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Gary C. Kelly Biography and Wiki
Gary C. Kelly is an American business leader working as Southwest Airlines’ Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors. He was Southwest Airlines’ former chief executive officer.
Gary C. Kelly Education
Kelly graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accounting.He holds the designation CPA.
Gary C. Kelly Age and Birthday
How old is Gary Kelly? Kelly is 67 years old as of 2022. He was born on March 12, 1955 in San Antonio, Texas, United States. He celebrates his birthday on March 12, every year.
Gary C. Kelly Nationality and Ethnicity
Kelly is of American nationality by birth. He was born in San Antonio, Texas, United States. He has not revealed his birthday date. READ ALSO: Maggie Baird
Gary C. Kelly Wife
Who is Gary Kelly married to? He is married to Carol Kelly. In the eighth grade, Kelly met Carol for the first time.1976 marked their wedding.They have two daughters together.
Gary C. Kelly Height
Kelly stands at an average height of 1.74m.
Gary C. Kelly Net Worth
Kelly has an estimated net worth of $45.38M.
Gary C. Kelly House
Kelly’s house cost €750,000 to buy, and it costs €400,000 (£340,000) a year to run, only 10% of which comes from grants from the government.Kelly’s testimonial fund, which also made a substantial donation to the Teenage Cancer Trust in Leeds, covered the purchase price. However, a continuous cycle of fundraising efforts is used to pay for staffing and expanding the services that are used by 8,500 client visits annually.
Gary C. Kelly Southwest Airlines
Kelly previously held positions as controller for Sterling Software and Audit Manager for Arthur Young & Co.In 1986, Kelly started working for Southwest Airlines as a controller.Kelly was elevated to the positions of Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Finance in 1989.He was made Executive Vice President in 2001.Kelly held this position for three years before being promoted to become Southwest’s fifth CEO and vice chairman in 2004. He succeeded Herb Kelleher and succeeded James Parker.
Kelly was named Administrator of the Governing body of Southwest Aircrafts on May 21, 2008, supplanting fellow benefactor Spice Kelleher.The same year, Gary Kelly took over as Southwest Airlines president, succeeding Colleen Barrett whose contract came to an end on July 15, 2008. Kelly has led the airline to become the most popular carrier of domestic passengers in the United States while serving as CEO.
He has led the airline through a number of transformative, large-scale initiatives, such as the redesign of the airline’s Rapid Rewards program, the introduction of the Boeing 737–800 and 737 MAX aircraft into Southwest’s fleet, the acquisition of AirTran Airways, the launch of Southwest’s first international service, an update to the airline’s branding, the use of the Amadeus reservation system, and large-scale expansion projects at the corporate headquarters of the company in Dallas.
Gary C. Kelly Leadership Style
Gary’s ability to use a servant leadership style to help an organization grow and develop is one of his main strengths as chairman and CEO of Southwest Airlines.According to Lauer (2010), the CEO is able to accomplish this by moving away from the conventional leadership style of dominating employees and toward one that listens to their concerns, respects their decisions, and empowers and inspires them to perform.
Organizational development and growth are facilitated by this leadership orientation.His ability to use servant leadership to teach employees the virtues of cooperation, teamwork, and building relationships is the second key strength.According to Wright & Mujtaba (2011), existing research indicates that leaders who foster teamwork and employee consensus achieve positive organizational outcomes.
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The CEO’s capacity to develop employees is the third key strength (Lauer, 2010). Rather than forcing employees to achieve organizational goals, the CEO takes the time to learn about their strengths and weaknesses in order to discover their potential and a higher purpose that they could never achieve on their own.Because servant leadership does not advocate for the dismissal of employees, it is evident that Gary will encounter difficulties when he is forced to reduce the number of employees he has because of market and competitive pressures.Due to the nature of servant leadership, Gary’s second weakness is that he may be unable to convince employees to follow a particular path during times of great uncertainty and organizational transformation.
Last but not least, Wright & Mujtaba (2011) found a flaw in the CEO’s decision to substitute confidentiality for openness in order to uphold the integrity of the company’s employees and its core values and beliefs.It is plausible to mention that Gary always has Southwest’s solid corporate culture to turn to when dealing with the last two issues.
