MINNEAPOLIS — Incoming Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson is a friendly and approachable leader whose easygoing manner often masks a shrewd and cunning lawyer's mind, say Northwest Airlines workers and former associates of the one-time Texas prosecutor.
Anderson, 52, oversaw the heavily unionized Minnesota-based carrier from 2001 to 2004, a tumultuous period that pitted rank-and-file workers against management during a series of cost-cutting initiatives.
Union leaders at Northwest give Anderson high marks for his "open-door" policy toward organized labor but point out that he departed in 2004 before the worst of the bloodletting at the carrier, which was carried out by his successor, Doug Steenland.
"We had our issues with Richard, but overall we did OK with him," said Ted Ludwig, president of Local 33 of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association.
"If we felt we had a concern we could not get resolved at the lower levels, he would always listen. He might not agree with us, but he would listen and seemed to empathize with you and he really seemed like he tried to put himself in your shoes."
The Delta board this week named Anderson the Atlanta airline's next CEO over two internal candidates who were favored by outgoing Delta CEO Gerald Grinstein. Anderson was most recently an executive vice president at UnitedHealth Group here, but before that spent 14 years with Northwest, including a four-year stint as CEO of the troubled airline.
At Delta, Anderson will face far fewer union issues - Delta has only one major union, for pilots. But he also arrives at a time when morale has only recently recovered from years of painful survival moves, and one of his challenges will be to maintain the momentum.
Danny Campbell led the local Northwest flight attendants' union during Anderson's time as CEO and had frequent face-to-face meeting with him.
"Richard went out of his way to resolve a lot of issues with us," Campbell said. "He is a cunning lawyer and a brilliant strategist."
Campbell said he found Anderson "not threatened" by organized labor and willing to discuss solutions to the thorniest problems faced by Northwest workers.