Zane Rowe

Zane Rowe ('91, DB) was elected to the Embry-Riddle Board of Trustees in 2010. He is Secretary of the Board of Trustees and a member of the Committee on Trustees. Rowe also is the Chairman of the Audit Committee and a member of the Business Partnership, Executive, and Finance committees.

Growing up in Cape Town, South Africa, Rowe took flying lessons and dreamed of attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and pursuing a career in aviation business. His dream came true when his family immigrated to the United States in the mid-1980s.

Rowe graduated from Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach, Florida, campus in 1991 with a bachelor’s degree in Aviation Business Administration, followed by an MBA in Finance from San Diego State University in California. He then returned to Embry-Riddle to teach economics and business.

As a follow-up to his academic pursuits, Rowe transitioned to build a highly successful career in aviation finance, first at Continental Airlines, where he rose to Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, then as CFO of United Continental Holdings Inc. when Continental merged with United Airlines. In 2009, Institutional Investor magazine named Rowe one of the top two CFOs in the airline industry and Treasury & Risk magazine named him one of corporate America’s outstanding finance executives under the age of 40.