With Gratitude and Thanks

After six years my term on the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) will come to an end after our meeting in November. While I had applied to be re-appointed for another term, the Governor chose to appoint a new member which is his prerogative.

I am pleased to have been appointed by Governors of both parties to serve our Commonwealth in various capacities and I wish my successor much success in his term as a member of the Board.

With that said I am grateful for the opportunity to serve with such a dedicated group of men and women. With a contribution of $14.3 billion (2017 dollars) to the region’s economy MWAA plays a critical role in the economic lifeblood of the communities we call home.

Over these past six years we:

1. Approved, constructed, and opened Operation Journey and Secure National Hall at Ronald Reagan National Airport and have begun planning to modernize Dulles International Airport

2. Turned over the Silver Line for operation to WMATA

3. Adopted a wage program for the hard-working contract employees that serve the airports

4. Entered into an agreement with Dominion Energy to construct the largest solar array on any airport in the United States (100MW) and 50MW of battery storage

5. Have taken substantial steps to decarbonize our vehicle fleet as well as the ground support equipment that serve the aircraft

6. Developed with our employees and the world class National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) a sustainability program that is being implemented and launched a voluntary “Green Concessions” program

7. Took concrete steps to ensure continued progress in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) arena

8. In support of local, small businesses we spent $158.5 million in 2021 alone as part of our LDBE program

9. Took actions to ensure the airports and our concessions were able to manage through the #COVID19 pandemic (all our bond ratings are at pre-pandemic levels)

10. Published three editions of our Corporate Social Responsibility (#CSR) report and many other items too numerous to enumerate

MWAA in my opinion is well positioned as the result of these activities to thrive and continue to grow well into the future.

As you can imagine, there are way too many people to mention by name (and I do not want to leave anyone out by accident) but thank you to Jack Potter and the whole MWAA family, my Board colleagues (past and present), and the Board staff who work so hard to assist the Board in our efforts.

I can’t believe the six years went by so quickly (that is a good sign) — I learned a lot and was pleased to contribute where I could.