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Women Of Excellence: Beth Johnston
Senior vice president of human resources, Delta Air Lines
by Terri Thornton
July 1, 2008
W
hen she talks about Delta Air Lines, Beth Johnston resonates with enthusiasm. "Can you
imagine growing up in a small town in South Georgia, and working for a company now that is going to
circle the globe?" she says.
The Sylvester, Ga., native learned an important life lesson from her father at an early age.
"When I was about 13 years old I was pitching a fit one day," she recalls, "and he said, ‘Beth,
only you can give away your self control.' So it was that guidance that really made me settle down
and realize I had control of my destiny."
Five years later, Johnston's destiny began to take hold after she took her first
international flight, flying to Lagos, Nigeria, then alone to Nairobi, Kenya, to visit missionaries
from her church. Flipping through the African newspapers, she had to dig deep to find any reference
to her homeland.
"It changed my entire context that we are a part of the world; we are not the world," she remembers. She returned to Africa again for Delta's inaugural flight to Lagos last year. "It was just a great reward for being with a company for almost 31 years and returning to the first place I'd ever landed outside the U.S."
Johnston started with Delta, as many women did in those days, as a flight attendant. She rose through the ranks, earning leadership roles in departments, including information technology, customer service and finance.
She knew that to go farther, she would need operational leadership experience. Former Executive VP Vicki Escarra, who now leads Second Harvest-The Nation's Food Bank Network, appointed her Delta's general manager at Hartsfield-Jackson.
Few industries have had more intense challenges than the airlines. But Johnston remains energetic and optimistic.
"You have to focus on the destination and you have to realize that along the way there will be painful choices to be made. I'd rather someone like myself, who's concerned about the people of Delta, be making the hard choices rather than someone who doesn't care."
This has earned her the gratitude and respect of her colleagues. "She has an impressive and distinctive ability to read the needs of a business organization and find solutions to challenges no matter how complex they are," says Cynthia Per-Lee, Delta's VP of human resources and organizational effectiveness. "She really can solve anything."
Johnston loves to quote Madeleine Albright's adage that "God has a special place in hell for women who don't help other women." That's one reason she's been a Girl Scout leader, volunteered with the Jesse Draper Boys & Girls Club. She's also worked with the Atlanta Opera and served on the boards of UNICEF and Ga. State University's Robinson College of Business.
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