Southwest Airlines Chief Marketing Officer to Speak on Campus Thursday, March 31
3/14/2011
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David Ridley
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GREENILLE, S.C.—David Ridley, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Southwest Airlines, will discuss Southwest’s unique corporate culture and how it has helped the company emerge as one of the nation's leading airline companies.
The lecture will be held Thursday, March 31 at 7 p.m. in Burgiss Theater at Furman University’s University Center.
Ridley's lecture, “LUV: Lessons: Business Principles, Liberal Arts and Life,” will explore the founding business principals and culture that have made Southwest the only American airline company to post an annual profit for the past 38 consecutive years.
Southwest Airlines (stock symbol LUV) launched direct service flights to the Greenville-Spartanburg International Jetport earlier this month.
Ridley is responsible for Southwest’s Departments of Marketing and Revenue Management. He joined Southwest in 1988; retired unsuccessfully from February 2006 to October 2007; and returned in November 2007. His career has also involved employment as a brand manager for Anderson Clayton Foods, and business development at ENSERCH Corporation and Univest Development Corporation.
Ridley received an M.B.A from Southern Methodist University in 1981 and completed his undergraduate work at the University of Texas at Austin in 1975. He is a popular speaker at universities, and recently testified in Congress about efficiency, effectiveness and transparency in the airline industry.
For more information, contact the News and Media Relations office at 864-294-2151.