United Airlines’ lackluster financials and a beleaguered corporate culture left the airline in search of renewal. Glenn Tilton joined the ailing airline as CEO right before parent company UAL declared bankruptcy in 2002, and began laying the groundwork to find a suitable partner. A relationship of equals finally emerged when Continental Airlines won out over US Airways to merge with United. While the union of United and Continental may appear 
belated, United was intent on finding a partner following Delta’s merger with Northest Airlines in 2008. Continental CEO Jeff Smisek offered a collaborative partnership between the two conglomerates, creating the largest airline in the world.
Basili Alukos, industrials equity analyst at Morningstar, believes that Tilton joined United with a plan of action: “The consolidation needed to happen—Tilton was preparing the company to be acquired or to engage in a merger.” The personalities of Smisek and Tilton also played center stage in the blockbuster coupling of the two companies, as both leaders were publicly vocal about their interest in the merger. “I think there tend to be strong personalities in the airline industry—United is in really difficult shape,” Alukos adds. “Tilton realized he had to be more friendly and giving to another airline.”
The move will likely spur other collaborations. “There will be increased pressure for further consolidation in the airline industry,” says Jerrold A. Glass, president of F&H Solutions Group. “Fares are always governed by the lowest airfare in the market—that part is not going to change.”
“I think Southwest Airlines will take the opportunity to expand,” Alukos says. “There is no barrier to pricing and Southwest has the financial backing to expand.”
Bank of America has named Charles “Chad” Holliday Jr. as its chairman. Holliday, former CEO of DuPont, succeeds Walter E. Massey, who retired from the board after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 72.
Physicians Formula elected Thomas Lynch to its board of directors. Lynch is the founder and senior managing director of Mill Road Capital.
Errol Gillespie was appointed to the board at Estate Coffee Holdings. Gillespie, an expert in farm management and the coffee industry, is a former agronomy extension officer with the Coffee Industry Board in Jamaica.
William C. Mills joined Interleukin Genetics’ board. Mills is currently an independent venture capitalist.
US Cellular named Mary N. Dillon, former McDonald’s Corp.marketing executive, as CEO. She began June 1 when CEO John E. Rooney retired. Dillon served as global chief marketing officer at McDonald’s, where she has worked since 2005. Prior to that, she was president of PepsiCo’s Quaker Foods division.
Bull, an information technology company, appointed Philippe Vannier as chairman and CEO. Vannier has been chairman of the management board of Crescendo Industries, a private investment company, as well as chairman and CEO of Amesys.
Brad A. Alford was elected to the board at Avery Dennison. He is the chairman and CEO of Nestle USA.
Monster Worldwide named two new directors, Cynthia McCague and Jeffrey Rayport, to its board. McCague has more than 35 years of experience as a human resources professional. Rayport is currently a partner at Castanea Partners.
William M. Cook, chairman of the board, president and CEO of Donaldson, was elected to Valspar’s board.
Primerica named P. George Benson to its board. Benson has been president of the College of Charleston since February 2007.
Joseph P. Sullivan, former chairman and CEO of Protocare, joined CIGNA’s board. Sullivan currently serves as a director of Amylin Pharmaceuticals. He is also chairman of the board of advisors of RAND Health.
Henry Ruhnke Jr. joined the 1st Capital Bank board of directors. Ruhnke is a registered architect and a principal of Wald, Ruhnke
& Dost Architects.
Michael J. Somers was elected to the board of directors at Willis. Somers was formerly CEO of the Irish National Treasury Management Agency.
Landen Capital has named James C. Gervais to its board of directors. Gervais retired from the Canadian Forces as a lieutenant general, the second highest rank in the Canadian military.
Ralph Whitworth, a principal and co-founder of Relational Investors, was elected to Genzyme’s board. He will serve as chairman of the strategic planning and capital allocation committee.
