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Officer Biographies

Ginger Hardage

Ginger Hardage

Leadership is...
"Communicating the Mission, supporting your team with the necessary resources, and getting out of their way so they can achieve great things."
--Ginger Hardage


TITLE: Senior Vice President Culture & Communications for Southwest Airlines Co.
JOB DESCRIPTION:

In July 2008, Ginger assumed additional responsibility for the Culture aspects at Southwest Airlines from legendary President Emeritus Colleen Barrett. She also oversees all internal and external communications for the world’s largest airline.

LENGTH OF SERVICE AT SOUTHWEST: Started December 1990.
EXPERIENCE: Ginger has worked in the communications field in the Dallas area for more than 30 years. Before beginning her career at Southwest, she worked at Maxus Energy Corporation and its predecessor, Diamond Shamrock Corporation, holding a variety of public relations positions, including director of communications. She began her career with Life Insurance Company of the Southwest in marketing communications.
HONORS/MEMBERSHIPS: PRWeek has named Ginger one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Public Relations and the Texas Public Relations Association (TPRA) named her its PR Practitioner of the Year for 2000. That same year, the Southwest Airlines Corporate Communications team was named the Top Communications Department in the nation by PRWeek. In 1999, the Texas Public Relations Association also recognized Southwest Airlines with its highest corporate award, The Lone Star Award, for consistently placing a high priority on the practice of creative public relations. She was named the Top Corporate Public Relations Practitioner in 1995 by Inside PR, a national trade magazine. Other awards to the public relations department include a Gold Quill for media relations from the International Association of Business Communicators and Best in Show from the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International. As a nationally recognized public relations professional, Ginger was named “Legendary Communicator” by Southern Methodist University in 2007 and was selected for the James C. Bowling Executive-In-Residence Lecture Series at the University of Kentucky in 2005.

Ginger serves on the board of the Business Civic Leadership Center, an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the advisory board of the Council of Public Relations Firms. She is a past president of the Dallas Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators and a past member of the Southern Methodist University Public Relations Advisory Board and the Texas Tech Rawls College of Business Advisory Board. She previously served on the boards of Big Brothers and Sisters of Metropolitan Dallas and Southwest Care. Ginger is a member of the Public Relations Society of America and a graduate of Leadership Texas.

EDUCATION: Ginger received a B.A. in Advertising/Public Relations from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas and was recognized as an outstanding alumni by the Mass Communications Department at Texas Tech University.
FAMILY: Ginger lives in Dallas with her husband, Kelly, and her stepsons, Patrick and Ross.
FIRST PAYING JOB: Mowing cemeteries
MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT: "Playing page one (of a three-page composition) over and over at a piano recital -- I couldn’t remember the other pages!"
PROUDEST MOMENT: "Seeing my parents at their 50th wedding anniversary."
BEST ADVICE EVER RECEIVED: "Treat others like you’d like to be treated."


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