Alaska Air Group announces executive appointments and promotions within Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air

The Alaska Air Group board of directors has elected four leaders into senior positions across Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, Alaska’s wholly-owned regional carrier. These appointments place proven leaders at the helm of critical operational functions across Air Group’s airlines, reinforcing the company’s commitment to safety, care and operational excellence.

The leaders and their new roles, effective this month are:

• Nathan Engel, who has been elected vice president of maintenance operations at Alaska Airlines
• Carlos Zendejas, who has been promoted to senior vice president of operations at Horizon Air
• Chéri Ruger, who has been promoted to vice president of people, labor relations and inflight operations at Horizon Air
• Baron Converse, who has been promoted to vice president of maintenance and engineering at Horizon Air

Nathan Engel, vice president of maintenance operations at Alaska Airlines

As Alaska’s vice president of maintenance operations, Engel will manage the long-term strategy and financial performance of the airline’s maintenance operations workgroup, leading a team of technicians and other maintenance professionals and overseeing safety and reliability efforts.

Engel’s 37-year career in the industry includes decades in maintenance and engineering leadership, with deep experience at Alaska and Horizon. For the last year, he has served as the vice president of maintenance and engineering at Horizon. Prior to Horizon, Engel served in executive maintenance and operations roles at both Alaska and Horizon, responsible for strategic and operational leadership for line, heavy and on-call maintenance, maintenance control and quality control. He also worked for Amazon and, most recently, for Hawaiian Airlines as senior manager of maintenance in Seattle. He is also a veteran of the U.S. Air Force.

John Wiitala will serve in a newly-created role as vice president of technical operations, overseeing the airline’s engineering, quality systems and material management needs. The division of Engel and Wiitala’s roles aligns with industry best practice, with both leaders reporting to Berry.

Carlos Zendejas, senior vice president of Horizon Air operations

In his expanded role as senior vice president of operations at Horizon Air, Zendejas will oversee flight operations, maintenance and engineering and station operations for Alaska Air Group’s wholly-owned regional carrier.

Zendejas is a 35-year industry veteran who spent 22 years in the U.S. Air Force. During his more than 20 years at Air Group, he has held a variety of positions with increasing responsibility. Prior to joining Horizon in 2017, Zendejas served as Alaska Airlines’ Seattle base chief pilot, responsible for the day-to-day operations and performance of more than 1,000 pilots. He was promoted to Horizon vice president of flight operations in 2020.

Chéri Ruger, vice president of people, labor relations and inflight operations at Horizon Air

As Horizon’s vice president of people, labor relations and inflight operations, Ruger will continue to set the long-term strategy of people and labor relations initiatives to support Horizon’s business objectives. In this newly created role, she will also be responsible for overseeing more than 600 flight attendants, leading the operational and financial performance of the workgroup.

Ruger’s career at Horizon Air began nearly 25 years ago as a flight attendant. Since then, she’s held roles with increasing responsibility in HR supporting airport operations, customer service, inflight and maintenance and engineering. Ruger also supported McGee Air Services as the managing director of human resources where she directed the core HR functions, scaling to support 2,000 employees within a five-year period of rapid growth and expansion. Most recently, Ruger served as the managing director of people and labor relations at Horizon Air.

Baron Converse, vice president of maintenance and engineering at Horizon Air

Converse will succeed Engel as the vice president of maintenance and engineering at Horizon Air and will be responsible for the long-term strategy and daily operational execution of the regional carrier’s maintenance organization. His team of senior leaders and technical professionals are responsible for line maintenance operations, airframe/component/engine maintenance, quality assurance, maintenance planning, engineering and reliability, fleet projects and stores and distribution.

Celebrating a more than 30-year career at the airline, Converse joined Horizon Air in 1994 as an airframe and powerplant technician. Prior to this promotion, he served as the managing director of maintenance operations and the director of line maintenance and planning.