United Continental exec hired by Apple

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014


Former United Continental Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Zane Rowe will be joining the ranks at Apple, and will reportedly be one of the Cupertino, Calif., company's vice presidents of sales.



Rowe is leaving his position as executive vice president and CFO of United Continental Holdings Inc., the company which owns major U.S. airlines United and Continental, at which he served since the two carriers merged in 2010 for a job at Cupertino, reports All Things D.



“We are thrilled that Zane Rowe will be joining us as one of our vice presidents of sales,” Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said. “He built a great team at United and we think he is going to do a fantastic job at Apple.”



Previous to his tenure at United Continental, Rowe first joined Continental in 1993 as a vice president of financial planning and analysis, ultimately becaming the company's executive vice president and CFO in 2008.



It is unclear as to what segment Rowe will be heading or when his term will begin.





New Apple Vice President of Sales Zane Rowe. | Source: All Things D








[ View article on AppleInsider ]

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 40
    CFO, financial planning and analysis, airlines...... to sales, Apple?!



  • Reply 2 of 40
    ghostface147ghostface147 Posts: 1,629member
    Steve Jobs never wanted B players on his A team. I guess the current suits see things differently.
  • Reply 3 of 40
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ghostface147 View Post


    Steve Jobs never wanted B players on his A team. I guess the current suits see things differently.



    How do you know that he's a "B" player? Executive VP and CFO at United, while a little odd for a sales VP position at Apple, is a pretty impressive credential. He may be put into strictly the financial and planning aspects of sales and inventory management and stuff like that. I'm sure Apple didn't just pluck him out of the blue.
  • Reply 4 of 40
    boredumbboredumb Posts: 1,418member
    This person may have started at Continental in 1993, but, seeing as he was only 21 then, it isn't likely that he started "as a vice president of financial planning and analysis"...



    Although, if he did, maybe he does qualify as an a-list-er!



    Apple does have a huge patch to manage now, but I wouldn't like to see them get too far ,or at least too often, away from the tech field, into the typical corporate "revolving musical executives" approach. I would think that that would be the most effective way quickly to dilute and destroy the unique culture of Apple.
  • Reply 5 of 40
    boredumbboredumb Posts: 1,418member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by alexkhan2000 View Post


    I'm sure Apple didn't just pluck him out of the blue.



    No, it was the wild blue yonder
  • Reply 6 of 40
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    CFO, financial planning and analysis, airlines...... to sales, Apple?!







    Let's wait to see what his responsibilities are.



    For example, if he were targeted at C-level execs at Enterprise customers, his CFO, planning, and analysis experience might be right on the money.
  • Reply 7 of 40
    rot'napplerot'napple Posts: 1,839member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    CFO, financial planning and analysis, airlines...... to sales, Apple?!







    Never mind, post self deleted...

    /

    /
  • Reply 8 of 40
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by boredumb View Post


    No, it was the wild blue yonder







    Seriously, the guy must be a major numbers wiz. You see those types every now and then in companies of all ilk and size. Apple's numbers are starting to get into the astronomical range now and I can see that Apple needs managers who know how to deal with some really big numbers very quickly. That's my take on it.
  • Reply 9 of 40
    asdasdasdasd Posts: 5,686member
    This is all about the iPlane
  • Reply 10 of 40
    wurm5150wurm5150 Posts: 763member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ghostface147 View Post


    Steve Jobs never wanted B players on his A team. I guess the current suits see things differently.



    Yes.. I'm sure a guy who was EVP and CFO at one of the biggest airline company to take a lower ranking position at Apple is a "B" player.
  • Reply 11 of 40
    quinneyquinney Posts: 2,528member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    CFO, financial planning and analysis, airlines...... to sales, Apple?!







