=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/chronicle/archive/2002/12= /07/BU52116.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday, December 7, 2002 (SF Chronicle) NEWSMAKER PROFILE/Glenn Tilton, CEO/'People person' rolls up his sleeves/Un= ited's new CEO has flown through some tough times Carrie Kirby, Chronicle Staff Writer Glenn F. Tilton faced a tough room when he met with United mechanics at San Francisco Airport last week. Like their co-workers across the United States, the mechanics were furious that their company stood on the brink of bankruptcy, and jaded by a parade of five CEOs in the past 10 years. But UAL Corp.'s latest chairman, president and chief executive officer didn't hide behind a podium. Dressed in slacks and a shirt, with no tie or jacket, he walked to the back of the room, shaking hands with employees all the way. Workers and union leaders liked what they saw. "He's a take-charge kind of guy. A straight shooter," said Scotty Ford, president of District 141-M of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. What's not clear is whether Tilton's game face is matched by the skills needed for the daunting task of leading the nation's second-largest airline through the biggest storm it has ever faced. Tilton, 54, spent more than 30 years in the oil industry but has never worked for an airline. With bankruptcy looking almost inevitable, United's more than 80,000 employees wonder whether Tilton has the skills and experience to reorganize the company and come out of bankruptcy healthy. "Everybody's crossing their fingers and hoping this guy is the guy to do it, because he's all we've got right now," said Tom Mannion, a Brisbane mechanic who was one of about 180 to meet with Tilton Wednesday. A United spokesperson said neither Tilton nor other United executives we= re available for comment. Employees' impressions from meeting Tilton this week backed up his reputation as a people person and a consensus builder, skills that some observers say will be invaluable because he will have to negotiate with so many constituencies -- from unions to creditors' groups to passengers -- if United files for bankruptcy. But one analyst argues that this crisis is no time for consensus buildin= g. Bill Oliver, an analyst with the Boyd Group, an airline industry research firm, criticized Tilton's reaction to the denial of United's request for $1.8 billion in federally backed loans Wednesday as not decisive enough. Tilton issued a statement Wednesday saying, "We will consult with our union leaders and other stakeholders and quickly determine what step to take next." "If the building's on fire, let's not have a meeting to figure out what = to do next," Oliver said. "This is a wartime environment and you need a wartime leader. I don't know that Mr. Tilton fits the bill." Tilton was selected to take the captain's seat in September in part because his resume includes a large bankruptcy. He headed Texaco's U.S. refinery business in the late 1980s when the oil giant filed Chapter 11. James Kinnear, Texaco's president and CEO at the time, recalled that Tilton managed to move the business forward in the throes of bankruptcy. "We developed a new gasoline, System 3, and Glenn was the motivating for= ce behind this," said Kinnear, now chairman of the Public Policy Institute of New York state. Tilton launched a huge marketing campaign for the new product that helped employees recover some of the morale lost in the reorganization. "He even had a license plate on his car that said 'SYSTEM3.' " But Texaco's bankruptcy was a very different -- and easier -- situation than the crisis United faces now. Texaco filed for bankruptcy after it was ordered to pay Penzoil Co. a $10.3 billion settlement as a result of Texaco's acquisition of Getty Oil Co. "We were never insolvent. We had plenty of money," Kinnear said. Tilton's second opportunity to be a leader in a time of crisis came when he was named Texaco chairman and CEO after the abrupt resignation of CEO and Chairman Peter Bijur after the company agreed to merge with San Francisco's Chevron. On his first day as CEO, Tilton, who had worked for Texaco since graduating from the University of South Carolina in 1970, walked into an auditorium full of employees demoralized by the pending merger. He was met by a spontaneous standing ovation. "In all my years in that building, I never saw employees display such appreciation, such respect, affection and trust," said Chris Gidez, former head of public relations at Texaco. "Employees usually give a little polite applause when the chairman speaks," said Gidez, now a communications consultant in Fairfield, Conn. Tilton only held the top slot at Texaco for seven months before the company merged with Chevron. The new company is led by Chevron boss Dave O'Reilly. As ChevronTexaco vice chairman, Tilton moved to San Francisco's Pacific Heights with his wife, Jacqueline, and took charge of the cultural integration of the two companies. In an April 2002 issue of ChevronTexaco's company magazine, Tilton urged employees to challenge him if they caught him acting differently from the values he espoused. United employees need no such prompting. When Tilton told San Francisco workers Wednesday that he plans to bring = in some new management talent -- a move that employees say they support -- members of the union piped right up. "We told him we've heard the same thing from other CEOs," said Bob Stine, lead jet mechanic at SFO and a spokesman for Local Lodge 1781. "Jerry Greenwald said the same thing, but for whatever reason, he wasn't able to do that." Tilton had better get help somewhere, Oliver said. "Based on what we've seen of the decision-making ability of his manageme= nt team, a recommendation would be that he would seek outside counseling on operating in bankruptcy -- from aviation people who have been through it before," the consultant said. E-mail Carrie Kirby at ckirby@sfchronicle.com.=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2002 SF Chronicle