 Howard Putnam's ultimate objective is "bottom line improvement." He believes that company cultures that place their people as their highest priority have the greatest long-term impact and success. Putnam is the former CEO of the highly successful Southwest Airlines, whose foundation and culture placed people first. Later, after being recruited to be the CEO of failing Braniff International, he was the first CEO to successfully restructure a major airline into, through, and out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Earlier in his career, he spent over 20 years with United Airlines, his final position being group vice president of marketing. Putnam is the co-founder and chairman of AIR, (Aircraft Interior Resources) a commercial airline seat refurbishment company in Houston, Texas. He is also one of the founding professors of www.MentorU.com, an Internet mentoring and seminar company that started in 1999. He is the author of The Winds of Turbulence, a book on leadership and ethics, and a commentator on Public Radio International's daily business program, Marketplace. Harvard University wrote a case study on his Braniff experiences, The Ethics of Bankruptcy, which is a teaching model for handling all stakeholders honestly and ethically in crisis. He has an MBA in marketing from the University of Chicago and attended Harvard's Advanced Management Program. For nearly 30 years, Putnum has played a leading role in one of the most exciting and rapidly changing industries. He has earned a well-deserved reputation for his capacity to think systematically, create vision, build a team, define a niche, and design a successful strategy for managing growth and crisis. Today, Putnam shares his knowledge and expertise as a speaker that motivates his audiences on current business and leadership issues, focusing on how to improve performance and the bottom line, but still have fun. His presentations are especially relevant to industries going through change, transformation, or deregulation. He has been there through the turbulent time, and not only survived, but thrived.
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