Alfred J. Smith III. — Senior Vice President of Operations at Southwest Airlines

Mr. Alfred J. Smith, also known as Jack, III has been Senior Vice President of Operations at Southwest Airlines Co., since July 2014 and served as its Vice President of Customer Support & Services since July 2012 and Vice President of Ground Operations. Mr. Smith served as Vice President of Ground Operations/Airtran of Southwest Airlines Co. since March 13, 2012. Mr. Smith was responsible for reservations, customer relations, customer service, security, airport operations, baggage service, inflight service and catering. He is an industry veteran for more than 30 years. Mr. Smith served as Senior Vice President of Customer Service at Airtran Airways Inc. a subsidiary of Airtran Holdings Inc. from April 2002 to May 2, 2011. He began his airline career at Eastern Air Lines in 1974 where he held various positions before joining Altair Airlines as director of inflight service. Prior to joining Airtran Holdings Inc in April 2002., Mr. Smith spent over nine years at Northwest Airlines as Vice President of global operations for the cargo division as well as Vice President of customer service since 1992 for the Minneapolis St. Paul hub. Prior to joining Northwest, in mid 1980s, Mr. Smith served as Director of customer service at Midway Airlines , responsible for airport operations, in-flight service and customer relations. Mr. Smith also held various management positions at Eastern Airlines. In the community, he believes in giving back and is involved as a board member of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, a board member of the Boys and Girls Club of the West End and a member of the Kiwanis Club of Atlanta. He earned a bachelor of science degree at Ithaca College in Ithaca, N.Y., and a master of business administration degree from Manhattan's New York Institute of Technology.