Max Hopper

Mr. Hopper founded Max D. Hopper Associates, a firm specializing in the strategic use of advanced information, after retiring from AMR, an air transportation company (American Airlines) and provider of information services to the travel and transportation industry. During Mr. Hopper's 20-year tenure at AMR, he served as chief executive officer, chief information officer, and chairman of The SABRE Group, the airline reservation system unit of AA. As chair of the SABRE Group, his expertise and innovations earned him the reputation as the "father of automation" among airline travel industry personnel.

Previously, Mr. Hopper was executive vice president for Bank of America from 1982 through 1985. Mr. Hopper launched his professional systems career at Shell Oil in 1960 and served with EDS and American Airlines before joining United Airlines in 1972. Mr. Hopper is on the board of Gartner Group, United Stationers, and Perficient.

He was previously chairman and currently serves on the advisory council for the Graduate School of Management at the University of Texas at Dallas, as well as an adviser to Neeley School of Business at TCU, and the executive board of the Southern Methodist University's School of Engineering and Applied Science.

In 1997, he was inducted into the Infomart's Information Hall of Fame and in 1999, the editors of CIO magazine named him on of the decade's 12 most influential information system executives. Mr. Hopper also received the Leadership Award for Collaborative Innovation at the 2000 Computerworld Honors Program jointly sponsored by the Smithsonian Institute.