Gary Kelly

Gary began his career at Southwest Airlines as Controller, moving up to Chief Financial Officer and Vice President Finance, then Executive Vice President and CFO, before being promoted to CEO and Vice Chairman in July 2004. Gary assumed the role of Chairman in May 2008 and President in July 2008. Prior to joining Southwest Airlines in 1986, Gary was a CPA for Arthur Young & Company in Dallas and Controller for Systems Center, Inc. Southwest Airlines is celebrating 35 years of consecutive profitability and was recently named #1 in Customer Satisfaction by the Department of Transportation for the year 2006. And, 2008 marked the 12th year in a row that Fortune magazine has listed Southwest Airlines among America’s most admired corporations. In January 2008, Institutional Investor magazine named Gary one of the best CEOs in America. Also in 2008, Gary was honored with the 4th Annual Friends of Texas Public Schools Friend of the Year Award. The Dallas Morning News business editors named Gary as a finalist for Texan of the Year 2005. He was also named one of Business Travel News’ 25 Most Influential Executives of 2004. Gary received a B.B.A. in accounting from the University of Texas at Austin and is a Certified Public Accountant. He is a member of Financial Executives Institute and the Texas Society of CPAs, and he serves on the McCombs School Accounting Advisory Board and the Advisory Council at the University of Texas at Austin. He also serves on the board of the Dallas Citizens Council.