Oscar Munoz served as CEO of United Airlines from Sep 2015- May 2020, before becoming Executive Chairman of the Board, until recently retiring from that role in May 2021.
During his tenure as CEO, United achieved a rapid turnaround, delivering industry-leading operational reliability as well as sustained financial success, with stock value increasing 54% during that period. Mr. Munoz himself was credited with reestablishing United’s relationship of trust with its own employees and the customers and community whom they serve. Those efforts earned strong support and praise from United’s largest employee unions and resulted in steadily increasing levels of customer satisfaction.
Under Mr. Munoz’ leadership, United sustained an impressive track record for leveraging its unique logistical resources and expertise to benefit communities across the United States and around the world, partnering with federal and local entities in order to deliver vital supplies and personnel to where they were needed most – especially during the Covid-19 pandemic – dramatically expanding the United States’ ability to respond to pressing humanitarian crises.
Mr. Munoz also firmly established United, one of the largest carriers by volume, as the aviation industry’s prime leader toward achieving an environmentally sustainable future, making historic investments in biofuel technology, next-generation efficient aircraft and seeding innovators on the electrical aviation frontier.
As Executive Chairman of UAL, Munoz seized a primary role in helping marshal the global response to the pandemic – partnering with government and administration leaders in support of employees, overseeing the airline’s recovery efforts and working to bring a diverse coalition of people together to create a broad-based, inclusive vision for national economic renewal.
Previously, Oscar served as president and chief operating officer of the North American railbased transportation supplier CSX Corp. A decade of excellent financial performance, including a boost in operating income of nearly 600 percent, earned CSX recognition on the list of Most Honored Companies by Institutional Investor magazine.
Oscar previously served as Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Consumer Services at AT&T Corporation. He has also served as Senior Vice President of Finance and Administration for U.S. West, Regional Vice President of Finance and Administration for Coca-Cola Enterprises, and has held various finance positions at PepsiCo.
He currently serves on the Board of Directors of CBRE as well as Univision. He is an Independent Trustee on Fidelity’s Equity & High-Income Funds Board and sits on Salesforce’s Global Advisory Board, as well as the board of Archer Aviation, a leading Urban Air Mobility company and developer of all-electric vertical take-off and landing (“eVTOL”) aircraft.
He is a member of the board of trustees for the Brookings Institution, and is a trustee of the University of Southern California, where he earned his undergraduate degree in business. He also received an MBA from Pepperdine.
As a first-generation college graduate from an immigrant family, he and his wife, Cathy, founded Pave It Forward, a foundation that raises scholarship funds for first-generation students. The first Latino to run a major US airline, Hispanic Business magazine twice named Oscar one of its ‘100 Most Influential Hispanics.