Beer takes finance portfolio
American Airlines has followed a tried and tested route in appointing James Beer, its vice-president for Europe and Asia, to succeed Jeff Campbell as chief financial officer (CFO). Campbell left to join drug distributor McKesson.
The previous three CFOs have all headed American's European division before moving to Dallas to assume the financial portfolio, says John De Regt, head of the aviation practice at executive search firm Spencer Stuart. Beer, 42, joined American in 1991 as a financial analyst and had previously served as a management consultant at Andersen Consulting, now known as Accenture.
In addition to Beer's promotion, Craig Kreeger, 44, rises to take the Europe/ Asia post, and David Cush, 43, moves from reorganising American's St Louis hub to become vice-president and general sales manager. With Gerard Arpey, 45, as the carrier's chief executive, American's management team is one of the youngest ever to lead one of the world's majors, says De Regt.
"This homegrown team is the clearest possible validation of Bob Crandall's app- roach, devised 20 years ago, of recruiting MBA talent," says de Regt.
Often starting off in finance, these high-flyers were spread out across the airline in an "intelligent and thoughtful manner", in a process designed to groom them to achieve top executive positions, he explains.
MARK PILLING LONDON
Source: Airline Business
