Industry & Services >> CEO Interviews >> July 1, 1998
RUSSELL L. RAY, JR. is CEO of World Airways Inc. He has held senior
positions with British Aerospace Inc., Pan American World Airways,
McDonnell Douglas, Pacific Southwest Airlines, Eastern Airlines and the
Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. After his service as an officer in the
Air Force, he joined Lockheed in 1960 where he became director of
Commercial Sales for the U.S., Canada and Mexico. In 1971, Mr. Ray
joined Eastern Airlines where he became senior vice president, Marketing
and a member on the board of directors. In 1985, he left Eastern to
become president of Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) and a director on
its board. With the merger of PSA into USAir, he left to join McDonnell
Douglas as vice president and general manager of Commercial Marketing.
In 1991, Mr. Ray became president and CEO of Pan American World Airways
at the request of creditors and investors including Delta Air Lines. In
1991, he was elected executive vice president, British Aerospace, Inc.
Mr. Ray is now associated with Winston Partners, an investment firm
located in Vienna, Virginia. Mr. Ray is a graduate of Occidental college
and the University of Southern California Management Policy Institute.
He is a recipient of an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Pepperdine
University. He is a member of the board of directors of World Airways
and Comtrad Industries and past director of six public company boards
outside the field of aviation. Current outside interests include service
as a Regent of Pepperdine University and memberships in Conquistadores
del Cielo and the Orange Bowl Committee. He is an advisor to Novecon, an
enterprise doing business in the former Soviet Union and to Airport
Group International, a Lockheed Martin-Soros company engaged in airport
privatization. Past activities include Chairman of United Way of Dade
County, Florida, vice president of the National Society of Multiple
Sclerosis, trustee of Occidental College and guest lecturer at the Royal
Aeronautical Society, Oxford University. Profile
Airways at this point?
Mr. Ray: We're a service company. We're not really an airline; we're a
service company that
