Douglas Steenland

Douglas M. Steenland (born September 17, 1951) and a J.D. from the National Law Center at George Washington University.

Career Early career

Following law school, Steenland worked for two years at the Office of the General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Transportation. He led the airline through a period marked by severe economic difficulties for U.S. airlines, caused by factors such as the aftereffects of 9/11 and the SARS epidemic, the 2008 financial crisis, rising fuel prices, and the Iraq War.

In 2008, Steenland led Northwest into a merger with Delta Air Lines. The merger was completed in October 2008; at that time Steenland retired from Northwest and joined the board of directors of the merged company, Delta, and remained on its board till 2011.

Additional positions

Steenland was chairman of the Air Transport Association from January 2008 to December 2009.

He was appointed to the board of directors of International Lease Finance Corporation in September 2009, and was made non-executive chairman in December 2009, serving in that role until June 2012. In 2010, he was appointed the non-executive chairman of Performance Food Group, a position he held until February 2019. In August 2011, he was appointed vice chairman of Travelport's board of directors, and in May 2013 he was promoted to chairman, a position he held until the company's acquisition by private equity investors in 2019.

He was appointed to the board of directors of AIG in June 2009. and has been non-executive chairman of the company since July 2015. He has been on the board of directors of Hilton Worldwide since September 2009. He has been a senior advisor at the Blackstone Group since 2009.

He is a lifetime director on the board of the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Personal life

Steenland is married and has two children.