Stephen Wolf, a native of California and graduate of San Francisco State University, began his aviation career in 1966 wit American Airlines. He later moved on to executive positions with Pan American World Airways, Continental Airlines, and then to Republic Airlines where he orchestrated the merger with Northwest Airlines.
Wolf then moved on to Flying Tigers and was named chairman for Tiger International in 1986 where he oversaw the sale of the company to Federal Express in 1988.
After he left Flying Tigers he held various other executive positions including 7 years as CEO at United Airlines (1987-1994), a stint at Air France, 2 years as CEO of US Airways (1996-1998), and various investment firms since then.