Newsroom  >  News  >  Press Release Details
01/02/2020

American Airlines Names Kenneth Charles Chief Inclusion and Diversity Officer

FORT WORTH, Texas — American Airlines announced today that Kenneth Charles has been named the airline’s Chief Inclusion and Diversity Officer.

In this new role, Charles will lead American’s global inclusion and diversity strategies. This includes establishing the company’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to ensure best practices are implemented across all aspects of American’s people and business processes.

“Ken brings a wealth of experience to the team and is a proven leader in creating global inclusion strategies,” said American’s Chairman and CEO Doug Parker. “We are on a journey to enhance our approach to diversity, equity and inclusion across American, and Ken will help chart our course to ensure American is an industry leader. Our decision to become more intentional in this area is vital to our global business. Ken will provide a needed and important voice in all of our critical decision-making.”

American has taken a number of steps to strengthen its inclusion and diversity practices. These include implementing both computer-based and in-person implicit bias training for all 130,000 team members and creating a specialized team to listen to, resolve and learn from customer feedback.

“We have progressed our company’s focus on inclusion and diversity, and we recognize we can and will do even more,” added Parker. “We are committed to building on our diverse and inclusive culture to not only make American a welcoming airline for all customers, but also a great place to work for every team member.”

Charles joins American from U.S. Bank, where he was Senior Vice President of Enterprise Talent, and brings more than 30 years of private sector experience, including a decade of inclusion and diversity leadership. He served as Vice President for Global Inclusion and Staffing and Chief Diversity Officer at General Mills.

In addition, Charles has received the Ted Childs Life Work Excellence Award from Working Mother magazine, only the second male to receive the honor. Previously, he was listed as one of the Top Executives in Diversity by Black Enterprise and served on the Human Rights Campaign Business Advisory Council.

Charles holds a master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Kansas and a bachelor’s degree from Duquesne University.

Kenneth Charles

Kenneth Charles

About American Airlines Group
American Airlines offers customers 6,800 daily flights to more than 365 destinations in 61 countries from its hubs in Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Washington, D.C. With a shared purpose of caring for people on life's journey, American's 130,000 global team members serve more than 200 million customers annually. Since 2013, American has invested more than $28 billion in its product and people and now flies the youngest fleet among U.S. network carriers, equipped with industry-leading high-speed Wi-Fi, lie-flat seats, and more inflight entertainment and access to power. American also has enhanced food and beverage options in the air and on the ground in its world-class Admirals Club and Flagship lounges. American was recently named a Five Star Global Airline by the Airline Passenger Experience Association and Airline of the Year by Air Transport World. American is a founding member of oneworld®, whose members serve 1,100 destinations in 180 countries and territories. Shares of American Airlines Group Inc. trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol AAL and the company's stock is included in the S&P 500. Learn more about what's happening at American by visiting news.aa.com and connect with American on Twitter @AmericanAir and at Facebook.com/AmericanAirlines.

Multimedia Files:

Share this article

Share this article

Download PDF

Like this article? Never miss another one.

Subscribe to notifications

Recent articles: