Executive Appointments at American Airlines

American Airlines has appointed Hector Adler as Senior Vice President – Product and Service Delivery, and Jill Surdek as Vice President – Flight Service reporting to Kerry Philipovitch, Senior Vice President – Customer Experience.

“For years our team has relied on Hector’s impeccable taste and passion for the business to guide the service customers receive inflight,” said American’s Chairman and CEO Doug Parker. “We want that same service to extend beyond customers’ interactions with our top-notch flight attendant crews, to include a consistent experience in every aspect of their journey. Our goal is to make sure that every person who flies American – on one of our mainline flights or on our regional network – has a pleasurable flight and Hector is just the person to lead that charge.”

Adler will work with Kurt Stache, Senior Vice President – Marketing & Loyalty; Kenji Hashimoto, Senior Vice President – Regional Carriers; and Kerry Philipovitch, Senior Vice President – Customer Experience on the alignment of the products and services American delivers to its customers.

Previously American’s Vice President – Flight Service, Adler is a pioneer for the flight attendant profession. He was a member of the first class to include male flight attendants at American in 1973. He went on to serve in leadership roles at Pan American World Airways , United Airlines , Northwest Airlines, Eos Airlines and US Airways before leading the industry’s largest flight attendant workforce at American. Adler plans to retire from the airline in 2018.

Jill Surdek succeeds Adler and will assume the role of Vice President – Flight Service in February 2017.

Surdek began her career at American in 1998 in Revenue Management and later served a variety of roles across sales and marketing. Most recently she has served as Vice President – Customer Planning, where she oversaw policies, technology strategy and training for American’s Airports and Reservations team, Premium Customer Services delivery and service recovery.

Under Surdek’s leadership, the Customer Experience organization managed American’s seamless transition to a single passenger service system in airports and has undertaken innovative customer service training for the airline’s more than 35,000 customer-facing employees.

“Few people can match the compassion and professionalism Jill brings to a team,” said Philipovitch. “Her leadership and attention to detail with the most crucial issues has shone time and time again. Flight attendants spend more time with our customers than anyone else and face myriad challenges every day, all of which are critical to get right. Jill’s experience and her commitment to supporting team members make her the perfect fit for this important role.”

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