06 September, 2023

Board changes at WestJet Group.


The WestJet Group has confirmed the appointment of Benjamin Smith and รlex Cruz as Vice-Chairs of its Board of Directors and the appointment of Lisa Durocher to its Board of Directors.

"It gives me great pleasure to announce the appointment of Benjamin and รlex as Vice-Chairs of our Board of Directors. Benjamin and รlex are both senior airline industry veterans, with proven track records, who will continue to bring strategic and commercial leadership to the WestJet Group as we work together to deliver value to WestJet Group's guests, employees and stakeholders," said Chris Burley, Chairman of the WestJet Group's Board of Directors.


Mr. Smith has served on the WestJet Group Board of Directors since October 2021. Mr. Smith was appointed Air France-KLM Group’s Chief Executive Officer in August 2018. Prior to joining Air France-KLM, Mr. Smith served in multiple executive positions within Air Canada. During his tenure at Air Canada, the airline’s size and profitability grew exponentially with its customer products and services consistently rated best in North America. In 2003, he was appointed Vice President Network Planning, leading the airline’s commercial strategy and global expansion focused on developing three hubs in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. In 2007, he was appointed Chief Commercial Officer and in 2013, he launched Air Canada Rouge, the company’s leisure brand. In 2014, Mr. Smith acted as the chief negotiator with the airline's pilot and cabin crew unions, resulting in landmark 10-year collective agreements. In his final position at the company, Mr. Smith served as President, Airlines and Chief Operating Officer with all-encompassing commercial and operational responsibilities for Air Canada, Rouge, Express, Cargo, Aeroplan, and Vacations. Currently, he serves on the Air France-KLM Group Board of Directors. Mr. Smith holds a Bachelor of Arts in economics from the University of Western Ontario.
Mr. Smith is the CEO of Air France-KLM where he has served since 2018. Prior to that, Mr. Smith had a distinguished career for more than two decades at Air Canada, where he held a number of increasingly senior positions most recently as President, Airlines and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Smith has extensive international and domestic aviation experience and a proven track record of success.





Mr. Cruz has served on the WestJet Group Board of Directors since November 2021. Between 2016 and 2020, Mr. Cruz was the CEO and Chairman of British Airways. Prior to that role, Mr. Cruz founded and served as the CEO of Clickair, a low-cost airline that quickly grew under his leadership before merging with Vueling in July of 2009, creating Spain's leading airline. During his tenure, Vueling became one of Europe's most successful low-cost carriers. Commencing his professional career with American Airlines, Mr. Cruz held a variety of management roles before founding his own aviation consulting company, leading projects with airlines around the world, including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa, Delta, Continental and Ansett Australia, as well as travel companies like lastminute.com, BAA, Swissport and Amadeus. Mr. Cruz currently serves on the boards of Fetcherr Ltd and Recaro and serves as Executive Chairman for PortAventura World. Mr. Cruz holds a Master of Science in industrial engineering from The Ohio State University and a Bachelor of Science from Central Michigan University.

Mr. Cruz started his career at American Airlines in Dallas and later founded low-cost airline Clickair. He then merged it with Barcelona-based Vueling and eventually drove its acquisition by International Airlines Group (IAG). In 2016, he became the Chairman and CEO of British Airways where he served until 2021. Mr. Cruz also serves on the board of Recaro, PortAventura World and several travel tech start-ups.

Ms. Durocher was most recently the Chief Executive Officer of Rogers Bank and Executive Vice-President, Financial Services of Rogers Communications. Joining Rogers in 2016, Ms. Durocher became Chief Digital Officer later that year, where she drove the strategy and accelerated transformation of Rogers’ digital program offerings. A veteran in the digital and technology space, Ms. Durocher spent more than a decade at American Express, where she held a variety of senior leadership positions across digital product and technology development, loyalty program management, strategy execution as well as global advertising and marketing. Ms. Durocher also spent seven years running product and technology for global business and consumer travel at Amex. Presently, Ms. Durocher is a member of the Fortis Board of Directors. Ms. Durocher holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Wilfred Laurier University.
In addition to appointing its new Vice-Chairs, the WestJet Group also appointed Lisa Durocher to the WestJet Group Board of Directors. Ms. Durocher was most recently the Chief Executive Officer of Rogers Bank and Executive Vice-President, Financial Services of Rogers Communications where she oversaw the strategy and scaling of the financial services of the organization. Ms. Durocher joined Rogers in 2016 becoming Chief Digital Officer later that year where she drove the strategy and accelerated transformation of Rogers' digital program offerings. 

Before joining Rogers, Ms. Durocher spent more than a decade at American Express where she held a variety of senior leadership positions across digital product and technology development, loyalty program management, strategy execution as well as global advertising and marketing. Ms. Durocher holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Wilfred Laurier University and serves on the Board of Fortis Inc.

"We are pleased to welcome Lisa to our Board of Directors at this incredibly exciting time for the WestJet Group," continued Burley. "Lisa's impressive 30 years of leadership experience at some of North America's most successful brands will be an invaluable asset to the WestJet Group as we continue to radically digitalize and rapidly grow our business to serve market demand."  
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