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The hedge fund vying to take over Southwest Airlines has revealed its own slate of candidates to join the carrier’s board of directors.
Elliott Investment Management on Tuesday said that its plans to nominate 10 people for seats on Southwest’s 15-member board is a “key step toward implementing urgent changes” at the Dallas, Texas-based airline. Its lineup of board nominees includes four former airline chief executive and deputy chief executive officers, as well as six people with “complementary expertise.”
The list includes former CFO and deputy CEO of Ryanair Michael Cawley, ex-Virgin America CEO David Cush, and former United Airlines chairman and Air Canada ACDVF-3.16% CEO Robert Milton. Other nominees include Meta board member Nancy Killefer and former JetBlue executive Eash Sundaram.
Joshua Gotbaum, a former White House official who also led Hawaiian Airlines’ emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, was also nominated. A group of labor unions nominated Gotbaum to serve on Starbucks’ board last year. That bid was soundly rejected in March.
“If elected, Elliott is confident that these Candidates will chart a brighter future for Southwest, provide the Board with much-needed expertise and relevant industry experience and help restore the Company’s position as an industry-leading airline with best-in-class profitability,” the firm said in a statement.
Southwest Airlines LUV-2.77% stock was up more than 1% in pre-market trading on Wednesday.
Elliott disclosed in June that it had acquired an 11% stake in Southwest with the aims of firing CEO Bob Jordan, installing a group of friendly directors, and instituting a “comprehensive business review” that would get to the bottom of the airline’s struggling business.
For his part, Jordan has said he won’t step down voluntarily. Southwest in June adopted a “poison pill” gambit would that would severely dilute Elliott’s stake if it acquired more shares in a bid to assert more control.
Southwest on Wednesday said Elliot has dismissed its efforts to engage with it “at every turn” and reiterated that it remains confident in its current leadership.
“After Elliott recently agreed to a meeting with Southwest Airlines in early September to discuss a collaborative resolution, including continuing significant Board refreshment and other governance enhancements, Elliott unilaterally decided instead to publicly announce its intention to replace a majority of Southwest Airlines’ Board,” Southwest said in a statement.
-Melvin Backman contributed to this article.