About Dave
Dave is one of our most sought-after speakers. He has a wealth of experience of advising and inspiring organisations from a cross-section of industries. His high-profile career in People and Leadership Development at Southwest Airlines makes him an authority on service excellence, leadership and culture.
Speaker Biography
Dave Ridley retired from Southwest Airlines in 2015 after a 27-year career. During this period, he served as a senior executive in a variety of operational, commercial, and staff functions including: SVP Chief Marketing Officer; SVP People and Leadership Development; SVP Business Development; and VP of Ground (Airport) Operations. From 1998 until his retirement, he served on the Executive Committee, the CEO’s staff responsible for strategy and corporate policy.
During Dave’s time at Southwest (1988-2015), the company grew from a $700 million in revenue regional airline flying to 26 US cities, to become the largest domestic airline in the United States with nearly $20 billion in revenue, now flying to 103 cities in 40 states, Mexico and the Caribbean.
Southwest is the only airline in the world to post a profit every year for the past 44 years and it consistently ranks in Fortune’s ‘Top 10 Most Admired Companies in the World’. Its unique culture is well-known and is why Southwest is generally regarded as being one of the best companies in the world to work for.
"Dave did a thorough job of understanding ADCB journey towards Service Excellence, where we were, and what our ambition is. Dave tailored his speech in line with ADCB’s Service Ambition and illustrated the service road map beautifully to the audience. His speech was a catalyst that has reignited our leaders passion for service excellence, which is clearly evidenced by the increase in the number of change initiatives that have been kicked off and successfully implemented since the event. Would definitely recommend Dave as a speaker to help put to the customers and the employees back at the top of the agenda where it always belongs."
Ala'a Eraiqat Group Chief Executive Officer & Board Member Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank
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