Alumna Bretthauer joins board as ARA representative

Alumna Bretthauer joins board as ARA representative

BY MARGOT DIMOND
Rice News staff

Vicki Whamond Bretthauer

Vicki Whamond Bretthauer ’79 has been named to the Rice University Board of Trustees as the representative of the Association of Rice Alumni (ARA). She will serve a four-year term.

“We’re all very enthusiastic about Vicki joining the board,” said James Crownover, chairman of the board. “We all know Vicki well. She’s been actively involved over the past several years in board committee activities, and she brings a diversity of business leadership experience in both large and small enterprises.”

Bretthauer, a 22-year veteran of the airline industry, is a consultant with DLS Associates, a transportation consulting firm specializing in resource planning, scheduling and operations management. She is also an adviser/investor with Waverly Capital on an airline start-up in China.

She previously held operational and administrative positions at United Airlines, Reno Air and DHL Airways, and was CEO of DHL Airways before the company was sold in 2003.

A native of Illinois, Bretthauer received a bachelor’s degree in managerial studies from Rice in 1979. An active alumna, she is a member of the alumni board and a past president of the ARA and chairs the Rice alumni group in Chicago.
She also serves on the Council of Overseers for the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management and has served on the Rice board committee on resource development and alumni affairs.

“Since her graduation, Vicki has consistently demonstrated her dedication to and love for Rice, serving on numerous boards and committees and interviewing hundreds of students, all while balancing a high-level career in the airline industry,” said Jeffery O. Rose ’77, president of the ARA. “Vicki is uniquely well-equipped to represent the concerns of alumni while understanding the complex issues that will face Rice in the coming years.”

In addition to her degree from Rice, Bretthauer has an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University in marketing and operations. She is a member of the business advisory committee for the transportation center at Northwestern and is a frequent lecturer at the center.

Bretthauer lives in Florida and the Chicago area with her husband, Neil, a retired captain from United Airlines.