Former CEO of Atlas Air Richard Shuyler Joins GCW Consultingtitle
30-Year Airline Industry Veteran Joins International Aviation Consulting
Firm After Helping Build the Worlds Third Largest Cargo Airline
ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- GCW Consulting, an international
strategic consultancy for organizations in the aviation, energy and water
resources sectors, today announced that former Atlas Air Chief Executive
Officer Rick Shuyler has joined the firm as Senior Consultant. Shuyler will
assist the firm in a number of airline industry projects for the firms
clients in the United States, Europe and Greater China.
A 30-year airline industry veteran, Shuyler served as Chief Executive
Officer (CEO) of U.S.-based international air cargo operator Atlas Air, Inc. -
- now one of the worlds largest cargo airlines. One of the airlines co-
founding principals and a board member from 1995 until 2003, Shuyler became
CEO of Atlas Air in 2001. In this position, he presided over the airlines
acquisition of rival Polar Air Cargo and the companys growth into a $1.5
billion entity operating a fleet of more than 40 Boeing 747 freighters under
wet-lease arrangements with some of the best-known airlines around the world.
Most recently, he was involved in the restructuring of United Airlines as part
of the Saybrook Capital team advising the Creditors Committee
"The addition of Rick Shuyler to GCW Consulting brings our firm an
additional 30 years of insight into the world airline industry on both the
cargo and passenger sides of the industry," said GCW Co-Founder, President and
CEO Mo Garfinkle. "In particular, Shuylers expertise in airline financing
and his overall financial deftness -- demonstrated through successful
transactions during some of the most tumultuous periods of the airline
industry during the past three decades -- are particularly valuable to our
airline and financial clients."
In previous top financial executive positions with Atlas Air, Shuyler was
involved in numerous successful financial transactions, including the
airlines Initial Public Offering in 1995. In 1998 the cargo operator
achieved the status as the worlds most profitable airline and enjoyed two
years as the industrys most financially fit carrier.
Prior to his participation in the start-up of Atlas Air, Shuyler was
Senior Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer for Trans World
Airlines (TWA). He previously had spent six years as the Chief Financial
Officer for Houston-based Continental Airlines and its parent companies until
1992. Between 1985 and 1992, Shuyler also was president of the affiliated
Texas Air Leasing Corp. of former Continental parent company Texas Air
Corporation, a leasing division that he created and built to $80 million in
assets.
Also within the Texas Air family, from 1982 to 1985, Shuyler held the CFO
position at subsidiary New York Air -- one of the early post-deregulation
start-up airlines that later merged with Continental. The position came after
successively senior finance positions with the forerunner to the parent
company, which he joined in 1975.
Shuyler earned a Bachelors degree in Economics from the American Silliman
University in the Philippines. He also did graduate studies at the University
of Houston.
About GCW Consulting
GCW Consulting is a strategic consultancy for organizations in the
aviation, energy and water resources sectors. GCW provides strategic advice
and business solutions for corporations and governments around the world, with
particular expertise in business development and counseling in the Peoples
Republic of China. Based in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area suburb of
Arlington, Va., GCW also has offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, China;
and London, England. For more information on GCW Consulting, please visit
http://www.gcwconsulting.com.
