American Airlines names Tony Richmond Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs, and Chief Legal Officer

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ: AAL) today announced the appointment of Anthony (Tony) J. Richmond as Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs, and Chief Legal Officer, effective May 5. In this role, Richmond will serve on the airline’s senior leadership team and report to American’s CEO Robert Isom.

“Tony has been an important advisor to our airline for more than 15 years, and we are excited to have him step into this critical leadership role,” said Isom. “Given his knowledge of our team, our airline and the industry, this will be a seamless transition. We look forward to all the great things Tony and our legal team will do for American in the years to come.”

Richmond will lead American’s Legal Affairs team and direct the legal and labor relations strategy for the airline. His responsibilities will include oversight of the company’s corporate governance, securities and corporate finance, commercial, litigation, labor relations and employment, competition and antitrust, compliance, privacy, environmental, and intellectual property legal issues and work.

Richmond will join American from global law firm Latham & Watkins, where he has served as a partner in the Corporate Department since 1996. For more than three decades, Richmond has advised a range of clients, from startups to Fortune 500 companies, on novel legal issues and complex, landmark transactions. He has significant expertise in finance and securities matters involving both public and private companies.

A major force behind the development of the firm’s corporate practice and a key contributor to its strategic direction, Richmond has served in numerous key leadership roles at Latham & Watkins. He chaired the Audit Committee for over a decade, and currently serves as chair of the firm’s Strategic Initiatives Committee, of which he has been a member since 2015. Richmond previously served as co-chair of the firm’s Retail & Consumer Products Industry Group.

Richmond began his career at Deloitte as a certified public accountant (inactive status). He earned both a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Juris Doctor from the University of California, Berkeley.