Our member and past club president Mark Wright interviewed the CEO of Horizon Air, Andy Schneider who started working at Alaska Airlines in 1989 as an accountant. Andy started with, “We want to be your airline for a long, long time and we realize there have been some challenging times so we appreciate your patience but we will come back strong; pick us.” Mark asked about the secret to her success and moving up in the company, “In the early days she tried to add value to the people around her.”
Some of the other topics that Mark asked her about were:
· The hallmark of their culture is that they invest in people; every job matters so they take care of all of their employees – they have an “employee-powered model, not top down; an empowerment model”
· They look for leaders that “get things out of their way that makes an employee’s job harder”
· Major challenges for airlines like Alaska and Horizon include increasing costs of fuel which they cannot control
· Horizon is “the front door to Alaska; their feeder market” as they bring guests into Alaska’s national/international flights.
· What an exciting time it is at Horizon as Alaska will start flying to Europe this year, which is also good for employee retention, pay and morale
He concluded the interview with a “lightening round” with short answers from Andy:
One word to describe you: Fair
And one word to describe Horizon Air: In Sync – work well together
City/Destination to fly to: Boise or Hawaii
Where do you prefer to sit when flying: Premium section or Aisle seat
President Jan opened the meeting at the Washington Athletic Club after a few minutes of Table Talk answering the question: “What do you remember about the first time you flew in an airplane?”
Jose Iniguez accompanied by Dr. Kia Sams on the piano sang “De Colores” that Jose said fit well with our theme of communities and neighborhoods and that “makes him smile every time he heard it as a kid.” They received a standing ovation!
Bill Fetterley introduced our new member, Roy Wild, who serves as a major in the Salvation Army. As a fifth generation family member working for the Salvation Army, he is looking forward to rejoining Rotary as he was a member when he lived in Pasadena.
President Jan closed the meeting reflecting on her first airplane trip and remembering the “old days of flying. Airlines connect families, businesses and cultures and keep us connected to the rest of the world.”
