BURLINGAME, Calif., Feb. 27, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Virgin America Inc., a new U.S.-based airline start-up company, announced today that San Francisco Bay Area resident Bill Maguire is the company's new Chief Information Officer. As CIO, Maguire will build a highly-efficient, flexible technology platform as the foundation of Virgin America's low-cost, high-value business strategy.
"Bill is an innovative, cost-focused technology leader," said Fred Reid, CEO - Virgin America. "He's proven that he can leverage technology to effectively balance cost control within demanding, high-profile customer service organizations. His talents will be essential as we build Virgin America with our customers in mind each step the way."
Maguire, 52, joined Virgin America from Aspect Communications in San Jose, CA where he has been chief information officer and senior vice president since 2004. As the executive responsible for worldwide corporate infrastructure, he managed a worldwide staff of 92 employees and contractors. Maguire quickly assessed Aspect's IT organization and made recommendations for a complete redesign of their infrastructure, from the network to the application layers, while reducing his budget by $4 million annually. He was also responsible for the operation of the company's R&D lab.
Prior to Aspect, Maguire was chief information officer for Legato Systems, Inc. in Mountain View, CA where he was responsible for all corporate capital programs and worldwide corporate infrastructure between 2001 and 2003. During his tenure, Maguire's team successfully leveraged technology advances such as VOIP to reduce more than $3 million in cost.
From 2000 to 2001, Maguire held a variety of executive positions with Amdahl in Sunnyvale, CA including vice president of Emerging Business Operations, vice president of Business Development and Strategies and as Interim chief executive officer of Trusted Answer, the company's web-based helpdesk start-up venture.
Maguire's innovative career was shaped during his 23 years with the United States Postal Service. He joined the company in Field Operations in the Washington, DC area and worked his way through the ranks to manage one of the agency's largest computer operations data centers in North America.
Maguire earned his Bachelors of Science in criminal justice from the University of Southern Mississippi. He currently resides in Santa Cruz, CA.
About Virgin America
A U.S. majority owned and controlled company, Virgin America intends to launch domestic U.S. scheduled airline service utilizing new Airbus A320 family aircraft beginning in 2006. The company has announced agreements to take firm deliveries of 34 A320 family aircraft including 19 purchased aircraft from Airbus and 15 leased aircraft from GE Capital Aviation Services.
Virgin America's corporate headquarters is in the San Francisco Bay Area, and its principal base of operations is at the San Francisco International Airport. Virgin America's goal is to build an innovative, creative travel brand based on safe and efficient operations, low costs, outstanding guest service, and a unique level of engagement by its team. Its mission is to create an airline people love. Aspiring candidates can visit virginamerica.com to learn more about joining the Virgin America Team.
The Virgin America logo is available at: http://www.primezone.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=2371