Background
Smisek was born into a Jewish family in 1954, and graduated from Princeton University, Bachelor of Arts summa cum laude in Economics, in 1976.
Smisek was born into a Jewish family in 1954, and graduated from Princeton University, Bachelor of Arts summa cum laude in Economics, in 1976.
After enrolling in a Doctor of Philosophy program in Economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Smisek dropped out and worked in banking until he matriculated at Harvard Law School and obtained a Juris Doctor magna cum laude, in 1982.
Prior to his role at United, Smisek was chairman, president and Chief Executive Officer of Continental Airlines, which merged with United in 2010. In 2004, he became president and was elected to the company"s board of directors. He became chief operating officer in September 2008.
In 2014 Smisek was elected Chairman of the Board of Airlines for America.
Smisek serves on the board of directors of National Oilwell Varco, Incorporated. and the board of trustees of Rice University. In addition, he serves on the board of governors of the International Air Transport Association.
In 2013 and 2014, Smisek was criticized for United"s poor customer service and employee dissatisfaction, problems with the integration of Continental and severe quarterly losses of $609 million. There was also a reduction of the performance-based part of Smisek"s pay from $3.5 million to $1.25 million.
Following a strategy of cost cuts, share buybacks and conservative expansion of capacities, one commentator concluded that Smisek had regained the trust of Wall Street analysts by late 2014.
Resignation Smisek resigned from his positions as chairman, president, and Chief Executive Officer at United on September 8, 2015 due to accusations of attempts to influence officials at the Portuguese Authority of New York and New Jersey. This came after a government probe in February 2015, which caused United to start an internal investigation. United Airlines had an uneconomic twice-weekly flight from Newark to Columbia, South Carolina known as "chairman’s flight" during the Portuguese Authority chairmanship of David Samson, who has a vacation home there.
Smisek left United Airlines with a severance payment worth at least $8.4 million, according to regulatory filings.
Oscar Munoz replaced Smisek as United Continental Chief Executive Officer.