Richard H. Anderson

Richard H. Anderson (born May 2, 1955 in Galveston , Texas ) is an American manager in the transportation sector. He ran the airlines Northwest Airlines and Delta Airlines , as well as the rail company Amtrak .

Life

Richard H. Anderson grew up as the third of five children of railroad worker Hale Anderson and nurse Frances. In 1974, at the age of 19, when he had just started his studies at Texas Tech University , his parents died. He took a break from college and made do with odd jobs to make a living for himself and his two younger sisters. In 1977 he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Houston - Clear Lake and in 1982 his Juris Doctor degree from the South Texas College of Law.

He then worked as a prosecutor in Harris County . In 1987 he started working at Continental Airlines in the legal department. In 1990 he moved to Northwest Airlines and started working in the legal department. In 1994 he moved to the Labor Relations, State Affairs and Law department. From January 1997 to December 1998 he worked in the area of technical operations and airports. Afterwards, he was responsible for the operational business as Chief Operating Officer . From April 1, 2001 to October 2004, he was Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Northwest Airlines.

From November 1, 2004 to August 2007, he was Executive Vice President of UnitedHealth and from January 2005 to January 1, 2008 he was CEO of the UnitedHealth subsidiary Ingenix Inc. and from January 2005 to August 2007 President of New Commercial Services Group. During this time he sat on the board of directors of the energy company Xcel Energy from 2004 to May 2006 .

In April 2007 he became a member of the supervisory board of Delta Air Lines and became CEO of this company on September 1, 2007, succeeding Gerald Grinstein . In the following year he organized the merger of the airline with Northwest Airlines to become what was then the largest airline in the world. On May 2, 2016, he resigned from the position of CEO and was Executive Chairman of the company's Supervisory Board until October 11, 2016. During this time, Delta Air Lines was named Airline of the Year in 2014 by Air Transport World magazine . Barron's Magazine named Anderson the “World's Best CEOs” in 2014 and Business Travel News named him one of the top business leaders.

Effective July 12, 2017, Richard H. Anderson was appointed President and CO-CEO of Amtrak alongside Charles W. Moorman . After the end of the transition phase, he was the sole CEO of the railway company from December 31, 2017. On March 2, 2020, his replacement by William J. Flynn was announced on April 15, 2020. He is still working as a consultant for Amtrak until the end of 2020.

He was chairman of the Air Transport Association of America (Airlines for America) and the International Air Transport Association. He has been on the supervisory board of the medical technology manufacturer Medtronic since 2002 and on the supervisory board of the food company Cargill since May 2006 .

He was or is on the boards of directors of the Henry Ford Museum , the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta , the Greater Twin Cities United Way and Minnesota Mutual Companies Group, the Minnesota Life Insurance Company, MAIR Holdings Inc., the St. Thomas College of Business and the Minneapolis Institute of Art .

Richard H. Anderson is married with two children.

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personal data
SURNAME	Anderson, Richard H.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American manager in the transport sector
DATE OF BIRTH	May 2, 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH	Galveston , Texas