Richard J. Ferris

Richard Jesse Ferris (August 31, 1936 – January 16, 2022) was an American business executive who was the CEO of UAL Corporation, the former holding company of United Airlines, and was later the co-owner of the Pebble Beach Golf Links in Monterey County, California. During his time as the CEO of UAL Corporation, he helped restructure the company into a travel industry conglomerate called the Allegis Corporation, which combined the assets of United Airlines, The Hertz Corporation, Westin Hotels, Hilton International, and the Apollo Reservation System.

Early life and education Ferris was born in Sacramento, California, on August 31, 1936. His father was an insurance salesman.

He joined UAL Corporation, the parent holding company of United Airlines, after UAL's acquisition of Western International Hotels in 1970 and was made president of United's Food Services Division in 1971. He then became group vice president of marketing in 1974. He would go on to become CEO of United in 1976 at the age of 39 and chairman of the board in 1978. Ferris was named CEO of Allegis Corporation in 1979 and chairman and president in 1982.

He organized the company into a travel conglomerate and renamed it Allegis, while trying to battle activist investors' attempts to take over the company. The conglomerate brought together United Airlines, along with the company's acquisitions of the rental car company Hertz, Westin Hotels, Hilton Hotels, and the Apollo Reservation System.

During this time, he was noted to have worked on an 'unusual' financing deal with The Boeing Company where he paid the corporation $700 million in convertible notes which could have been exchanged for 16% of the common stock of the Allegis combined entity. The move was intended to act as a deterrent against hostile takeovers but instead ended up offending its shareholders over dilution of their existing shares. and later with the Promus Hotel Corporation. Ferris quit the combined company in 1997.