Southwest Airlines Announces New Vice President Strategy & Change Leadership

    DALLAS, Aug. 25 /
EMWNews
/ -- Southwest Airlines recently

appointed Kathleen Wayton as Vice President Strategy and Change Leadership.

In her new position, Wayton will be responsible for providing executive

leadership and direction for the Company's Strategy, Change Leadership, and

Portfolio Management Teams. For a photo, visit:

http://gallery.swamedia.com/imageSingle/ImageID=SWA2008081252408/tpl2=image

s/t ype=jpg



    "Kathleen's love for developing People, drive for results, her work

ethic, and knack for boiling the complex down into the real "to-dos" has

made her the perfect Leader for this group," said Bob Jordan, Executive

Vice President Strategy and Planning. "Having worked closely with Kathleen

over the last year as she built our Teams, I know that she will be great in

her new Leadership role."



    Wayton will lead the continued development and implementation of the

Company's strategic plan. Additionally, she will drive companywide change

and improvement projects; oversee the management of the Company's portfolio

of investment opportunities; provide project management support; and

support the development of the tools and processes to govern and manage

strategy and project execution.



    Wayton joined Southwest in 2004 as a Director in Technology, leading

our Enterprise Data Team. She was then promoted to Senior Director over the

Rapid Rewards and southwest.com Teams in Technology. Last April, she moved

to the Strategic Planning Department as Senior Director.



    "I look forward to continuing to work alongside the best Employees in

the industry to provide strategic direction for Southwest Airlines," Wayton

said. "This is one of the most exciting times in Southwest's history, and

I'm honored to be a part of it."



    Kathleen grew up in Odessa, Texas, and graduated from the University of

North Texas with a BA in Marketing.



    Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV), the nation's largest carrier in terms

of domestic passengers enplaned, currently serves 64 cities in 32 states.

Based in Dallas, Southwest currently operates more than 3,400 flights a day

and has 34,000+ Employees systemwide.




http://www.southwest.com