David J. Barger (born 1958) is an American businessman, and one of the co-founders of

JetBlue JetBlue Airways Corporation, stylized as jetBlue, is an American major airline headquartered in Long Island City, in Queens, New York City. Primarily a point-to-point carrier, JetBlue's network features six focus cities including its main hub ...

. He was the airline's chief executive officer (CEO) until his ouster in February 2015. He had been part of JetBlue's founding team and was on the

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

. Barger is now an operating partner at Connor Capital SB.

Career

Barger's interest in airlines came from his father, who was a

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois that operates an extensive domestic and international route network across the United States and six ...

pilot for 37 years. From 1982 to 1988, Barger served in a number of positions with

New York Air New York Air was a low-cost airline in the United States owned by Texas Air Corporation and based at Hangar 5 at LaGuardia Airport in Flushing, Queens, New York. It ceased operations on February 1, 1987, in a merger with Continental Airlines. ...

, such as the Director of Stations. In 1992, he joined with

Continental Airlines Continental Airlines (simply known as Continental) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1934 until it merged with United Airlines in 2012. It had ownership interests and brand partnerships with several carriers. Continen ...

and held various management positions, including vice president of Continental's

Newark Liberty International Airport Newark Liberty International Airport is a major international airport serving the New York metropolitan area. The airport straddles the boundary between the cities of Newark, New Jersey, Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and E ...

hub. Barger was one of the first employees of

JetBlue Airways JetBlue Airways Corporation, stylized as jetBlue, is an American major airline headquartered in Long Island City, in Queens, New York City. Primarily a point-to-point carrier, JetBlue's network features six focus cities including its main hub a ...

in 1998, and served as the

chief operating officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...

until March 2007. Following a February 2007 incident in which the airline was forced to cancel nearly 1,700 flights due to winter storms, JetBlue's board of directors replaced founder and Chief Executive Officer

David Neeleman David Gary Neeleman (born October 16, 1959) is a Brazilian-American businessman and entrepreneur. He has founded five commercial airlines: Morris Air, WestJet, JetBlue Airways, Azul Brazilian Airlines, and Breeze Airways. Along with Humberto ...

with Barger. He had politicked the board, while Neeleman was busy publicly apologizing. Barger's ascendancy caused widespread demoralization in the ranks. He became JetBlue's new Chief Executive Officer on May 10, 2007. Neeleman, the company's founder and largest individual investor, became a nonexecutive chairman as a result of the change. On June 1, 2009, Barger became the president of JetBlue. On September 18, 2014, Barger announced his resignation from the company effective February 16, 2015, following several reports that investors and the board were unhappy with the lagging stock price and Barger's performance. He was replaced on the board and as CEO by Robin Hayes. The stock price increased rapidly after Barger's removal was announced. Barger has been a non-executive director of AIM Aviation Ltd since February 2014. He has been a director of gategroup Holding AG since April 2015, and is a director at The Partnership for New York City, Inc. He is a member of the board of governors at

International Air Transport Association The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is an airline trade association founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff conferences tha ...

(IATA). He joined the boards of Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. in May 2017, and is a member of the Governance, Accountability and Nominating Committee, and the finance committee.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barger, David 1958 births American airline chief executives Airline founders Living people University of Michigan alumni JetBlue American chief operating officers