Who Might Replace United CEO Oscar Munoz?

There are several inside candidates and one or two from the board of directors.

The most likely:

1. Gregory (Greg) Hart, the executive vice president and chief operations officer of United. According to the company, “In this role, Greg is responsible for all airport operations, technical operations, inflight operations, flight operations and network operations, as well as cargo, safety and United Express.”
2. James (Jim) Compton, vice chairman and chief revenue officer. According to the company, he is responsible for overseeing the company’s sales, alliances, network pricing and revenue management, and network planning.
3. Gerald (Gerry) Laderman, senior vice president finance and acting chief financial officer. According to the carrier, he is responsible for United’s overall financial strategy, including cost management, capital allocation and balance sheet optimization.

While all three have extensive industry experience, Laderman is the least likely to get the job, because from the outside it does not appear that United Continental’s problems are financial ones.

The board has at least two logical candidates, one of whom is CEO of a large public company:

1. William R. Nuti, the chairman, chief executive officer and president of NCR
2. Carolyn Corvi, retired vice president and general manager of Airplane Programs at Boeing

Nuti may be reluctant to leave a job at another major company. And Corvi may have been too junior in her position at Boeing.

If there are no candidates from inside, United Continental will need to go outside, most likely to another large airline, if possible. But what executive would leave a secure job at another carrier — unless Munoz is too ill to return and a replacement would be permanent. It is too early to tell. Apparently even the board may not know the extent of Munoz’s physical problems.

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