Nolan Bushnell returns to Atari as a member of the board. Bushnell created Atari in 1972 and later sold the company. Tom Virden, founder of Boatbookings.com, was also named to Atari’s board. He will serve on the audit committee. David Gardner and Phil
Harrison have resigned from the board.
Craig Mataczynski has joined Vulcan Power as CEO. Mataczynski is the former CEO of Renewable Energy Systems Americas.
AcademixDirect has appointed Karen C. Francis as chairman and CEO. Francis was formerly chairman and CEO of Publicis & Hal Riney.
Adriana Pozzani Lynch, founder of Pozzani & Associates, recently joined Arbonne International as senior vice president and chief
marketing officer.
Vermillion named Sandra A. Gardiner vice president and CFO. Gardiner previously served as CFO of Bend Research.
Intelligent Communication Enterprise has appointed Nelson Wu to its board as a non-executivedirector. Wu is the general manager of business development at Hin Leong Trading in Singapore.
David H. B. Smith was elected to the board at Northern Trust. Smith is executive vice president of policy and legal affairs and general counsel at the Mutual Fund Directors Forum.
Julie England, former vice president and general manager of RFID at Texas Instruments, has joined the board of directors at
Intelleflex.
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company named Mark Kramer senior vice president of operations. Kramer previously served as the regional vice president, operations for Rite Aid.
UraStar Energy has appointed Charles W. Reed to its board. Reed is a registered professional geologist with more than 40 years of work experience in the mining industry.
Constellation Brands elected Jerry Fowden to its board. Fowden is CEO of Cott.
Central Garden & Pet named John Ranelli to its board of directors. Ranelli previously served as CEO and president of Mikasa.
TIAA-CREF appointed Connie K. Weaver executive vice president, chief marketing and communications officer. Weaver was senior vice president, marketing and communications, at The Hartford Financial Services Group.
ExpressJet Holdings named Thomas M. Hanley president and CEO. Hanley previously served in various executive positions for Wexford Capital.
William J. Amelio and William E. Mitchell have joined the board at National Semiconductor. Amelio is a member of the Daylight Partners Group of investors; Mitchell is the former chairman and CEO of Arrow Electronics.
Nancy Pierce was elected to the board at Zhone Technologies. Pierce currently serves as president and managing director of KELD, an investment management and strategic advisory firm.
Michael C. Smiley, CFO of Zebra Technologies, has joined Twin Disc’s board of directors.
Elroy Sailor, CEO of J.C. Watts, was recently named to the board of directors at Red Branch Technologies.
Ultralife has named Brigadier General, U.S. Army (Retired) Steven M. Anderson to its board. Anderson has more than 31 years of experience in U.S. Department of Defense operations.
EDA Consortium elected six people to its board. Edmund Cheng, Dane Collins, Aart de Geus, John Kibarian, Alex Shubat and Ravi Subramanian all joined the board.
Peter Frank has been named to the board at Viasystems. Frank is currently the president of GSC.
Weikang Bio-Technology has appointed Yvonne Zhang, Yilun Jin, Allen Zhang and Yan Huang to its board.
Generac elected David Ramon to its board. Ramon, formerly president and CEO of USA.NET, will serve on the audit committee.
ARIAD Pharmaceuticals named Robert Whelan Jr. to its board of directors. Whelan was a fellow at the Harvard University Advanced Leadership Initiative from 2008-2009.
RailAmerica appointed Ray M. Robinson and John E. Giles to its board. Robinson is a former AT&T executive and Giles is Rail-America’s president and CEO.
Sheli Z. Rosenberg was recently named to General Growth Properties’ board of directors. Rosenberg is the former president, CEO and vice chair of Equity Group Investments.
Conseco elected David K. Zwiener to its board of directors. Most recently, Zwiener was CFO at Wachovia.
Costco COO Dick DiCerchio will retire as the company’s senior executive vice president and COO. He will remain as a member of the company’s board.
Ajay Banga was named president and CEO of MasterCard and was appointed to the board of directors. He was previously president and COO. Prior to joining MasterCard, Banga was with Citigroup.
