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Glenn F Tilton (born April 1948 in Washington, DC) is the Chairman, President, and CEO of UAL Corporation and its subsidiaries, most notably United Air Lines, Inc. He has held this role since September 2002, 3 months before UAL Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. He came to UAL from ChevronTexaco.

Tilton grew up in Latin America, and attended high school in Brazil, where his father worked for America's Central Intelligence Agency. After attaining a bachelors degree in International Relations from the University of South Carolina, Tilton originally was going to follow his father's footsteps and join the Central Intelligence Agency. However, Tilton began a career in the private sector working for Texaco in 1970, servicing gas stations throughout Washington, D.C.

Tilton attained positions of increasing responsibility over the next three decades, and was named Chairman and CEO of Texaco, Inc. in 2001. Tilton was instrumental in leading the merger of Chevron and Texaco and he became Vice-Chairman of the combined company after the close of the merger. In addition, from May 2002 to September 2002 he served as Non-Executive Chairman of Dynegy, Inc.

In September 2002, Tilton was recruited by the Board of Directors of the struggling UAL Corporation to be Chairman, President, and CEO, replacing John "Jack" Creighton as Chairman and CEO, and Rono Dutta as President. The company was on the verge of liquidation and the board believed that only an airline outsider such as Tilton could save the struggling carrier. UAL Corporation and its subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy in December, 2002.

After entering bankruptcy, Tilton, known for his tough negotiating abilities, sought and achieved major adjustments in employees' pay and benefits, which were some of the most expensive in the industry, to avoid liquidation of the company.

Tilton then initiated a cost-oriented restructuring of the company including airline operations, outsourcing portions of the airline’s maintenance business, launching “Operation Starfish,” later to be known as Ted (which was folded late in 2008), and reducing routes. Tilton believed that after turning around United’s operations and negotiating more manageable wages, the federal government's ATSB would this time back the airline's exit facility and allow it to emerge from bankruptcy.

The ATSB, however, rejected UAL's application, based upon their belief that the business structure Tilton has masterminded was inadequate to assure the airline's survival. Upon rejection of the federal loan guarantee in June 2004, Tilton had limited avenues available to exit bankruptcy. The banks would fund a non-guaranteed exit facility only if UAL's employee retirement pensions were terminated. Thus, Tilton could either halt operations and liquidate the carrier, or go to the unions to force termination of the airline's employee retirement pensions so it could acquire the exit facility needed to leave bankruptcy. Tilton decided on the latter and after reaching a deal with the Federal Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC) to assume UAL's pensions, UAL's employee pensions were terminated and transferred to the PBGC and the company came to an agreement on an exit facility.

The company exited bankruptcy on February 2, 2006.

Tilton is controversial for his stance as a major advocate for consolidation in the airline industry. Since 2006, Tilton has been searching for a merger partner for United Airlines. After failed negotiations with Continental Airlines and US Airways Group, in the summer of 2008, Tilton settled on an agreement with Continental to form a marketing agreement, but not an official merger as he hoped for. The agreement is scheduled to take effect in 2009. Tilton still claims to be open and willing to participate in a merger transaction when the right opportunity arises.

Tilton continues to have a confrontational relationship with UAL's unions, whose members were greatly affected by steep contract cuts and pension losses that occurred during bankruptcy. The unions claim that Tilton’s actions have sacrificed the future of the airline for the enrichment of senior management. The Air Line Pilots Association's United Master Executive Council (MEC), under the leadership of Captain Steve Wallach, launched a website, http://www.glenntilton.com, calling for Tilton's resignation.

Tilton has also long been under fire for his compensation packages, both after bankruptcy and currently. Tilton received compensation valued at $39,700,000 in 2006, even while arguing that the real amount was less than a quarter of that amount. Tilton and his management team has and will continue to struggle with UAL's unions who see United management enriching themselves at the expense of both the airline and employees.

One example of this tension is when Tilton's UAL recently sued the United MEC over what it called an illegal "work slowdown" in the summer of 2008 and on November 18, 2008 the United States District court issued an injunction on the Air Line Pilots Association. The union has appealed this injunction.

Tilton speaks 3 languages - English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Tilton and his wife, Jackie, have two children. He lives in Chicago.

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