He returned to the line here I thought. He fell on his sword after the "clean kill" incident, can't say I blame him. Not really any path forward after 65 for him here, so I am guessing he took his toys and went somewhere else. Not really a bad move IMO.
I am also guessing that he is "management material" but had already poisoned the waters at SWA and wanted a fresh start. Bob was about as inspirational as a wet sock, but I will always admire him for quitting the VP gig when he did. I doubt this has anything to do with an impending merger, as Bob was thrown out of the cool kids club when he resigned.

Why any line pilot would ever what to work in the management pit of vipers is beyond me, but I am glad some do I guess. I would 10 times much rather pull a BG and fly 330 TFP in June and out-earn all of them with the exception of maybe the top 5 in the exec washroom. To each their own, though.