    I wonder if he is CFO-in-waiting to replace Oppenheimer some day.
  • Reply 12 of 40
    asdasdasdasd Posts: 5,686member
    Mini iPlane next year. Then iPlane nano.
  • Reply 13 of 40
    They have got to be kidding. The airline business thrives on abusing its customer base with a business model as close to legalized theft as one could be. I reluctantly flew UAL "first class" from Asia to SFO as no other airline was available. The scallops they served were off and the service left much to be desired. It is hard to imagine that an A player can be found in the airlines other then the likes of JetBlue or South West where the last vestige of pro-customer still survives, albeit in a new age sort of way. I hope this is not a trend as I feel it does not bode well with everything Steve Jobs spent his life to promote.
  • Reply 14 of 40
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Jack Mac View Post


    They have got to be kidding. The airline business thrives on abusing its customer base with a business model as close to legalized theft as one could be. I reluctantly flew UAL "first class" from Asia to SFO as no other airline was available. The scallops they served were off and the service left much to be desired. It is hard to imagine that an A player can be found in the airlines other then the likes of JetBlue or South West where the last vestige of pro-customer still survives, albeit in a new age sort of way. I hope this is not a trend as I feel it does not bode well with everything Steve Jobs spent his life to promote.



  • Reply 15 of 40
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by quinney View Post


    I wonder if he is CFO-in-waiting to replace Oppenheimer some day.



    In sales?
  • Reply 16 of 40
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Jack Mac View Post


    They have got to be kidding. The airline business thrives on abusing its customer base with a business model as close to legalized theft as one could be. I reluctantly flew UAL "first class" from Asia to SFO as no other airline was available. The scallops they served were off and the service left much to be desired. It is hard to imagine that an A player can be found in the airlines other then the likes of JetBlue or South West where the last vestige of pro-customer still survives, albeit in a new age sort of way. I hope this is not a trend as I feel it does not bode well with everything Steve Jobs spent his life to promote.



    Exactly. It's worse than the worst of the telecom service provider industry and the cable industry combined.
  • Reply 17 of 40
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Jack Mac View Post


    They have got to be kidding. The airline business thrives on abusing its customer base with a business model as close to legalized theft as one could be. I reluctantly flew UAL "first class" from Asia to SFO as no other airline was available. The scallops they served were off and the service left much to be desired. It is hard to imagine that an A player can be found in the airlines other then the likes of JetBlue or South West where the last vestige of pro-customer still survives, albeit in a new age sort of way. I hope this is not a trend as I feel it does not bode well with everything Steve Jobs spent his life to promote.



    Well if you eat scallops so long after they were caught you aren't "first class".



    Regardless, IT has a habit of treating their customers as milk cattle, calling us back to the nose bag for the next installment of grain while the suction cups do their business.
  • Reply 18 of 40
    scotty321scotty321 Posts: 313member
    WTF IS GOING ON AT APPLE?! Does anybody remember that UNITED F***ING AIRLINES WENT BANKRUPT?!?! And United Airlines has singlehandedly treated me worse than any other corporation on this entire planet... on NUMEROUS OCCASSIONS, because I was stupid enough to give them multiple chances. Most recently, United Airlines canceled my entire reservation due to their "merger" with Continental, and they NEVER EVEN BOTHERED TO TELL ME THAT IT WAS CANCELED!! I discovered this one week before my trip and called their customer service line to see where my reservation went, the woman didn't even apologize. She just said, "Some reservations got lost during the merger and none of us were well-trained on how to deal with this." She found me a replacement reservation that had FOUR (4!!!) connecting flights from Austin to LA, and I said NO THANK YOU... I found the flight on Southwest, nonstop, for $350. So she said she would refund me for the canceled reservation, and here I am 5 months later with no refund. I've called several times, emailed several times, and even sent letters in the mail. Nothing. I will NEVER FLY with United again. AND NOW THIS MOTHER FCUKING EXECUTIVE FROM THAT MOTHER FCKUING company is coming to Apple?! Steve Jobs would have NEVER EVER EVER ALLOWED THIS IN A MILLION YEARS.
  • Reply 19 of 40
    asdasdasdasd Posts: 5,686member
    Relax, it's just one guy
  • Reply 20 of 40
    scotty321scotty321 Posts: 313member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by asdasd View Post


    Relax, it's just one guy



    No, it's not just one guy. It's a new way of thinking at Apple. It's this guy, plus the Symantec guy, plus the Dixon's guy. None of these D-class bozos should be coming anywhere NEAR a world-class company like Apple, but apparently Tim Cook is intent on destroying Steve's legacy. Way to go, Tim.
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