Airport Experience® News - Conference 2023

ONE - ON - ONE

Below: DEN’s Center of Equity and Excellence was formed as an accelerator for economic and workforce development. Eventually to be housed in the airport’s Hotel &Transit Center, the program focuses on all aspects of workforce development, with particular attention to expanding access for underserved communities. As part of Ascent to Leadership, we will also be kicking off our AirMAX (multi agency exchange) program, which is a multi agency exchange program. We’re partnering with three other airports to build a program where employees can visit their counterparts at other airports to learn about challenges and opportunities that can be collectively discussed and discover best practices that can be replicated at their home airport. We’ve contracted with the Eno Center for Transportation. They have a lot of experience in standing up similar programming, but this is the first-of-its-kind within aviation. Then we move into Ascent To Leadership, which is aimed at that frontline mid-level manager-type of role. The goal is to prepare them to become senior leaders and advance. Our Leadership DEN program is a five month series where individuals apply and move through a selection process. Once accepted into the program, participants go through some intensive weekly training that helps them sharpen their leadership skills and gain experiences from the sessions. Our current senior leadership serves as faculty for the workshops.

Our last level in Career Pathways is our Elevated Leadership tier, and that’s aimed at our senior leaders. We want to make sure that we’re investing in every area, including senior leader levels, because we want them to continue to grow and sharpen [skills] so they may be ready to move into the next level of a CEO or executive director. CAROL: It’s likely that you’re going to invest in some of these people, and then they’re going to go on to other airports. Do you look at it as if you are investing in the larger industry as well? ANDREA: That’s exactly how we’re looking at it. This is an economic development effort

Above: Outreach to the community to engage them on possible careers in aviation starts at elementary school-aged children and builds from there. and is about promoting the whole community and aviation industry. We want DEN to be recognized as the place where people come to find talented employees. All boats rise when we invest in these areas, and we can draw impacts in so many different ways. CAROL: How is this program being funded? ANDREA: Right now, it’s all internally funded by DEN. In January 2022, we received approval to expend $40 million through our city council process and build the physical CEEA as part of our Great Hall terminal completion phase. That $40 million will fund the design-build for our effort. The programming side is already in motion and will continue to grow as we move through design and construction. The last area of programming that we’ll be implementing in 2023 is our Research and Innovation Lab where employees and community members of all ages can test ideas and innovate in a real-world airport environment. All of the programming will be physically based in the CEEA, with options for taking programs into community spaces and virtual accessibility. We are always interested in exploring grant opportunities, so we’re constantly looking at what might be a good match for what we’re doing here to support our local and global communities, as far and wide as we can.

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