Mark Zoradi, former Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Group president, was appointed to Rave Cinemas’ board.
Delia’s recently appointed Walter Killough CEO. Killough previously served as COO and will continue to serve as a member of its board. Killough succeeds Robert E. Bernard, who is stepping down as CEO to pursue other opportunities.
Tran B. Nguyen, former CFO of Metabasis Therapeutics, has joined Somaxon Pharmaceuticals as vice president and CFO.
QuantRx Biomedical appointed two new independent directors to its board: Robert G. Pinco, senior counsel and former head of the biomedical/food and drug group at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC, and Patrick T. Mooney, CEO, president and chairman of Echo Therapeutics. The board of directors now has five members.
Henry S. Miller, chairman of Miller Buckfire, has joined the board of directors at AIG. Miller is a former vice chairman at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein.
Sirona, a dental technology firm, recently appointed Thomas Jetter to its board as an independent director.
CBL & Associates Properties appointed Thomas DeRosa to its board. DeRosa, a former vicechair and CFO of The Rouse Co., fills the vacancy resulting from the death in February 2010 of Claude M. Ballard.
Frank C. Condella Jr. has been named president and CEO of Columbia Laboratories, after serving as interim CEO since December 2009.
DEX, a supply-chain logistics provider, has added Tony Harris to its board. Harris has served as CEO of ADT PLC in the United Kingdom.
Daniel Gold has been appointed president and CEO of Marshall Edwards, a clinical developer of anti-cancer therapeutics. Gold most recently served as president and CEO of Prospect Therapeutics.
RES Software appointed Klaus Besier CEO. Besier most recently served as president and CEO of Neoware.
R. James Alexy, former chairman of the board at Network Services, has joined the board of directors at Solo Cup.
Galena Capital appointed Michael Sweatman to its board. Sweatman currently serves as CFO of Marifil Mines.
Matt Prohaska was appointed CEO of Smartclip. Prohaska most recently served as vice president of North American sales and account management for AOL.
Lynn Wunderman was appointed to the board at ARC Wireless Solutions. Wunderman has more than 30 years of experience in direct marketing, database marketing, communications, consulting and general management.
Walgreens elected Ginger L. Graham to its board. Graham is currently the president and CEO of Two Trees Consulting.
Autotask Founder and CEO Bob Godgart has been appointed vice chairman of CompTIA’s board. Godgart directs all of
Autotask’s investment and business strategy as well as operational activities.
Bristol-Myers Squibb appointed Charles Bancroft CFO. Bancroft joined the company in 1984.
SRA International elected W. Robert Grafton to its board of directors. Grafton served as chairman of Arthur Andersen
and managing partner of Andersen Worldwide.
Dennis Welch, executive vice president of American Electric Power Co., has joined the board of TRC.
Constellation Software recently appointed Mark Leonard and John Billowits to Gladstone PLC’s board of directors. Leonard is the president and Billowitz is CFO at Constellation. Billowits will assume the interim CEO role at Gladstone to assist in the integration of Gladstone into Constellation.
Ian Stewart was appointed to Nitinat Mineral’s board of directors. Stewart co-founded Stratacon, the largest sub-metering company in Canada. Stewart was appointed to the board after the resignation of Wayne Isaacs.
Impax Laboratories has elected Allen Chao, chair of Newport Healthcare Advisors, to its board.
Zix named Maribess L. Miller to its board. Miller previously was with Pricewaterhouse Coopers.
Andrew Miller has been named Polycom’s new president and CEO. Miller, who was previously with Cisco before joining Polycom last year, will replace Robert Hagerty, who is also resigning from the board. David DeWalt, Polycom’s current lead and independent director, will become chairman of the board.
Parametric Technology has named Jim Heppelmann CEO, effective October 1 this year. Heppelmann is PTC’s president
and COO.
Merge Healthcare appointed Jeff Surges to its board. Surges is currently president of U.S. sales for Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions.