| In
1970, the Hughes Corporation bailed out Airwest
from sure financial disaster. Under the direction of
the Summa Corp. (a Latin term meaning "of the highest
order"), we were assigned a "Board of Directors"
that read like a "who is who" of the aviation
and airline industry. It was apparent to
all of us that we had been blessed by now having the
guidance of a group of people that were well steeped
in airline and aviation management. Names like
Bill Gay and Chester Davis that were often
seen in the news surrounding Howard Hughes
stories suddenly became real people to us
as they often visited our San Mateo home
for Board meetings.
The
Board's
initial selection of Irv Tague as General Manager was
a stroke of genius. Irv shaped our future in his
own quiet way. Those of us who were given the
opportunity to know him personally, were treated to his
wonderful dry sense of humor, an unbelievable memory, (he
knew your job better than you did) and his terrific
knowledge of flying machines and flying companies. Irv
and the "Board" brought in Russ Stephenson
in 1972 as VP-Marketing. Russ, an 18 year veteran
of the air transportaion industry and most
recently, CEO and President of Mohawk Airlines,
was "the consummate
professional." We soon learned under his
tutelage, the t's started getting crossed,
and the i's were dotted, in short order,
the Hughes Airwest Marketing and Sales team
took a back seat to no one in the industry.
We
took on the world! In
1976, after seven great years of leadership,
Irv Tague decided to pursue other
interests. In January 1977, the Board
elected Russ Stephenson as President and CEO,
Bill Gay was named Chairman of the
Board. At year's end, 1977, the Hughes
Airwest Board of Directors looked like this:
(in no particular order)
Bill
Gay, Russ Stephenson, Will Lummis, William
Rankin, Milton West, Ed Altman, Harry Swenson,
Art Taylor, Nadine Henley, James LeSage,
Jack Real, James Austin, Kay Glenn and Rea
Hopper.
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