REGISTRATION CLOSED – Former CEO of Continental Airlines Frank Lorenzo MBA ’63
Date: Mar 05, 2025Time: 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Mar052025
REGISTRATION CLOSED – Former CEO of Continental Airlines Frank Lorenzo MBA ’63
Description
Bold and innovative, former Continental Airlines CEO Frank Lorenzo was an agent of change in the skies during his 25-year career with the airlines. Frank (MBA 1963) will discuss his new memoir, Flying for Peanuts: Tough Deals, Steep Bargains, and Revolution in the Skies, which recounts his negotiations in the 1980s over the highly sought-after Eastern Shuttle, including dealings with Donald Trump. Frank’s talk, much like his book, Flying for Peanuts is a compelling discussion for anyone interested in the American airline industry and anyone wanting to apply a trailblazing executive’s lessons for their own career success.
Armed with a strong competitive spirit, Lorenzo’s career was marked by a visionary approach, as well as legendary deals, including:
- The sale of the Eastern Airlines Shuttle to Donald Trump for $365 million—despite a union strike that nearly sank the deal. The play-by-play of Lorenzo’s skillful negotiation with the master dealmaker himself offers revealing takes on the man who would one day become the 45th president.
- His stealth play for Miami-based National Airlines, which was ultimately unsuccessful, but which garnered Texas International a healthy $46 million ($197 million today) profit, worldwide headlines and the cash to go after another carrier to survive with his small airline.
- The creation in 1980 of the first new airline—New York Air—to take advantage of recently passed airline deregulation and to compete against the Eastern Air Shuttle, through a newly formed holding company—Texas Air Corp.
- The takeover of Continental Airlines for $150 million ($640 million today) in a first-ever tender offer by/for another airline. The labor challenges and decisions that the Lorenzo team took would lead to the Continental pilots creating the first national non-union airline.
Over the course of his storied career, Lorenzo created an empire in the skies, transforming the small Texas International Airlines into a subsidiary of Texas Air—at one point becoming the largest airline holding company in the free world. It would eventually include Texas Air, New York Air, Continental, Eastern Airlines, People Express, Frontier and several other small carriers.
If you’ve ever wondered what it was like to be at the table as one of the titans of the skies ushered in a new era of deregulation and forced the airline industry to change, Lorenzo’s fully illustrated book serves as a window into that world. It’s his story—one that begins with him as a young boy living in Rego Park, Queens in New York City, watching the planes as they crossed over his house from nearby LaGuardia Airport, and it ends with what this longtime high-flying executive thinks about the state of the airline industry today. Each participant will receive a complimentary copy of Flying for Peanuts until supplies last.
Pre-registration is required and will close at Noon on March 4th, 2025.
Please note that no refunds will be issued.
Pre-registration is required and will close at Noon on March 4th, 2025.
Please note that no refunds will be issued.
By registering for this event you agree to abide by the HBSCNY Code of Conduct for yourself and your guests (read here).
Bios
Speaker
Frank Lorenzo, MBA 1963
Frank Lorenzo is the son of Spanish immigrants who came to New York in the early 20th Century speaking no English and looking for a better life. Growing up in the shadows of New York’s LaGuardia Airport, Frank became enamored with airlines at a young age. With some help from his parents and working as a delivery truck driver and other jobs, he put himself through Columbia College and Harvard Business School. Then, after working office jobs at TWA and Eastern Airlines, he partnered with a business school classmate to create an aviation advisory firm, eventually purchasing a small regional carrier, Texas International Airlines (TIA). With a successful bid to acquire Continental Airlines, TIA would eventually become the largest airline group in the free world. In 1990, at age 50, Frank decided to move on from the hectic life of running airlines and founded Savoy Capital, Inc. to foster his investment and charitable interests. His memoir Flying for Peanuts released in later 2024. https://www.flyingforpeanuts.com/
Moderator
Lance Stuart, MBA 1978
CEO, FastXchange Inc.
Lance Stuart is the CEO of FastXchange, a Los Angeles-based business that is the leader in providing outsourced procurement services to major U.S. aerospace and defense contractors. Previously, he was a Senior Partner at Vici Partners where he continues as a Senior Advisor. He has over 30 years of consulting and operating experience, principally in the U.S., Japan and China. Clients span industries from cosmetics and consumer electronics to software, chemicals, insurance, airlines. Department of Defense and telecoms. Lance has been an investor, co-founder, CEO, COO and board member of several companies in the U.S. and Asia. He began his career as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company in New York then transferred to Tokyo.
Lance earned a B.S. in economics and marketing, with honors, from Boston College and an MBA from Harvard Business School (MBA 1978), where he was awarded two academic scholarships. He was raised in Tokyo and is an active volunteer in several non-profit organizations including the Harvard Business School Club of NY, the Harvard Business School Association of Orange County and as a Council Member on the U.S.-Japan Council.
Date Time
Date: Mar 05, 2025Time: 6:00 PM to 8:00 PMLocation
Knobbe Martens Law Firm1155 6th Ave24th Floor, New York NYView Map
Price
- 20 / Member/Member Guest (limit one)
- 40 / Alumni Non-Members/Guest (limit one)
- 50 / General Public
Sponsors
Organizer
Barrie MoskowitzKnobbe Martens Law Firm
1155 6th Ave, 24th Floor, New York, NY, 10036
