Maybe true for airlines, but one Marriott credit card from Chase gives 15 nights' credit, which is more than enough for Silver status with the Marriott Rewards program just from having the credit card; one Citi Hilton credit card similarly gives Gold status in HHonors; and I believe one of the Hyatt credit cards also gives elite status in their frequent guest program.

Back to the OP's question, I would suggest Randy himself might be in the running. Also, in the early days a FlyerTalk member named variously Merry and Merry Flyer (as I recall) said because of his position in industry he got complimentary elite status in most frequent flyer and frequent guest programs.