Hertz Taps Former Airline Exec Its President, CEO

Hertz Global Holdings Inc. today announced that John P. Tague has been appointed president and chief executive officer and to the company's board of directors, effective November 21, 2014.

Tague's appointment follows a search conducted by the Hertz Board of Directors. The search process was overseen by the board's CEO Search Committee, which is made up of five independent directors, including two recently appointed as part of an agreement with Carl C. Icahn, says the company.

Serving as former president and chief operating officer of United Airlines, Tague is credited with innovative product and pricing programs that drove strong financial performance as well as improved customer satisfaction, according to Hertz.

Most recently, Tague served as chairman and chief executive officer of Cardinal Logistics Holdings, a transportation and logistics provider and private-equity backed company.

"I am honored to have been selected to lead Hertz to its full potential at a time of unprecedented opportunity for the company and industry,” said Tague. “I look forward to partnering with Hertz employees as we work to earn sustained industry leadership for the benefit of our shareholders, customers and team."

"John is a leader whose record shows a relentless focus on execution and high performance, having driven the successful turnaround of other large, complex consumer facing companies such as United Airlines,” said Linda Fayne Levinson, independent non-executive chair of the Hertz Board.

"My team and I, along with Linda Fayne Levinson and other members of the Hertz Search Committee, spent a significant amount of time with a number of highly qualified candidates,” said Carl C. Icahn, chairman of Icahn Enterprises L.P. “The Committee performed an extensive search for the CEO position before the Committee and the Board unanimously selected John Tague as the next CEO of Hertz. I have been involved in a number of CEO searches during the last decade and have been quite impressed by the knowledge and imagination of a number of these candidates, many of whom have turned into very successful CEOs. I am happy to say that after listening to John's ideas concerning Hertz and evaluating what he has accomplished at United, I believe he ranks at or near the top of the group.”