May/June 2015 Aviation for Women 17
ing from Cape Cod to the Caribbean
and as far away as Micronesia.
Her ascension is a testament of how
far women have come in the industry.
She attributes the overwhelming support from employees and the board to
that internal networking, getting to
know her colleagues from the rank-and-file to the head office and proving herself as a valued team member. And, that
is also how she became board chair of
the Regional Airline Association, supported by some of the heaviest hitters at
the largest regional airlines in the country. “I am so honored and privileged to
be elected to that position,” she said.
During her tenure, Linda has overseen Cape Air’s most dramatic growth.
The company did not have a human resources department when she joined
but it did have 300 employees who were
part of a culture that put them squarely
at the center of the company’s success
where they remain today. The philosophy behind founder Dan Wolf’s stewardship was, “If you take care of your
employees, they will take care of your
customers.” Indeed, its completely unpronounceable motto, Mocha HAGo TDI,
which stands for Make our Customers
Happy and Have a Good Time Doing It,
illustrates the airline’s culture.
“We grew from 300 employees to
1,200 now,” Linda, who joined the com-
pany in 2002, explained. “We went
from one person in HR—me—to devel-
oping a full service HR with payroll,
benefits, employee travel, an employee
stock ownership plan (ESOP), labor re-
lations, and employment. I worked up
from there and, in 2007, I was named
vice president of human relations and chief administrative
officer, overseeing all administrative functions of the orga-
nization. As president, I continue to serve on the executive
team, working side by side with senior leaders to drive stra-
tegic initiatives.”
Cape Air’s inaugural flight in 1989 was from Provincetown
to Boston when it had eight employees and annual passenger
loads of 8,000. Since then the airline has grown to 44 destina-
tions in the Midwest, Montana, New England, New York, the
Caribbean, and Micronesia. Its fleet includes 75 Cessna 402s,
two ATR 42s, and three Pilatus Britten-Norman Islanders. The
company carries 747,000 passengers per year and, in 2014, op-
erated 129,655 flights and includes United, American, JetBlue,
and Delta among its partners. In 2013, Cape Air joined Virgin
“Twelve percent of our pilots are women, three times the
average of the industry. We are very mission focused and
we don’t care who comes up with an idea as long as the
outcome is the right outcome.”
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