Everyone had a childhood dream. Whether it was being an astronaut, a princess, a firefighter, or a pilot. Not everyone got to be what they wanted as a child, because of a change in plans or just harsh reality, although some do. As for Bradley Tilden, he got into the airline industry because of his childhood dream. He went to high school a few short miles away from the company's headquarters where he could watch the planes take off and land. During his college years at Pacific Lutheran University, he had a job with Amtrak that was able to provide him with a little more money than he needed for the schooling. With that money he learned to fly, but he thought he could never become a commercial pilot, so he became an accountant. Unexpectedly one of his friends needed to need to leave Alaska Air Group to have a baby, and he was given the opportunity of a lifetime. Since May 15, 2012 Brad has been the chief executive officer of Alaska Air Group. Alaska Air Group contains Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air. Brad has been the president of Alaska Airlines since December of 2008. He had been the chief financial officer of Alaska Air Group from 2000 to 2008 and was the executive vice president of finance and planning from 2002 to 2008. Alaska Air Group has about 13,000 people employed making it the seventh-largest airline in the United States for passenger traffic, and the top airline for the west coast (Brad Tilden: Keeping an Airline Flying).