Edward H. Bastian (born June 6, 1957) is an American business executive. He is the ninth and current

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline, along wi ...

, serving in this role since May 2, 2016.

Early life and education

Bastian grew up in

Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsie ...

, the oldest of nine children. His father was a dentist and his mother was a dental assistant. The couple operated a dental practice from within the family home. He graduated from Our Lady of Lourdes High School in Poughkeepsie in 1975. In 1979, Bastian received a

Bachelor of Business Administration Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is a bachelor's degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of business administration and usually including advanc ...

in accounting from

St. Bonaventure University St. Bonaventure University is a private Franciscan university in St. Bonaventure, New York. It has 2,381 undergraduate and graduate students. The Franciscan Brothers established the university in 1858. In athletics, the St. Bonaventure Bonn ...

Cattaraugus County, New York Cattaraugus County (locally known as Catt County) is a county in Western New York, with one side bordering Pennsylvania. As of the United States 2020 census, the population was 77,042. The county seat is Little Valley. The county was created ...

Career

Bastian began his career as an

auditor An auditor is a person or a firm appointed by a company to execute an audit.Practical Auditing, Kul Narsingh Shrestha, 2012, Nabin Prakashan, Nepal To act as an auditor, a person should be certified by the regulatory authority of accounting an ...

in New York City at Price Waterhouse, now PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC). During a 1981 annual review, he uncovered a $50 million

fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compen ...

scheme involving ad powerhouse J. Walter Thompson. This prompted a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation, leaving many PWC executives with marred careers. A few years later, Bastian was named partner at age 31. After PWC, he served as

vice president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is o ...

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the food and beverage market. It oversees the man ...

, where he managed international finances for its Frito-Lay snack division until 1998, when he joined Delta Air Lines as vice president - finance and controller. In 2000, he was promoted to senior vice president – finance and controller. Bastian left Delta in 2005 to become senior vice president and chief financial officer at Acuity Brands. Six months later, at the request of then-Delta CEO Gerald Grinstein, he returned to the airline to serve as chief financial officer. In 2007, he was appointed to president, a position he held until assuming the role of CEO in May 2016. His transition to CEO was the first time Delta had chosen a chief executive officer from within the company since 1987.

Personal life

A father of 4, he splits his time between

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

, where

is headquartered, and

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

Awards and recognition

* In 2021, Bastian will assume the role of Chairman for the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. *In 2018, ''Fortune'' named him to its annual World's 50 Greatest Leaders list. * On February 17, 2018, Georgia Governor

Nathan Deal John Nathan Deal (born August 25, 1942) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 82nd governor of Georgia from 2011 to 2019. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a member of the Democratic Party in 1992 an ...

and the

Georgia Historical Society The Georgia Historical Society (GHS) is a statewide historical society in Georgia. Headquartered in Savannah, Georgia, GHS is one of the oldest historical organizations in the United States. Since 1839, the society has collected, examined, and ta ...

inducted Bastian to the

Georgia Trustees The Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in America, or simply the Georgia Trustees, was organized by James Edward Oglethorpe and associates following parliamentary investigations into prison conditions in Britain. The organizati ...

, the highest honor an individual can receive from the state. * In 2017, he was recognized by

Glassdoor Glassdoor is an American website where current and former employees anonymously review companies. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, it has additional offices in Chicago, Dublin, London, and São Paulo. Glassdoor also allows its users to ...

as a Top CEO, based on employee reviews. *In 2017, Bastian was honored by the ''

Atlanta Business Chronicle The ''Atlanta Business Chronicle'' is a weekly newspaper covering business news in Atlanta, Georgia, published by American City Business Journals. The paper has both a weekly print edition and an online edition. History The ''Atlanta Business ...

'' as one of Atlanta's Most Admired CEOs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bastian, Ed Living people 1957 births People from Poughkeepsie, New York Delta Air Lines people American airline chief executives St. Bonaventure University alumni PricewaterhouseCoopers people PepsiCo people