David Neeleman was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, in October 1959. He attended the University of Utah.
1984 Co-founder of Salt Lake City-based Morris Air, serving first as executive vice president, then president and a member of its board of directors. The low-fare airline was acquired by Southwest Airlines in 1993, after which he served for a brief time on the executive planning committee at Southwest. In connection with the acquisition, he signed a five-year "no- compete" clause, which gave him time to think about and plan the kind of airline he wanted to start.
1995 Chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors of Open Skies, a company which developed touch-screen, electronic airline reservations and check-in systems designed primarily for start-ups and low-fare airlines. The company was acquired by Hewlett Packard in 1999.
1996 Launch consultant for WestJet Airlines, a successful low-fare start-up in Canada . He served on WestJet's board of directors from 1996 to 1999.
1998 Became chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors in August of a company formed to create a new low-fare airline that would bring "humanity back to air travel."
2000 JetBlue Airways, armed with $130 million in start-up financing, began service in February from its New York base to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Buffalo, New York.
2002 JetBlue Airways went public in April, when it was listed on the Nasdaq exchange with thesymbol JBLU.
Neeleman lives in New Caanan, Connecticut, with his wife Vicki and nine children ranging in age from three to 20.
He says he has no hobbies, and lists his primary interests as his family, his church and his business, in that order.
Source: Airline Business
