Ben Minicucci serves as president of Alaska Airlines and incoming CEO of Alaska Air Group, which carries over 45 million guests a year to more than 115 destinations on 1,300 daily flights across the U.S. and to Mexico, Canada and Costa Rica.

Minicucci will become CEO on March 31, 2021, succeeding Brad Tilden, who will retire.

As president of Alaska, Ben is responsible for both operations and commercial functions. He’s leading the execution of the company’s strategic plan including a focus on Alaska’s network, flight schedule, sales, revenue management, safety and operations, marketing and real estate.

Ben has contributed in various roles of increasing responsibility at Alaska since starting in 2004 when he joined the company as staff vice president of maintenance. He was promoted to president and chief operating officer in 2016.

Ben was named CEO of Virgin America Airlines upon Alaska Air Group’s acquisition of the company in December 2016 until the airlines merged under a single operating certificate in January 2018. He oversaw the integration of Alaska and Virgin America’s operations, processes and workgroups, which is now nearing completion.

In 2007, Ben became the vice president of Seattle operations. He implemented an operational management process called the turn timeline which dramatically increased Alaska’s on-time performance and reliability. In 2009, he was promoted to executive vice president and chief operating officer. During this time, he directed the implementation of a customer service guiding framework which empowers employees to deliver personal and kind-hearted experiences to guests, recognizing their unique circumstances instead of being bound by rigid company policies.

Before joining Alaska Airlines, Ben spent seven years serving in a variety of roles at Air Canada’s technical operations and, ultimately, vice president of heavy maintenance. He served in the Canadian Armed Forces for 14 years prior to joining the private aviation sector.

Ben holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Royal Military College of Canada. He’s currently on the board of directors for Alaska Air Group and the University of Washington Michael G. Foster School of Business Center for Leadership & Strategic Thinking.