Gary Kelly

Gary Kelly joined the Dallas Fed board in 2024.

He is chairman emeritus of Southwest Airlines Co.

Kelly joined Southwest Airlines in 1986 as controller, eventually progressing to president and CEO and then executive chairman. He retired in 2024 and was named chairman emeritus.

He serves on the Lincoln National Corporation board and is past chairman of Airlines for America.

He was appointed in 2022 to the Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness under the Department of Commerce and is a current member of the Business Council.

Kelly received the 2020 Philanthropic Leadership Award from the Ireland Funds and the 2017 Wings Club Distinguished Achievement Award. He is a 2017 Junior Achievement Dallas Business Hall of Fame Laureate inductee, a 2016 inductee into the Texas Business Hall of Fame and received the 2016 Tony Jannus Award, which recognizes extraordinary accomplishments in the field of commercial aviation.

He was twice named D CEO Magazine’s CEO of the Year and has been named one of the best CEOs in America by Institutional Investor magazine three times. In 2010, Kelly received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Texas at Austin and was inducted in 2013 into UT’s McCombs School of Business Hall of Fame. He received the 2013 McLane Leadership in Business Award from Texas A&M University.

Kelly earned a BBA in accounting from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a former CPA.