Alaska Air Group’s chief financial officer Brandon Pedersen will retire on 2 March after working in finance positions at the company since 2003.
The parent company of Alaska Airlines disclosed on 6 January that it has appointed executive vice-president of planning and strategy Shane Tackett as Pedersen’s successor.
The executive transition comes as Alaska tries to flex the extra capacity it gained through its merger with Virgin America by adding new routes to locations including California, and by shrinking offerings through its mileage plan partnership with American Airlines.
Pedersen was named CFO in 2010 after having joined Alaska in 2003 as its vice-president of finance and controller. His tenure included overseeing Alaska’s acquisition of Virgin America through a $4 billion deal announced in 2016. Pedersen also helped Alaska manage the expenses of integrating Virgin operations into Alaska, which caused profits to slip in 2017 and 2018.
Tackett joined Alaska as an analyst in 2000 and became its vice-president of labor relations in 2010, negotiating six labor agreements with the airline’s five unions. He became vice-president of revenue management in 2015, overseeing e-commerce and relationships with commercial technology partners before being promoted to executive vice-president of planning and strategy in 2018, once again leading Alaska’s labor relations team.
Alaska will announce its fourth quarter earnings on 22 January.
