Richard B. Hirst

Richard “Ben” Hirst is the Senior Vice President & General Counsel for Delta Air Lines. He most recently served as Northwest’s Senior Vice President – Corporate Affairs and General Counsel. In that role, he oversaw the company’s legal affairs and also was responsible for the company’s internal and external communications.

Ben joined Northwest Airlines in 1990 as Senior Vice President – General Counsel and in 1994 assumed the post of Senior Vice President – Corporate Affairs which he held until he resigned in 1999. During that period he was responsible for the company’s labor relations and government affairs, in addition to his other responsibilities. After leaving Northwest in 1999, Ben was General Counsel of the Minnesota Twins, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Burger King Corporation and Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer of KB Home.

From 1986 to 1990 Hirst was Vice President – General Counsel and Secretary at Continental Airlines. Before joining Continental in 1983, he was an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Puget Sound Law School, Tacoma, Washington and, during the deregulation of the airline industry, was Assistant to the Director of International and Domestic Aviation for the Civil Aeronautics Board. In his early career he was in private law practice in Vermont and served as a law clerk in U.S. District Court in Vermont. While in college he spent a year as a reporter on the Providence (R.I.) Journal-Bulletin.

He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1972 and Harvard College in 1969. He lives in Woodland, MN with Nancy, his wife, and Bailey, a West Highland Terrier.