Skybus CEO resigns
Skybus' chief executive Diffenderffer resigns
Airline names financial chief Hodge to top spot
Monday, March 24, 2008 12:45 PM
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Skybus Airlines’ chief executive, Bill Diffenderffer, has resigned, the airline announced today. He will be replaced by the company’s chief financial officer, Mike Hodge, effective immediately.
Diffenderffer is stepping aside to return to writing books, a career he left in 2005 when he joined Skybus.
In a statement, C. Robert Kidder, chairman of the Skybus board of directors, acknowledged Diffenderffer’s work in “the creating of Skybus’ unique business model, raising the capital that funded the startup, and the planning leading to Skybus’ first flights in May 2007 and its first year of operation.”
Now that the airline has been launched, “he feels that now is the time for others in the organization to take the lead in moving Skybus forward,” Kidder said in the statement.
Hodge, the new CEO, joined Skybus in March 2007. He had been a managing director and airline-industry analyst at Tiger Management, a hedge fund that helped provide startup funding for Skybus. He holds degrees from Princeton and Harvard universities.
Ken Gile remains the airline’s president and chief operating officer.
The Columbus-based airline last week announced service changes that it said were designed to maximize profits in the face of high oil prices. It also is facing efforts by its pilots to unionize.
Diffenderffer’s career has included law, specializing in corporate finance; corporate leadership, serving as a chief executive for travel-technology companies; and a consultant.
He's also an author, having written The Samurai Leader: Leading with the Courage, Integrity and Honor of the Samurai Code (Sourcebooks), about how to become a courageous and ethical business leader.
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