JetBlue today announced that Ursula Hurley, head of treasury and investor relations, has been named acting chief financial officer. She succeeds Steve Priest, who has decided to leave JetBlue effective June 11, 2021 to pursue a new opportunity. Hurley will assume the role of acting chief financial officer effective June 12, 2021, in addition to her current duties.
Hurley began her career at JetBlue 17 years ago. She has been responsible for debt and cash management, cash flow, fuel and interest rate hedging, strategic sourcing, and fleet strategy, including aircraft and engine sourcing. Her role was recently expanded to manage JetBlue’s relationship with the investor community.
“Steve has been instrumental in helping lead JetBlue through the pandemic, and he leaves JetBlue in a place where the company is well positioned to continue our recovery and to emerge stronger than before,” said Robin Hayes, JetBlue’s chief executive officer. “Prior to the pandemic, Steve led a successful company-wide effort to reset our cost structure, setting up JetBlue for long-term success. We are incredibly grateful for his leadership and contributions to JetBlue and wish him the best in his next adventure. We will always think of him as a member of the JetBlue family.
“One of Steve’s greatest accomplishments was building a world-class finance team and we are fortunate that Ursula, one of our strongest leaders, will succeed Steve in leading JetBlue during this transition. She began her career at JetBlue and worked directly with Steve over the past three years to lead cross-functional efforts such as the evolution of our fleet, our structural cost program, and strategic sourcing initiatives. Her work helped position JetBlue with one of the industry’s strongest balance sheets going into the pandemic. Over the past year, she successfully led our efforts to preserve our liquidity position, and is the perfect leader to support this transition as we begin to repair our balance sheet and return on a path towards industry-leading margins.”
“It has been a privilege to work alongside such an exceptional and passionate team for the past six years, and the decision to leave was one of the most difficult I have ever made,” said Priest. “I could not be prouder of our finance team and, in fact, of all our crewmembers who accomplished so much over this unprecedented year and, prior to that, pulled together to deliver a cost-conscious culture while maintaining our strong and trusted brand. Ursula has been central to these efforts, and I am confident in her ability to support JetBlue as the airline emerges from the pandemic and regains momentum.”
Source: JetBlue
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