Stephen Wolf

Last updated
Stephen M. Wolf
Stephen M. Wolf.jpg
Wolf, 2012
Born1941
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater San Francisco State University
Occupation(s)Chairman of R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company
Managing partner of Alpilles, LLC
Spouse(s)Delores Wallace
(1986-present)

Stephen M. Wolf (born 1941, California) assumed his current position as chairman of R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company [1] in March 2004. [2] He has been the managing partner of Alpilles, LLC, since April 1, 2003. [2] In April 2009, he became chairman of Trilantic Capital Partners, which was previously Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking. Before becoming managing partner of Alpilles, Wolf was the chief executive officer of the US Airways [2] from January 16, 1996, until November 18, 1998, when he turned over his CEO title to another executive. Wolf was responsible for the rebranding to the US Airways from its previous identity, USAir. During Wolf's tenure, US Airways also placed an order for up to 400 Airbus A320-series narrow-body aircraft, with 120 firm orders at the time of the order signing; at the time, the order was regarded as the largest bulk aircraft request in history.[ citation needed ]

Contents

Career

Wolf's aviation career began in 1966 with American Airlines, where he rose to the position of vice president of the western division. He joined Pan American World Airways as a senior vice president in 1981 and became president and chief operating officer of Continental Airlines in 1982.

In 1984, he became president and CEO of Republic Airlines (1979-1986), where he served until 1986, at which time he orchestrated the company's merger with Northwest Airlines. Thereafter, he served as chairman and CEO of Tiger International Inc. and Flying Tiger Line, where he oversaw the sale of the company to Federal Express. Wolf serves as a member of the board of directors of R. R. Donnelly & Sons Company, Philip Morris International, and Chrysler Group, LLC, and is an honorary trustee of The Brookings Institution.

Wolf had served since 1994 as senior advisor to Lazard Frères from 1987 until it was purchased by its employees in July 1994 he was chairman and chief executive officer of UAL Corporation and United Airlines, Inc.

Wolf holds a bachelor's degree in sociology from San Francisco State University. [2]

Personal Life

Wolf is a native of California, where he attended high school in Oakland [3] and attended college at San Francisco State University. Wolf married his wife Delores, a former American Airlines executive, in 1986. [4] The couple is known to have lived in Chicago during Stephen's chairmanship of United Airlines; they later constructed a stone and brick house featuring an 1,800 bottle wine cellar on farmland in McLean, Virginia. [5] In 2013 the couple purchased a Moroccan style, 242 square meter (2,600 square foot), 2-bedroom condominium in the Dunster House complex at 360 S. Ocean Blvd. in Palm Beach. [6] Both Stephen and Delores are self-declared Francophiles. [5]

The 198cm (6'6") Wolf is known for his distinctive appearance, consisting of his characteristic round tortoiseshell eyeglasses, red suspenders, and Hungarian-style moustache. He also owns a collection of Jaguar automobiles. [5]

Wolf has donated more than $16,000 to Republican causes since 1990, including the political campaigns of John McCain, Thomas M. Davis, Sue Lowden, Lauch Faircloth, Linda Lingle, Josh Mandel, Lynn Morley Martin, Michael Castle, and John Warner. [7]

Related Research Articles

A chief operating officer (COO) is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization, i.e., personnel, resources, and logistics. COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the CEO, and reports directly to them and acts on their behalf in their absence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Neeleman</span> American aviation entrepreneur

David Gary Neeleman is a Brazilian-American businessman. He has founded five commercial airlines: Morris Air, WestJet, JetBlue Airways, Azul Brazilian Airlines, and Breeze Airways. Along with Humberto Pedrosa and Aigle Azur, he owned 45% of TAP Air Portugal. In 2017 he became a citizen of Cyprus.

Gerard J. Arpey is the former chairman, president, and chief executive officer (CEO) of AMR Corporation, parent company to American Airlines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Akbar Al Baker</span> CEO of Qatar Airways from 1997 to 2023

Akbar Al Baker is an Indian-born Qatari businessman who was the Group CEO of Qatar Airways. He was also the Chairman of Qatar Tourism until October 22, 2023. Under Qatar Airways Group, Al-Baker was also the CEO of Hamad International Airport, which opened in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doug Parker</span> American businessman

William Douglas Parker is an American businessman who is the chairman of American Airlines Group, the parent company of American Airlines. Parker previously served as chief executive officer of the airline from 2001 to 2023.

