Executive excellence

Departing Southwest Airlines boss ranks among America's top CEOs

Southwest CEO Gary Kelly at opening of Hobby Airport international concourse

Gary Kelly is one of the top 10 CEOs, according to Glassdoor.

Photo courtesy of Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines Chairman and CEO Gary C. Kelly is stepping away from the head honcho role in early 2022, but he's leaving with some new accolades from his employees.

Kelly ranks fourth on Glassdoor’s new list of the top 100 CEOs for 2021. He received a 98 percent approval rating from Southwest Airlines employees who shared anonymous feedback on the Glassdoor platform, which publishes reviews and salary information for employers.

“Over the past year, company leaders around the world faced unprecedented challenges to support employees during the COVID-19 crisis. Now, the employees have spoken and it’s clear that these CEOs excelled and found new ways to support their people when the world of work flipped upside down,” Christian Sutherland-Wong, Glassdoor’s CEO, says in a news release.

Kelly is no stranger to the list; in 2019, he ranked 35th in Glassdoor’s annual Employees’ Choice Awards.

Kelly has served as the Dallas-based airlines' CEO since 2004, leading Southwest through some of the industry's most turbulent times. He recently announced he'd be transitioning into the role of executive chairman, to be replaced by executive VP Robert Jordan, effective Feb. 1, 2022.

The Dallas area has one other entry in the top-100 list. Sean Yalamanchi, chairman and president of Richardson-based Infovision, ranks 55th-ranked on the Glassdoor list. He earned a 93 percent approval rating from employees.

Other Texas executives appearing on the new Glassdoor list are:

Third-ranked Dr. Peter Pisters, president of Houston’s MD Anderson Cancer Center (99 percent approval).
Seventh-ranked Charles Butt, CEO of San Antonio-based H-E-B (96 percent).
60th-ranked Dr. Marc Boom, president and CEO of Houston Methodist (93 percent approval).
76th-ranked Worthing Jackman, president and CEO of The Woodlands-based Waste Connections (92 percent approval).

Notably, H-E-B's Central Market division is headquartered in Dallas. H-E-B customers around Texas adore the San Antonio-based grocery chain, which is rapidly expanding its presence in Dallas-Fort Worth with the building of three new stores.

“Under [CEO Charles Butt's] leadership, the desire to constantly innovate has led to new store concepts, the creation of one of the most successful private-label programs in the country, and the commitment to build out state-of-the-art digital products and services to complement H-E-B’s world-class stores,” the grocery chain said in a 2019 news release about Butt.

Butt is also recognized as an advocate for public education and literacy.

The Butt family is among the richest families in the country, with a net worth estimated by Forbes at $17.8 billion. Florence Butt, Charles’ grandmother, founded the family-owned business in 1905.

lists rankings

family paradise

This Dallas neighbor declared America's 4th best city to raise a family

Family walking on the boardwalk at Arbor Hills Nature Preserve in Plano

Visit Plano/Facebook

Families can spend lots of time exploring Plano's many parks.

Kid-friendly Plano has once again landed at the top of WalletHub's report of the best places to raise a family, continuing a multiyear streak for this family-oriented city.

Plano has ranked as the fourth-best city in America for families for several consecutive years, but moved up to the No. 3 spot in 2026. While it returns to the No. 4 spot in 2026, and one thing remains consistent: Plano has always reigned as the best place to raise a family in Texas.

To determine the best places for families to live, WalletHub's analysts compared 182 U.S. cities using 45 metrics relevant to "family fun," health and safety, education and childcare, affordability, and socioeconomics.

Plano ranks No. 2 spot nationwide for its socioeconomics, which encompassed factors such as the city's share of two-parent families, divorce rates, wealth gaps, unemployment rates, and others. The Dallas suburb also has the fourth-best health and safety ranking in the country, which considered air and water quality, crime rates, the share of uninsured children, public hospital rankings, and more.

Additionally, Plano was dubbed the sixth-most affordable city for families based on its cost of living, housing affordability, and "wallet wellness" (financial security). It ranked 30th for education and childcare, and 95th for "family fun."

There's plenty of things for Plano residents to enjoy in this happy-go-lucky city, such as its declining home prices, its hot job market, and the numerous well-maintained parks.

Living in a kid-friendly city isn't the only thing to consider when looking for the right place to start a family, UTHealth Houston professor Jeff Temple, Ph.D. said in the report. Access to high-performing schools, safe neighborhoods, good health care, and economic opportunities also play a part for prospective families.

"Children don’t develop in a vacuum — instead, everything around them plays a role in shaping them — within their families, schools, neighborhoods, and communities," Temple said. "Just as importantly, communities that foster connection and support tend to help families thrive. Chronic stressors like violence, instability, long commutes, and lack of resources have been shown to negatively affect both parents and children over time."

Six other Texas cities earned spots among the top 100 best places to raise a family this year: Austin (No. 22), Amarillo (No. 74), Grand Prairie (No. 85), Fort Worth (No. 87), Laredo (No. 91), and Irving (No. 96).

plano dallas suburbs wallethub reports families

Executive excellence

Departing Southwest Airlines boss ranks among America's top CEOs

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