James Moon Whitehurst (born October 13, 1967) is an American business executive. He has been interim chief executive officer and president of

Unity Technologies Unity Software Inc. (doing business as Unity Technologies) is an American video game software development company based in San Francisco. It was founded in Denmark in 2004 as Over the Edge Entertainment and changed its name in 2007. Unity Techn ...

since October 2023. He was previously the president at

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

, chair of the board and chief executive officer at

Red Hat Red Hat, Inc. (formerly Red Hat Software, Inc.) is an American software company that provides open source software products to enterprises and is a subsidiary of IBM. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North ...

, and chief operating officer at

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, operating nine hubs, with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being its ...

. Prior to working at Delta in 2001, he was vice president and director of the

Boston Consulting Group Boston Consulting Group, Inc. (BCG) is an American global management consulting firm founded in 1963 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the "Big Three (management consultancies), Big Three" (or MBB, the world's three large ...

and held various management roles at its

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

and

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

offices. During his time at Delta between 2005 and 2007, Whitehurst oversaw the company's recovery from

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

and its struggle against

US Airways US Airways was a major airline in the United States. It was originally founded in History of aviation in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh as a mail delivery airline called All American Aviation, which soon became a commercial passenger airline. In 1953, it ...

in 2006, who had repeatedly proposed mergers to the company. In 2013,

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

Governor Pat McCrory appointed Whitehurst as a member and vice-chairman of the North Carolina Economic Development Board. In 2014, Whitehurst was selected as the recipient of the NC State Park Scholarships program's William C. Friday Award.

Early life

Whitehurst was born in Georgia and grew up in Columbus. He graduated from

Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, in 1989 with a bachelor's degree in computer science and economics. He also attended

University of Erlangen–Nuremberg The Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (, FAU) is a Public University, public research university in the cities of Erlangen and Nuremberg in Bavaria, Germany. The name Friedrich-Alexander is derived from the university's first ...

in Erlangen, Germany, spent a year of his undergraduate education in the general course at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

, and received an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

from

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

Career

After working for the Boston Consulting Group throughout 1989 to 2001, Whitehurst began working for Delta Air Lines, where he was senior vice president, and later chief network and planning officer. He was appointed by then-CEO Gerald Grinstein in 2005 as chief operating officer, where he oversaw the company's bankruptcy and recovery from an attempted takeover from

. Whitehurst became a prominent figure in the campaign known as "Keep Delta My Delta", having believed in the integrity of the company and its employees enough to resist the merger proposal and resolve the bankruptcy. He left the company on good terms in 2007. Whitehurst joined

as CEO in December 2007. Following

's acquisition of Red Hat (in July 2019), later in January 2020 it was announced that Whitehurst will be appointed president of

on 6 April. In July 2021, Whitehurst announced his resignation from IBM. In December 2021, he joined the board of directors at

cybersecurity Computer security (also cybersecurity, digital security, or information technology (IT) security) is a subdiscipline within the field of information security. It consists of the protection of computer software, systems and networks from thr ...

and

systems management Systems management is enterprise-wide System administration, administration of distributed systems including (and commonly in practice) computer systems. Systems management is strongly influenced by network management initiatives in telecommunic ...

company Tanium as an independent director. In October 2023, he became interim CEO of Unity Technologies. As of 2023, he is also an advisor at the

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

firm Silver Lake.

Publications

Whitehurst's first book, ''The Open Organization: Igniting Passion and Performance'', was published in 2015 by

Harvard Business Review ''Harvard Business Review'' (''HBR'') is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a not-for-profit, independent corporation that is an affiliate of Harvard Business School. ''HBR'' is published six times a year ...

References

External links

Red Hat profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitehurst, Jim Boston Consulting Group people Delta Air Lines people Harvard Business School alumni Living people Open source people People from Columbus, Georgia Red Hat people Rice University alumni American chief operating officers American technology chief executives Businesspeople from Georgia (U.S. state) Year of birth missing (living people)