# Howard Putnam

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{{short description|American businessman (born 1937)}}
'''Howard D. Putnam''' (born  August 21, 1937) is an American businessman. He was CEO of [Southwest Airlines](/source/Southwest_Airlines) for three years, and later CEO of [Braniff International Airways](/source/Braniff_International_Airways) at the time of its [bankruptcy](/source/bankruptcy).

==Career==
When Putnam was 23 years old, he was a sales representative for [Capital Airlines](/source/Capital_Airlines_(United_States)).  He joined [United Airlines](/source/United_Airlines) when Capital was acquired by United in 1961.<ref>[http://www.adversityuniversityblog.com/2008/03/04/stephen-hopson-interview-with-howard-putnam-fmr-ceo-southwest-airlines-part-i-of-ii/ Stephen Hopspon Interview with Howard Putnam] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110630035837/http://www.adversityuniversityblog.com/2008/03/04/stephen-hopson-interview-with-howard-putnam-fmr-ceo-southwest-airlines-part-i-of-ii/ |date=2011-06-30 }}</ref> 17 years on, he became Group Vice President, Marketing at United Airlines before leaving to head Southwest Airlines.

From August 1978 to 1981, Putnam was President and CEO of Southwest Airlines.<ref>Southwest Airlines [http://www.southwest.com/about_swa/airborne.html Southwest Airlines - A Brief History] at ''1978'' and ''1981''</ref> He left Southwest in September 1981 to head ailing Braniff.<ref>[https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/eps01 Handbook of Texas] Southwest Airlines, "In August 1978, Howard Putnam, a United Airlines executive, was hired as president and CEO. Putnam subsequently left in September 1981 to take over the ailing Braniff Airways."</ref>

In 1982, he had a conversation with [American Airlines](/source/American_Airlines) CEO [Robert Crandall](/source/Robert_Crandall), in which he was told by Crandall that if Braniff raised their prices, American would too.  Putnam declined, but the [U.S. Federal Government](/source/U.S._Federal_Government) later brought an [antitrust](/source/antitrust) action against Crandall and American based on a recording of the conversation.<ref>Time Magazine [https://web.archive.org/web/20121026054751/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,953755-1,00.html Dirty Tricks in Dallas] By David S. Jackson;John S. DeMott;Allen Pusey Monday, Mar. 07, 1983</ref>  Putnam was president of Braniff when it ceased operation in bankruptcy on May 12, 1982.

He is currently a [motivational speaker](/source/motivational_speaker) and author of ''The Winds of Turbulence: A Ceo's Reflections on Surviving and Thriving on the Cutting Edge of Corporate Crisis''. He also produced a DVD:''Pass It On, Share The W.I.S.H.'', which was scheduled for release on April 1, 2007.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.howardputnam.com Official website]
* [http://www.speakersoffice.com/pdf/HP%20Bio.pdf Howard Putnam Biography]{{dead link|date=November 2014}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Putnam, Howard}}
Category:1937 births
Category:American chief executives in the airline industry
Category:Braniff
Category:Living people

{{US-business-bio-1930s-stub}}
Category:20th-century American businesspeople

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Howard Putnam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Putnam) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Putnam?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.