MANUFACTURING
Concluding a year of numerous of executive retirements at Airbus SE, the company welcomes Dominik Asam, (left) who is moving from his role as CFO at German chipmaker Infineon Technologies to Airbus in April, replacing former CFO Harald Wilhelm. Additionally, Airbus’ COO, Tom Williams, retired on Feb. 1 and was replaced, by Michael Schöllhorn, currently COO for BSH Home Appliances.
Temperature-controlled packaging company Pelican BioThermal named Lynaye Reynolds (right) as worldwide director of quality for its Bio-Thermal division and hired James Klingelhoefer as its director of sales, Americas. Reynolds joined the company three years ago as quality manager at its site in Leighton Buzzard, U.K.. Klingelhoefer, who will be responsible for leading the U.S.-based sales for the Americas, has more than 12 years of experience in leadership roles at FedEx and WorldCourier.
E-COMMERCE RETAIL
Lucy Peng, one of 18 Alibaba co-founders, stepped down as CEO of the e-commerce giant’s Southeast Asian subsidiary Lazada, after only nine months in the position. Pierre Poignant, who most recently served as executive president at Lazada, will succeed her as CEO.
IN MEMORIAM
Kinedyne LLC announced the tragic passing of its vice president of sales and marketing, Paul Wolford, who died in November after a battle with cancer. Wolford’s career at Kinedyne spanned nearly 40 years. He was dedicated to his most recent role at the company since 1997.
Southwest Airlines’ legendary co-founder and longtime CEO Herb Kelleher died on Jan. 3 at the age of 87. Kelleher, who co-founded the Dallas-based carrier in the early 1970s, will be remembered by the industry for his fostering of a light-hearted company culture and for his unique approach to building Southwest’s network, which incorporated a point-to-point strategy in favor of the hub-and-spoke model. Kelleher stepped down as CEO and president in 2001, but remained involved with the company as chairman of the board and chairman emeritus until his death.