WestJet Group announces retirement of Chief Financial Officer Harry Taylor

The WestJet Group today announced that Harry Taylor has decided to retire from his role as Executive Vice-President Finance and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at the end of this year. Jennifer Bue, WestJet’s current Vice-President, Financial Planning & Analysis will serve as interim CFO, while the search for a permanent replacement is underway.

“On behalf of WestJet and the board, we sincerely thank Harry for his seven-year commitment to our airline,” said WestJet Group CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech. “Harry’s experience and perspective were invaluable in many WestJet milestones including aircraft financing and planning, our privatization and, maybe most notably, our ability to weather the financial challenges of the pandemic, setting us up for strong recovery. Equally, we are appreciative of Jenn stepping into the interim role, knowing her knowledge and experience will be invaluable as we continue to deliver on our growth strategy.”

Harry Taylor joined WestJet in 2015 as Executive Vice-President and CFO. During this time, he led the airline’s inaugural U.S. bond issue, negotiated the purchases of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Boeing MAX aircraft, including recent news to add another 42 aircraft to the existing order book, and was instrumental in the sale of WestJet to Onex. Through the pandemic, Harry led the Finance team in managing WestJet’s liquidity to ensure sustainability with little to no revenue coming in.

Jennifer Bue joined WestJet in 2008 and has held various leadership roles in corporate planning, treasury, accounting and was head of finance at Swoop. Prior to WestJet, Jenn worked at Deloitte and at RBC in equity research. Jenn holds designations as a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) and Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and has a Master of Professional Accounting (MPAcc) and a Bachelor of Commerce (BComm).