Thomas W. Horton facts for kids

Thomas W. Horton was born on May 24, 1961. He is a very important business leader. Today, he is a partner at Global Infrastructure Partners. He also helps lead big companies like Walmart Inc. and General Electric Corp.

Before this, he was the chairman, president, and CEO of AMR Corporation. This company later joined with US Airways Group. Together, they formed American Airlines Group, Inc. Thomas Horton then became the chairman of this new, larger airline. Many people say he helped make American Airlines much better. He led the company through big changes. These changes helped the airline become very successful.

Early Life and Education

Thomas Horton was born in Hampton, Virginia. He spent most of his life growing up in Texas. He went to Baylor University and earned a business degree with great honors. Later, in 1985, he got his MBA degree from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University.

Career Journey

Thomas Horton started his career at AMR in 1985. He worked in the finance department. From 1998 to 2000, he lived in London. There, he managed the airline's international business. In January 2000, he became the chief financial officer. This means he was in charge of all the company's money.

In 2002, he moved to AT&T, a large phone company. He became their chief financial officer. Later, he was named vice-chairman. He helped create the "new AT&T." He led the work to combine AT&T with another company called SBC. This made AT&T even bigger.

Horton returned to AMR in March 2006. He continued to work with the company's money and planning. In 2008, a magazine called Institutional Investor named him a top CFO in the U.S. On July 21, 2010, he became the president of American Airlines.

Leading American Airlines

On November 28, 2011, Thomas Horton became the CEO and chairman of American Airlines. He led a team to make big changes to the company. They worked to lower costs. This included reducing debt and changing airplane leases. They also updated the aircraft fleet. His main goal was to make the company profitable again. He wanted American Airlines to be competitive.

At the same time, Horton worked to get new airplanes for American. He made a huge deal with Boeing and Airbus. This deal was the largest airplane order ever. It included 460 new single-aisle jets. The deal was worth $13 billion. Horton's team also gave the airline a new look. They changed the aircraft's paint design and logo.

Merging with US Airways

During the company's big changes, Horton made a deal with US Airways. Through this deal, American Airlines' lenders and employee groups owned 72% of the new company. US Airways shareholders owned 28%. US Airways had originally wanted to own most of the new company. But Horton's deal made it more balanced. The two companies joined to become American Airlines Group.

Because of this merger, people who had lent money to American Airlines got all their money back. Even people who owned shares in the company got a lot of their money back. This is very unusual when a company goes through big financial changes. The new American Airlines Group became the largest airline in the world. Thomas Horton finished his time as chairman in June 2014.

On April 15, 2019, Horton became a partner at Global Infrastructure Partners. This company invests in large projects like roads and airports.

Board Memberships

Thomas Horton has served on the boards of several important companies. He was on the board of Qualcomm Inc. from 2008 to 2019. He was also the lead director there for some time. On November 21, 2014, he joined the board of Walmart. He later became its lead director. In September 2015, he was named lead director of General Electric's board. In October of that year, he joined Warburg Pincus as a senior advisor.

Horton is also part of the executive board for the SMU Cox School of Business. He is a board member of the National Air and Space Museum. From December 2011 to March 2014, Horton was the chairman of Oneworld. This is a group of airlines that work together globally.

Personal Life

Thomas Horton is married and has two grown children. He enjoys running as a hobby. He is also a commercial pilot. This means he can fly jet airplanes!