David Neeleman
David G. Neeleman (born October 16, 1959) founder and CEO of JetBlue Airways.
Neeleman, a Latter-day Saint American of Dutch descent, was born in Brazil. He attended Brighton High School in Cottonwood Heights, UT, and attended the University of Utah. He did his Mormon missionary work in the slums of Rio de Janeiro.
He was co-founder (with June Morris) of charter airline Morris Air, a low-fare airline. From 1984 to 1988, he was an Executive Vice President of Morris Air. From 1988 to 1994, he was the President of Morris Air Corporation. Morris Air was then acquired by Southwest Airlines for $130 million in 1993. For a brief period, he worked on the Executive Planning Committee at Southwest Airlines.
He co-founded WestJet in 1996 and was concurrently the Chief Executive Officer of Open Skies, (a touch screen airline reservation and check-in systems company, acquired by Hewlett Packard in 1999).
In 2000, he disclosed to CNN that he has Adult attention-deficit disorder. As the CEO of JetBlue Airways, his 2002 salary was $200,000 with a bonus of $90,000.
"David lives with his wife Vicki and their nine children in New Canaan, Connecticut." [1].
On May 10, 2007 JetBlue moved David Neeleman to the role of nonexecutive chairman.
Neeleman said the new role will free him up to spend more time on strategic issues that had been neglected amid the carrier's rapid growth. Neeleman recently founded a new airline in Brazil.
For more about David Neeleman, go to MormonsinBusiness.org
