Southwest Airlines Co. announced that Vice President Customer Support & Services Chris Wahlenmaier has announced his plans to retire. Wahlenmaier joined Southwest in 1989 and has served in a number of capacities and departments, including in his current role since 2014. Chris served as Vice President-Station Operations and Vice President Ground Operations, prior to becoming Vice President Customer Support and Services. With Wahlenmaier's departure, James Ashworth has been promoted to Vice President Customer Support & Services. Ashworth joined Southwest from AirTran in 2012, where he served as the General Manager of the Atlanta Call Center prior to joining Southwest as Senior Manager Center Operations in 2012. He most recently served Southwest as Managing Director Customer Support & Services. Southwest has promoted Landon Nitschke to Senior Vice President Technical Operations. Nitschke oversees the Maintenance Operations and Engineering Departments which plan and care for the airline's fleet of more than 750 aircraft, along with a new department within the Tech Ops organization. Justin Joneshas assumed the role of Vice President Tech Ops Planning & Performance. In this role, Jones is responsible for Field Services, Maintenance and Fleet Planning, Maintenance Reliability, Business Intelligence, and Strategic Planning for Technical Operations at Southwest Airlines. Jones most recently served as Vice President of Operational Strategy & Performance. Southwest is also promoting Mark Wibbento Vice President Engineering and Programs. Wibben will lead the Engineering, Fleet Management, and Maintenance Programs Teams. In this role, Wibben is responsible for the configuration and maintenance program of Southwest's fleet, with the objective of delivering Safe, reliable, and ontime aircraft for the airline's operation. In his seven years at Southwest, Wibben has directed the Engineering and Powerplant program Teams through a multitude of major initiatives including retirement of the 737-300 (Classics), introduction of the LEAP1B engine on the 737 MAX, and building out the Service Engineering organization to better support Aircraft Heavy Maintenance. Southwest is also welcome Kurt Kinder on board as the airline's Vice President Maintenance Operations. As Vice President Maintenance Operations, Kinder will be focused on the daily operation and Frontline Teams, including Aircraft Maintenance, Aircraft Appearance, Material Stores, and Maintenance Operations Control. Kinder joins Southwest from Alaska Airlines, where he most recently served as Vice President of Maintenance and Engineering. In his role at Alaska, Kinder led approximately 1,000 Employees and oversaw the Safety, compliance, and operational performance of Alaska's fleet of Boeing 737s. Erika Linfordhas announced her decision to leave Southwest, where she serves as Vice President Technology—Commercial Portfolio. Lauren Woodshas been promoted to Managing Director Technology—Enterprise Data & Platforms. In her new role, Woods will help support Multi-Year Plan initiative with a focus on building out the transformative enterprise data and platforms component, as well as supporting the rollout of the Company's IT operating model. Michael Simmons has been promoted to Managing Director Technology—Chief Information Security Officer. Simmons will continue to be responsible for all aspects of cybersecurity across Southwest's facilities, airports, and aircraft, comprising of security engineering, security operations, incident response, threat intelligence, risk and compliance, and security software development. Jim Dayton has been promoted to Vice President Technology—Air & Technical Operations. Dayton has been leading Air Operations Technology Teams since 2017, and recently expanded his scope by assuming leadership over Technical Operations Technologies Teams. Katherine Findlay has announced her retirement after 25 years of service, currently serving as Vice President Internal Audit. With Findlay's departure, Southwest is promoting Colleen Russell to Managing Director Internal Audit. In her new role, Russell will be responsible for establishing and directing Internal Audit programs and procedures, providing strategic and tactical leadership of audit plan development, and monitoring of accounting, financial, operational, and IT controls. She most recently served as Senior Director Performance and Projects role in Ground Operations. She's also held Leadership positions in Finance and Internal Audit. Angela Marano has been promoted to Managing Director Business Transformation. Marano is responsible for providing a variety of services to the organization that help identify and enable business transformation opportunities, including continuous improvement, automation, data science, and innovation. Marano has been with Southwest for more than 20 years and has held a variety of roles across both Technology and Corporate Strategy & Innovation Teams. Ryan Greenhas been promoted to Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. Green oversees and provides direction on a wide variety of areas that are important elements of growing brand and driving revenue, including the Company's brand health and advertising and media efforts, loyalty program and ancillary revenue development, and the digital strategy for Southwest.com and mobile channels. Green is promoted from Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, where he has expanded his scope of responsibility in driving Customer Experience efforts across the Company over the last several years.