Airport Experience® News - Conference Issue 2024

Fast forward to today, May is leading the properties division as chief commercial officer for Denver International Airport. Her impact at the airport is broad and deep, with responsibility for concessions, procurement and business operations, business technology, airline affairs, and air service development. May is widely praised for her management of DEN’s concession program, which is evolving as that original terminal footprint that first inspired her in 1995 evolves and expands to meet the traveler needs for today and in the future. “I just fell in love with it,” she says. “It’s like a gigantic puzzle you put together. … Procurement is just a critical piece of almost all of my portfolio because of the concession contracts and airline use agreements. All of those pieces of my portfolio allowed me to meet people and get to know [the industry] and to dig in and learn so many different things. It’s been, for me, just one of the best rides ever.”

In recognition of her vision for the commercial offering at DEN, Airport Experience News selected May as its property manager of the year for 2024. Finding Her Way Back Exciting as it was, that day in 1995 was nearly the extent of May’s direct involvement in the airport for nearly a quarter century. A Denver native, she worked her way through various departments within city government. In 2015, she landed a job as deputy chief of staff for then Mayor Michael Hancock. They’d known each other since he was elected to the city council, and he’d seen her handle countless situations. “We got along well and I knew she was the kind of person I wanted to work with on my team when I became mayor,” he says. Working for Hancock, she was privy to meetings that educated her about all

Above: Among many roles, Penny May leads the vision of the concessions program at Denver International Airport. A longtime city employee, May rose through the ranks to become an influential and trusted leader.

the city’s different departments, and she became familiar with developments taking place at DEN. Amid some staffing changes in 2018, DEN created a deputy chief of staff position that piqued her interest. Given her past roles and her involvement when the airport was built, May thought she possessed a bit of knowledge about airports “and then realized I didn’t,” she says. But the airport was vibrant and May was excited to learn. “It is such a dynamic environment,” she says. “Every day there is something going on, there’s something new to learn. The people are great. I just fell in love with it.”

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AX NEWS MARCH 2024