Lauren Woods provides strategic and innovative Leadership as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, the nation's largest airline in terms of domestic Customer boardings. Lauren’s vision is to provide Southwest with the most reliable, secure, and effective Technology solutions in the airline industry.

Since joining Southwest in 2010, Lauren has led key initiatives across Southwest's Technology Department, supporting Southwest’s Digital and Customer Channels and various Operations Teams and Platforms. Lauren was instrumental in establishing Southwest’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud Infrastructure, creating a new development and delivery platform for complex application ecosystems. She also focused heavily on the transformation of Southwest’s enterprise data platforms that drive the Company’s Data Science, Analytics, Optimization, and System integrations.

Prior to Southwest, Lauren worked in the management consulting firm Diamond Management & Technology (now PWC) with clients such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Travelers Insurance. Lauren’s consulting experience laid the foundation for her launch into Technology at Southwest.

Lauren is passionate about cloud-native development and infrastructure, as well as Southwest’s Legendary Customer Service, and shares these passions as a board member of 66degrees, a Google Cloud Premier Partner, helping Customers master security, infrastructure, and app development in Chicago. Lauren is also passionate about the neurodiverse community and served many years on the Board of Directors, and remains actively involved at Oak Hill Academy in Dallas. Oak Hill Academy is designed around a neurodiverse learning approach that focuses on a multi-sensory model.

Lauren graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management & Marketing—where her love for technology began. At Cornell, she met her college sweetheart and husband, Dave, and together they are proud parents to their boys, Lucas and Chris. In her spare time, Lauren likes to ski, read, hang with her dogs, watch her oldest play music in his rock band, and cheer at their boys’ many sporting events.