Jeff Smisek  Jeffery Alan "Jeff" Smisek (born 17 August 1954) is an American businessman and investor who currently serves on the board of trustees of Rice University and on the board of directors of Finch Therapeutics. Smisek previously worked in the airline industry as the chairman, president, and chief executive officer (CEO) of Continental Airlines and, later, of United Airlines. Smisek was born in 1954. His father, Raymond, was a World War II bomber pilot. His mother, Betty, was a big-band singer with the USO. Smisek grew up on military bases around the United States and Europe until his parents permanently moved to San Antonio in 1963. Smisek graduated summa cum laude with an A.B. in economics from Princeton University in 1976 after completing a 74-page long senior thesis titled "Zoning and Non-Zoning in the Urban Property Market: An Empirical Study of Princeton, New Jersey." He received a J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1982. Before leaving the airline industry in 2015, Smisek spent the bulk of his career in leadership positions at Continental Airlines (1995-2010) and United Airlines (2010-2015). Smisek was a partner at the law firm of Vinson & Elkins in Houston, Texas, but in 1995 was persuaded by Continental's then-CEO Gordon Bethune to join Continental as general counsel to help reverse the ailing airline's fortunes. When he joined Continental, Smisek joined a carrier that was running out of cash and hurting from a work slowdown by its pilots and poor service delivered by dispirited workers who were scarred by two trips through bankruptcy. Smisek's first task at Continental was to convince financiers to let it break leases on its Airbus A300 fleet, which were bleeding the airline dry. Rather than dumping the unwanted planes on the leasing companies, Smisek found other takers for the aircraft. Smisek became one of the chief architects of Continental's dramatic turnaround. Bethune once told "USA Today" that Smisek was the airline’s savior. “It’s not like in the movies when some guy saves an airplane from spinning to Earth...But he engineered the salvation of our company.” In 2004, Smisek became president and was elected to Continental's board of directors. He became chief operating officer in September 2008 and CEO in January 2010. As a wave of consolidation hit the airline industry in 2008, Smisek led negotiations to merge Continental with United Airlines.