A Conversation with Gary Kelly, CEO Southwest Airlines Hosted by Evan Smith, CEO The Texas Tribune August 12, 2020 Gary Kelly, CEO and chair of the board for Southwest Airlines, says the hits the company has taken during the pandemic are the most brutal he's seen in his 34-year career with the carrier. Kelly, who started at Southwest in 1986 as a controller, later became CFO and vice president of finance. Previously, he worked as a CPA for Arthur Young & Company in Dallas and as controller for Systems Center Inc. He is an accounting graduate of the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin and serves on the McCombs School Advisory Council. Kelly sat down Wednesday with The Texas Tribune's CEO Evan Smith to discuss the short- and long-term prospects for Southwest, the world's largest low-cost carrier, and for the airline industry as a whole.