Airline welcomes three new senior leaders to the
team
CALGARY, Jan. 11, 2018 /CNW/ - WestJet today announced
three new vice-presidents will be joining the senior leadership
team. Gandeephan Ganeshalingam joins as Vice-President, Lean and
Continuous Improvement, Stuart
McDonald as Vice-President and Chief Technology Officer and
Scott Groh as Vice-President, Crew
Resources.
"I am pleased to welcome Gandeephan, Stuart and Scott to the
WestJet leadership team," said Gregg
Saretsky, WestJet President and CEO. "As we continue on our
path to becoming a global, full-service carrier, the additional
bench strength provided by our newest leaders is key to this
exciting initiative."
Gandeephan joins WestJet February
19, from GE Canada, where he most recently served as Chief
Innovation Officer. There, he supported WestJet on several
initiatives including an artificial intelligence project to improve
dispatch reliability for WestJet's Boeing 767s. Prior to
joining GE, Gandeephan led the Continuous Improvement (CI) team for
Avery Dennison, a Fortune 500
manufacturing company. He was a key member of the leadership team
that successfully introduced Lean and CI concepts across the
organization. Gandeephan holds a P.Eng degree from the University of Waterloo and an MBA from the
University of Toronto.
Stuart McDonald will be
Vice-President and Chief Technology Officer when he starts with
WestJet on January 29. With 25 years
of global IT leadership experience, Stuart most recently served as
Vice-President, Strategic Initiatives, and Vice-President, Employee
Enablement at TD Bank. Prior to his time at TD, Stuart held
leadership roles in the technology and telecom industries in
Hong Kong and Australia, including two years with Cathay
Pacific as Head of Enterprise Programs. Stuart holds an Honours
Bachelor of Computer Science from University of Technology Sydney
and will work with WestJet to build out the global technology
footprint needed to meet the airline's expansion plans.
Scott Groh joined WestJet,
January 3, in the role of
Vice-President, Crew Resources. Scott most recently worked for
Qatar Airways as Senior Vice-President, Crew Resources, Flight
Operations. Scott also held the position of Vice-President, Crew
Resources for Etihad Airways for nine years and has more than 30
years of experience in crew planning, and crew scheduling
operations. Scott's experience with a complex fleet mix and
schedule network involving more than 200 aircraft, 3,500 pilots,
and 11,000 cabin crew members with full-service global airlines
will help WestJet prepare for the challenges and opportunities of
deploying its Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet and global network plans.
Scott is a graduate of Georgian College in the Aviation Management
program.
Gandeephan will report to Gregg
Saretsky, WestJet President and CEO. Stuart will report to
Craig Maccubbin, WestJet Executive
Vice-President and Chief Information Officer and Scott will report
to Cam Kenyon, WestJet Executive
Vice-President, Operations.
About WestJet
WestJet is proud to be named Best
Airline in Canada and one of the
best Low Cost Airlines in North
America, based on authentic reviews from the travelling
public on Trip Advisor, the world's largest travel site. We are one
of very few airlines globally that does not commercially overbook.
Together with our regional airline, WestJet Encore, we offer
scheduled service to more than 100 destinations in North America, Central America, the Caribbean and Europe and to more than 175 destinations in
over 20 countries through our airline partnerships. WestJet
Vacations offers affordable, flexible vacations to more than 60
destinations and the choice of more than 800 hotels, resorts,
condos and villas. Members of the WestJet Rewards program
earn WestJet dollars on flights, vacation packages and more.
Members use WestJet dollars towards the purchase of flights and
vacations packages to any WestJet destination with no blackout
periods, and have access to Member Exclusive fares offering deals
to WestJet destinations throughout our network and those of our
partner airlines.
WestJet is publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX)
under the symbol WJA. For more information about everything
WestJet, please visit westjet.com.
Recent recognition includes:
2017
Five-Star Airline in the Low-Cost Category (The Airline Passenger
Experience Association)
2017/2016 Canada's Most Trusted
Airline (Gustavson School of Business at the University of Victoria)
2017 Best Airline in Canada and
Travellers' Choice Winner Mid-Sized and Low Cost Airlines –
North America (TripAdvisor
Travelers' Choice awards for Airlines)
2016 Canada's most reputable
company for Corporate Social Responsibility (Reputation
Institute)
2016/2015/2014/2013/2012 Ranked top three for Canadian Brands
(Canadian Business Magazine)
2016/2015/2014/2013 WestJet RBC World Elite MasterCard ranked #1 in
Canada (MoneySense magazine)
2015/2011/2010/2008/2007/2006/2005 Canada's Most Admired Corporate Culture
(Waterstone Human Capital)
2015 Best Employers in Canada
(Aon Hewitt)
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SOURCE WestJet