United Continental on Thursday named veteran airline executive Andrew Levy to fill the CFO position that had been vacant since the departure of John Rainey a year ago.
Levy was formerly president and chief operating officer of Allegiant Travel, where he guided the restructuring of ultra low-cost carrier Allegiant Air. At United, he replaces Gerry Laderman, who had been serving as CFO on an interim basis.
“Andrew is the ideal candidate to join United. His deep experience in not only finance, but airline operations is critical as we are redefining all aspects of our business to build a truly great airline,” United CEO Oscar Munoz said in a news release.
The third-largest U.S. carrier by traffic also announced the appointment of former Boston Consulting Group partner Julia Haywood to the newly-created position of chief commercial officer. She had been working on BCG’s revenue and network transformation team at United.
“The moves suggest that [Munoz] is continuing to put his stamp on the Chicago-based company after a tumultuous first year in the position,” The Wall Street Journal said.
After undergoing a heart transplant, Munoz returned to full-time work in March only to immediately confront a proxy battle that led to a radical change in the composition of United’s board. He has been seeking to improve labor relations and operational performance at the airline.
Levy comes to United after more than 13 years as an executive at Allegiant. He played “a leading role in the development and execution of the innovative plan that resulted in Allegiant’s success, including responsibility for strategy, planning, finance and operations,” United said.
He started his airline career in 1994 at ValuJet Airlines and currently serves on the board of Panamanian flag airline Copa Holdings. “Julia and Andrew bring a powerful combination of industry perspective and experience to our leadership team,” Munoz said.
Rainey left United in August 2015 to take the CFO job at PayPal. In trading Thursday, United shares were down nearly 2%, at $47.27.
