Dasburg's term at helm far from dull

By Joe Hoshaw Jr. & Bill Farmer

Dasburg

Most industry observers would likely concur that there's rarely a dull moment in the airline industry.

A look back at John Dasburg's tenure at the helm of Northwest Airline lends much credence to that line of thinking.

Since coming to head Northwest in 1990 from a similar role with Marriott Corp., Dasburg has captained a 10-year flight that has seen both tremendous headwind and tailwind.

Northwest prided itself as the "on-time airline of the 1990s," and fought hard to revive its customer service image after the infamous snowstorm of two years ago. The airline has served as a catalyst for the impending rebirth of Detroit Metropolitan Airport, and it has developed an international cargo and passenger business that has become the envy of much of the domestic industry, including some of Northwest's larger competitors.

Many within the company expected that Dasburg would likely be moving on in the not-to-distant future. But last month's announcement that he was departing for a job as chairman, president and chief executive officer of Miami-based Burger King Corp. seemed to catch all but those closest to him by surprise.

According to Richard Anderson, the man who assumes Dasburg's title as chief executive officer, his former boss indicated that a departure was in the offing during discussions with Chairman Gary Wilson shortly after the first of the year.

"It did come as a surprise in terms of the timing, but not really in the bigger picture," Anderson explained. "John is 58, had been CEO for 10 years, and had recently bought a home in his hometown of Miami, Fla. He and (his wife), Mary Lou, were Miami natives, went to high school there, and John had always professed his desire to go back to his home town.

"He's a Floridian through and through."

He assumes the top post at Burger King, a subsidiary of Great Britain's Diageo plc, on April 1.

"We salute and thank John Dasburg for the first-rate job he has done at Northwest and we wish him great success as he relocates to Florida and returns to the restaurant industry," Wilson said in a statement.

Dasburg called the move a "very difficult personal decision."

"I am proud of what we have accomplished at Northwest together in the past decade, and I am confident that I am leaving the company in very capable hands," he said.

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