ALEXANDRIA, VA – Former Southwest Airlines CEO Jim Parker has been announced as an October 5 General Session speaker for NACS Show 2008. The NACS Show will take place October 4 to 7 at McCormick Place in Chicago.

Parker will discuss how the culture of an organization can be a great benefit in good economic times and essential in tougher economic times. He served as Southwest’s CEO from 2001 to 2004. Shortly after Parker became CEO, the airline industry was decimated by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, yet Southwest protected the jobs of all of its employees, with no furloughs or pay cuts. In addition, Southwest was the only airline to offer unconditional “no-questions-asked refunds” after Sept. 11. Despite these challenges, Southwest remained profitable in every quarter during Parker’s tenure, and he ultimately led Southwest to a market capitalization greater than the sum of the other airlines combined.

During Parker’s tenure as CEO, Southwest was named as the most admired airline, and one of the three most admired companies in America by Fortune magazine; Airline of the Year by Air Transport World magazine; and one of the World’s Most Socially Responsible Companies by Global Finance magazine. He also was named co-CEO of the Year in 2001 by Morningstar.com, and was named to Institutional Investor’s list of Best CEOs in America in 2004.

“Jim Parker is exactly the type of speaker that NACS Show attendees have told us they want to hear – an industry leader or motivational speaker,” said Jay Ricker, NACS vice chairman of Convention and Events and president of Ricker Oil Co. “With business sustainability top of mind, Jim is the ideal speaker to open the show in a positive and instructive way.”

Parker is presently retired from the airline industry, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Texas Roadhouse restaurant company, and also serves on the Advisory Council for the MIT Sloan Business School Leadership Center. He is the author of the recently released book Do the Right Thing – How Dedicated Employees Produce Loyal Customers and Large Profits.

For more information on the NACS Show and to register, visit www.nacsshow.com.

Note to reporters: A photograph of Jim Parker is available upon request.