"Is it safe?" asks evil dentist Laurence Olivier of Dustin Hoffman in 1976's Marathon Man. CEOs may similarly query their job security--bank execs especially--but what happens after the fall? A trio of ex-chiefs recently discussed their post-extraction Fortunes.

"We were like a frog that got boiled one degree at a time by rising oil prices," says ex-Jet Blue CEO David Neeleman, remembering "a crazy, wild ride." A serial entrepreneur, Neeleman, already en route to his next venture--Azul Airlines in Brazil--quipped about "no more deicing."

More enamel-chipped are Ed Zander, ex-Motorola, and Jim Donald, ex-Starbucks, neither with declared next steps.

Ousted by Carl Icahn, Zander endured a Jekyll-and-Hyde situation, going from "doing almost no wrong" to getting punished by competitors. Does he think that activists like Icahn (now pressuring Yahoo!'s Jerry Yang) are unhealthy for corporate America? His only comment: "I handled it the way I wanted to handle it."

Donald's toughest day started with a Corleone hug from Howard Schultz--who then fired him--after which, staying with Godfather II, he went for "a long row in a single shell."

Meanwhile, Wyndham Hotel Group CEO and president Steven Rudnitsky is very much on board.

The Parsippany, N.J.-based business unit of Wyndham Worldwide Corp.--with 2007 revenues of $4.36 billion--is a global powerhouse, representing more than 6,500 hotels in 59 countries under 10 brands.

"Brand guy" Rudnitsky once brought Pepsi to China--now it's Wyndham's turn.

Rudnitsky's rationale? "China's lodging industry is roughly $17 billion versus $130 billion in the U.S., with 1.3 billion people versus 300 million people and 10% GDP growth versus 2%. There’s a lot of room to run."

Jeff Heilman

6/4/08