HowardPutnam

Advisory Board

Howard Putnam
Former CEO of Southwest Airlines and Braniff Airlines
and Group V.P. Marketing for United Airlines

Mr. Putnam is the former CEO of Southwest Airlines and Braniff Airlines and Group Vice President of Marketing for United Airlines. Howard is a business and motivational speaker, author, consultant, commentator, and online mentor on: Leadership, Customer Service, Change, Transformation and Ethics.

Mr. Putnam’s ultimate objective is “bottom line improvement.” He believes cultures that place "people" as their #1 priority have the greatest long-term impact and success.

He was raised on an Iowa farm and learned to fly out of a pasture in his Father's J-3 Piper Cub and entered the airline business as a baggage handler at Midway Airport in Chicago for Capital Airlines at age 17. Capital was soon merged into United and Howard held thirteen different positions in sales, services and staff assignments in several cities, before being named Group Vice President of Marketing for United Airlines, the world's largest airline, in 1976.

In 1978 he was recruited to become President and CEO of fledgling Southwest Airlines in Dallas, TX. While at Southwest Howard and his team tripled the revenues and tripled profitability in three years. They also successfully guided Southwest through airline deregulation and Southwest was the first air carrier to order the Boeing 737-300, which later became the largest selling aircraft ever for Boeing.

Mr. Putnam led the visioning process at Southwest as well as further developing the "fun" culture and excellent customer service that Southwest is still known for today. Southwest has been profitable every year for over thirty years, a record unsurpassed by any other airline.

In 1981, he was recruited by the board of directors of Braniff International to come aboard as CEO and save and/or restructure the financially failing airline. Mr. Putnam was the first airline CEO to successfully take a major carrier into, through and out of chapter 11. Braniff flew again in 1984.

He has been an entrepreneur and has served as a director of several startup technology companies. He is an author, speaker and advisor on business issues, change, leadership and ethics. HarperCollins published his first book, “The Winds of Turbulence.” Harvard University wrote a case study on his Braniff experiences, “The Ethics of Bankruptcy.” Howard Putnam has an MBA in Marketing from the University of Chicago and attended Harvard’s Advanced Management Program.

Mr. Putnam brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from numerous industries to assist Thinkubator in strategy development and due diligence efforts.

BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE
Research | Development | Management | Oversight