Ryan Martinez

Senior Vice President Finance, Controller

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Ryan leads the Controller Organization at Southwest Airlines through a collection of Teams responsible for Accounting, Financial Reporting, Internal Controls, Tax, and Accounting Operations. Among many responsibilities, the Controller Organization collaborates with various departments across the Company, including General Counsel, to ensure compliance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and securities laws in its Company filings.  

Ryan joined the Investor Relations Team at Southwest in 2006 and was Manager, Investor Relations (IR) before joining Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) in 2013 as Senior Manager. Promoting to Senior Director, Ryan led the FP&A Corporate Team through 2017 and was responsible for overseeing the Company's consolidated financial forecasts. Most recently, Ryan served as a Company Spokesperson for Southwest as Vice President Investor Relations, through July 2023. As Head of IR, Ryan was responsible for effective and credible communication with the Company's Shareholders and the investment community.

Ryan has built an extensive professional network across nearly two decades in the airline industry and is recognized as a trusted advisor and resource inside and outside the Company, in particular with the investment community. Ryan has been recognized for multiple years by Institutional Investor Magazine as one of the top IR professionals in the airline industry, as voted on by sell-side and buy-side investment analysts.

Ryan has a passion for mentoring and leadership. Ryan enjoys public speaking, and he particularly enjoys the challenge of presenting financial topics to non-financial audiences in a way that resonates and entertains.

Ryan graduated from Louisiana State University in Shreveport with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Finance and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Texas. Prior to joining Southwest, Ryan gained extensive accounting and finance experience through financial reporting and forecasting at The Neiman Marcus Group; public accounting at BDO Seidman, LLP, in both tax and assurance functions; and corporate accounting and inventory management at Ivan Smith Furniture.

Ryan and his wife, Mary-Marshall, met in the 6th grade, and are the proud parents of daughter, Harper, and son, Graham. They enjoy competitive cheer, club soccer, tennis, golf, and traveling on Southwest Airlines to any of its more than 100 destinations for relaxing vacations and adventures. The Martinez family is involved with numerous charities with a specific interest in animal fostering and adoption. They are currently enjoying their hilarious miniature dachshund, Tex, which they adopted from the SPCA of Texas in 2021.