Chief Customer Officer and Executive Vice President of United Airlines Holdings Linda Jojo announced on September 16 that she intends to depart the holding company of 
United Airlines
effective January 2, 2025, after over a decade of service. Jojo won’t leave empty-handed, receiving several benefits connected to her retirement, subject to terms and conditions.
Rejuvenating the Chicago-based carrier
Jojo has left her mark with one of the US ‘Big Three’ airlines and has fostered a culture of collaboration and improvement with technology at the Star Alliance carrier. Jojo continued reiterating that technology’s power could improve on-time departures and overall customer satisfaction. Since her commencement with the company in late 2014, she rejuvenated the then-airline that was suffering several tech glitches and dwindling performance. These improvements followed the merger of United and Continental Airlines
four years earlier, and they were still managing the teething plans of integrating two large airlines with cultures, customers, and computer systems.
A large investment was required to overturn the airline’s future, and following Jojo’s move from Rogers Communications in Toronto to United, mobility was front of mind for the then Chief Information Officer. As reported by Forbes, Jojo initially noted:
“Our employees didn’t trust the technology they had, so they spent a lot of time stressing out about the technology instead of taking care of our customers.”
With investment focused on mobility, Jojo refocused the airline:
“When you think about most of the employees of United Airlines—the flight attendants, pilots and customer service agents—they’re by definition mobile. I really felt like there was a lot we could do with technology to help both customers and employees.”
Through Jojo’s tenure, she pushed her teams to leave the airline’s headquarters and visit front-line colleagues to understand the carrier’s disparate systems. Solutions were born from this, such as the ConnectionSaver, which integrated United’s customer and operations systems to aid gate agents in deciding whether to hold flights for connecting passengers. While the software took three iterations, it has now been vital in the airline’s overall performance and customer satisfaction
.
Photo: United Airlines
Jojo’s innovation put United on stage as a leader in the tech space
Collaborative cultures for technology earned Jojo a spot on Forbes’ second annual CIO Next list and spotlighted United Airlines as a leader in the tech space. This knowledge and innovation resulted in the airline being a leader through the COVID-19 pandemic, where the airline was able to accelerate new technologies while the airline’s revenue effectively halved (just over $20 billion in 2021).
United pioneered contactless kiosks issuing baggage tags and boarding passes, developed and rolled out to 300 airports in 30 days within weeks of initial lockdowns. With these new features, the airline now sees almost 75% of all passengers check-in with these on their day of travel.
A long history of leading innovation
Before Jojo’s tenure with Rogers in Toronto, Linda was involved with IT infrastructure with a number of world-leading companies, including:
- Energy Future Holdings, Dallas, Texas, from 2008-2011
- Flowserve Corporation, Irving, Texas, from 2004-2008
Jojo graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a master’s in industrial engineering.