 1959
Place of birth	São Paulo, Brazil
Date of death
Place of death