Speaker

Ann Rhoades is a dynamic and visionary Human Resources Executive with over 25 years experience in a variety of service-based industries. She held the position of vice president of the People Department for Southwest Airlines and executive vice president of Team Services for Promus Hotel Corporation and most recently, the executive vice president of People for JetBlue Airways where she currently remains as a Board Member as well as President of People Ink, her Human Resources consulting company.

Rhoades has a respected reputation in the industry for her creative approach to creating cultures around fun and for blending cultures in merger situations. During her tenure with Doubletree Hotels, later Promus Hotel Corporation, she built a service culture focused on delivering outstanding service to Guests. During the time Rhoades headed the People Department at Southwest Airlines, she solidified Southwest’s reputation of retaining and hiring the best people in the airline business despite Southwest’s rapid growth during that time. Most recently, Rhoades took responsibility for the creation of JetBlue Airways Corporation’s People Team in New York.

In her role as head of Human Resources, Rhoades has been a key member of the executive team, and is extremely successful in her role as internal counsel to executives in every discipline in the organization.

Rhoades is a popular speaker on the subject of customer service and how to build a strong service culture. She has great passion for certain industries such as healthcare where she is making a great contribution to revitalizing the workforce and culture of our nation’s hospitals. She serves on patient safety and quality task forces with the Texas Medical Institute of Technology involved in setting metrics used in pay-for-performance programs across the country such as the Leapfrog Group. She is co-founder and CEO of CareLeaders Corporation a company dedicated to help US hospitals attain a new level of performance. Her community involvement includes the University of New Mexico-Robert O Anderson School of Business National Advisory Board and former Board of Director, Albuquerque Community Foundation. Rhoades currently serves on JetBlue Airways Corporation, P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Accion New Mexico, HireVue, Inc., and executive council, Brigham & Women’s Hospital Harvard Medical School Boards and as chairwoman for Safer New Mexico Now. Rhoades has an MBA in Management from the University of New Mexico.