Brett Hart

Hart earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and English literature from the University of Michigan and then a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the University of Chicago Law School.⁠[1]

Hart served in Washington as special assistant to the general counsel of the U.S. Department of the Treasury and later became a partner at the Chicago law firm Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal. Before joining United, he was executive vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary of the American consumer goods company Sara Lee Corporation, overseeing its global legal affairs.⁠[1][2][1]

In 2010, Hart joined United Airlines, where he later served as executive vice president and chief administrative officer.⁠[1]

In October 2015, while chief executive Oscar Munoz was on leave to recover, Hart served as United’s acting chief executive officer for six months.⁠[2]

On May 11, 2020, United announced that Hart would become president of United Airlines Holdings following its annual shareholders’ meeting on May 20, as part of a leadership transition plan the company had announced the previous December, under which Oscar Munoz would become executive chairman and then-president Scott Kirby would become chief executive officer. The company also eliminated the chief administrative officer position.⁠[2][2][2]

As the COVID-19 pandemic battered the airline industry, Hart, like Munoz and Kirby, gave up his salary as president. He said the road ahead would not be easy but that he was confident he and Kirby would continue working together to lead United through the extraordinary challenges posed by the pandemic. As president, he continued to oversee external-facing teams including government affairs, corporate communications, legal, and community engagement, as well as corporate real estate and environmental sustainability, and took on new responsibility for human resources and labor relations.⁠[2][2][2][2]

On April 30, 2025, The Rockefeller Foundation announced that Hart would join its board of trustees in a volunteer capacity. Foundation President Rajiv ShahRajiv ShahRajiv Shah is an American development policy official and philanthropic leader who served as Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) from 2010 to 2015 and has been the 13th president of The Rockefeller Foundation since 2017.Open the full entry said that Hart’s career had been dedicated to strengthening and connecting communities; Hart said that for more than a century the foundation had responded to the critical needs of the times and that he looked forward to supporting its work.⁠[3][3][3][3][3]

As of July 2026, Hart remains president of United Airlines Holdings, responsible for United’s global operations, including flight and network operations, inflight services, and safety; he leads external-facing teams including government affairs, regulatory affairs, corporate communications, advertising, legal, global community engagement, and environmental sustainability, and oversees finance functions including corporate finance, treasury, financial planning and analysis, investor relations, procurement, internal audit, and corporate strategy.⁠[4][4][4][4][1][1][1]

In 2020, Hart was a director of AbbVie and chairman of the board of Chicago’s Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, and he served on the boards of organizations including the Obama Foundation’s Inclusion Council, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the University of Chicago, and Northwestern Medicine. As of 2025, he serves on the boards of organizations including Northwestern Memorial HealthCare, the Innocence Project, The Economic Club of Chicago, and the University of Chicago.⁠[2][2][1]

United Airlines: Official website: https://www.united.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[2]

The Rockefeller Foundation: Official website: https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/ (opens in a new window).⁠[5]