UAL Corporation is the former name of United Airlines Holdings, an airline holding company, incorporated in Delaware with headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. UAL held a 100 percent controlling interest in United Airlines, Inc., one of the world's largest air carriers, and is a founding member of the Star Alliance. It was announced on May 3, 2010, that UAL Corporation and Continental Airlines, Inc. would pursue a merger pending government approval. UAL Corporation would acquire Continental Airlines, Inc. and change its name to United Continental Holdings (UCH). On October 1, 2010, UCH, formerly UAL Corporation, announced completion of the merger. On Thursday June 27, 2019 United changed the name of its parent company from United Continental Holdings to United Airlines Holdings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glenn Tilton</span>

Glenn Fletcher Tilton is a retired American oil and airline industry executive. Tilton spent most of his career working for Texaco, and as CEO guided its merger with Chevron Oil in 2001. He was chairman, president, and CEO of UAL Corporation from 2002 to 2010. He stayed on as non-executive chairman of United Continental Holdings Inc., (NYSE:UAL), the parent company of the merged United Airlines, Inc. and Continental Airlines, Inc. from October 1, 2010, until 2012. Tilton was Midwest chairman and a member of the executive committee at JP Morgan Chase (NYSE:JPM), from June 6, 2011, until his retirement in June, 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary C. Kelly</span> American business executive

Gary Clayton Kelly is an American business executive. He is the chairman and former chief executive officer of Southwest Airlines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John W. Creighton Jr.</span> American executive (1932–2020)

John Watson Creighton Jr. was an American executive who served for nine years, from 1988 to 1997, as president and chief executive officer of Weyerhaeuser, a $7 billion, publicly traded timber company. In addition to Weyerhaeuser, he also served in senior management and executive positions with United Airlines, the University of Puget Sound, the U.S. Department of the Army, and the Boy Scouts of America.

John H. Dasburg is an American businessperson and the former chief executive officer (CEO) of Northwest Airlines from 1990 to 2001 and of Burger King from 2001 to 2002. Dasburg grew up in Miami, Florida and graduated from Miami High School. He served in the United States Navy during the Vietnam War. He attended the University of Florida for college, and used the GI Bill to get his MBA also from UF. He was one of the youngest name partners at Peat, Marwick Mitchell accounting firm, and went on to become one of the senior members of the executive team at Marriott. He later accepted a position with Northwest Airlines, and became the CEO in 1990. He is credited with saving the airline from bankruptcy in the early 1990s. He served as chairman, CEO, and president of Burger King and chairman and CEO of DHL Airways. He is currently Chairman and CEO of ASTAR Air Cargo, Inc.

Christoph R. Mueller is a German businessman. From 2016 to 2019, he was chief digital and innovation officer of Emirates Group. He is the former chief executive officer of Malaysia Airlines. With over 25 years' experience as a turnaround specialist in the aviation, logistic and tourism industry, Mueller has been widely credited with leading the financial recovery of Aer Lingus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Fornaro</span>

Robert L. Fornaro was the CEO of Spirit Airlines. He was the chairman, president and chief executive officer of AirTran Holdings Inc. and its subsidiary, AirTran Airways, in Orlando, Florida, until AirTran was acquired by Southwest Airlines in May 2011, when he became a full-time consultant on the acquisition, sitting on the integration board.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Hogan (businessman)</span> Australian airline executive

James Reginald Hogan, is an Australian airline executive. Between 2006 and mid-2017, he was the President and CEO of Etihad Airways, one of the national airlines of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He was also the CEO of Gulf Air.

Thomas W. Horton is a partner of Global Infrastructure Partners and is lead director at Walmart Inc. and General Electric Corp.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hollis L. Harris</span> Aviation executive

Hollis Loyd Harris served as President and COO of Delta Air Lines (1987-1990) and Chairman, President, and CEO of Continental Airlines (1990-1991), Air Canada (1992-1996), and World Airways (1999-2004). According to author Harry Nolan, Harris led the latter three airlines "out of the turbulence of financial instability toward profitability." In 1997 Harris and Steve Wolf signed a strategic agreement between Air Canada and United Airlines, producing what is now the Star Alliance, which grew to become the world's largest global airline alliance.

Gerald L. "Gerry" Gitner is an American former aviation executive who occupied high-level positions at Trans World Airlines (TWA), Pan American World Airways, People Express Airlines, and other major airlines. He has also served as chairman and director for several aviation-related and non-aviation-related companies.

Basil Ben Baldanza is an economist and was the chief executive officer and president of Spirit Airlines from 2005 to 2016, a period in which he led the transformation of the company into an ultra-low-cost carrier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Kirby</span> American airline executive

John Scott Kirby is an American executive currently serving as CEO of United Airlines. He previously served as President of US Airways and American Airlines, as well as President of United Airlines from 2016 to 2020, when he was promoted as CEO.

Richard Jesse Ferris was an American business executive who served as the CEO of UAL Corporation, the former holding company of United Airlines, and was later the co-owner of the Pebble Beach Golf Links in Monterey County, California. During his time as the CEO of UAL Corporation, he helped restructure the company into a travel industry conglomerate called the Allegis Corporation, which combined the assets of United Airlines, The Hertz Corporation, Westin Hotels, Hilton International, and the Apollo Reservation System.

References

Business positions
Preceded by
CEO of UAL Corporation
1987 – July 1994
Succeeded by
Gerald Greenwald