Gordon Bethune

Continental Airlines had been through two bankruptcies and ranked at the bottom for punctuality when Bethune, a former Boeing executive and mechanic, took charge in 1994. The fix was operational: paying every employee a bonus each month the airline finished in the top five for on-time arrivals, cutting unprofitable routes and restoring basic service. It went from heavy losses to profit in a year and won customer satisfaction awards later in the decade.