Gerald Gitner poses with a collection of TWA model airplanes in his Highland Beach condo.
He is putting his extensive airline-management experience to good use
as chairman of the Highland Beach Financial Advisory Board.
Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Rich Pollack
As CEO and board chairman of Trans World Airlines, a board member of Pan Am and founder and president of People Express — not to mention executive roles with a couple of other airlines — Gerald Gitner has lived many places and flown all over the world.
Almost 15 years ago, however, Gitner safely landed in Highland Beach and now he’s well-grounded here, staying involved in his community and putting his managerial and financial expertise to use as chairman of the town’s Financial Advisory Board.
“To me, being on the financial advisory board gives me a chance to learn something new,” says Gitner, 70, who has chaired the local board since it was brought back to life by town commissioners a few years ago. “It’s also a chance to provide recommendations to the Town Commission based on business judgment and logic.”
Low-key and flying under the radar for many years, Gitner found himself in the spotlight recently when, after 47 years — and a brilliant career in an industry that was constantly evolving — he was presented with a long-overdue master’s degree in business administration. He never received the degree decades ago because his thesis was rejected, but after learning of his accomplishments, University of Rochester administrators reconsidered.
His thesis, by the way, was on the impact of government bureaucracy in securing airline routes. It was rejected because his professor felt it lacked sufficient analysis to support Gitner’s theories.
Rather than going back to work in the classroom and earning the degree, Gitner decided to go to work in the real world.
Armed with a bachelor’s degree in history from Boston University and a solid understanding of the airline industry based on two years of graduate school, Gitner got a job working for TWA at its New York City headquarters. There he served as an analyst helping to determine how best to allocate the company’s resources based on need and opportunity.
Within four years of his arrival in New York, Gitner had become vice president of his department at TWA. After just six years, he moved to Texas and eventually became senior vice president of marketing at Texas International Airlines. One of his claims to fame there was to come up with a “Fly for Peanuts” campaign, during the presidential administration of Jimmy Carter, a well-known peanut farmer.
In 1980, Gitner saw an opportunity to take advantage of the deregulation of airline routes and co-founded People Express, one of the first no-frills airlines designed with a goal of offering airfares on local routes for less than it would cost to drive.
After he left People Express, Gitner was recruited by Pan Am and eventually became vice chairman of the board. He also served as chairman and CEO of Pan Am World Services, which operated government facilities throughout the world. By the mid-1990s, he was back at TWA as a board member and eventually became CEO and chairman of the board. He remained on the board until TWA’s sale to American Airlines and is one of only a very few people to have served on the boards of both TWA and Pan Am.
Gitner takes pride in having built teams throughout his career that were able to achieve goals and find ways to turn around struggling airlines.
“The companies I’ve been involved with were almost always in trouble,” he said. “When they were in trouble, they came to me.”
Understanding his responsibility not only to his board but to his employees and the passengers, Gitner worked to resolve the challenges that stood in the way of success.
“We all worked together thinking of ways to differentiate the company and make it better,” he said. “There’s always a solution to a problem.”
That philosophy carries over to the work Gitner does with his own investment company and with Highland Beach’s Financial Advisory Board.
“I try with the board to give everyone the opportunity to participate,” he said. “It’s about consensus-building, but not at the expense of doing the wrong thing.”
A man with an analytical mind, Gitner sees three advantages to living in Highland Beach and calling it home.
“It’s quiet, on the water and I haven’t seen snow in a long time,” he said.
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