Airport Experience® News - Conference Issue 2026

Collaborative Spirit Looking back on her quarter-century plus career in aviation, Zachrisson notes that she certainly hasn’t reached this point alone. “In all of the airports I’ve worked I’ve really enjoyed the energy of the collaborative effort and the passion that comes out of creating something as a team. It’s always been something that has fed me, personally and professionally,” she says. This appreciation for collaboration has greatly influenced how Zachrisson approaches her leadership. “In order to collaborate effectively, you have to have a management style that acknowledges that information is power, knowledge is power, and you only empower people by sharing that knowledge and that information with them,” she says. “That includes sharing information that I might be privy to, by position, that others aren’t privy to, making sure that everybody’s essentially working with a full deck of cards. It also includes mentoring. I get a lot of personal gratification in being a part of mentoring other people in the industry because I won’t be here forever, and I want the work to continue.” Zachrisson also acknowledges the mentors who have helped her get to her position in the industry. “At Seattle, I got to work unusually close with two airport leaders who are a bit legendary, and that’s Gina Marie Lindsey and Mark Reis,” she says. “I also had other people around me in Seattle, even subordinates, that I learned

things from. I had one staff member who had decades of experience working in the mall industry, and I learned a tremendous amount from her about food and beverage operations, about adjacencies, about how customers interact with facilities.” Then there’s been the perhaps more unexpected sources of inspiration. “There was an attorney I worked with in Seattle, Paul Bintinger, who was absolutely brilliant and working with him fueled my desire to go to law school, which I later did in 2020,” she says. “It wasn’t to become an attorney necessarily, but I felt like understanding the legal framework was very helpful to what I was doing.” Lifelong Learner Pursuing a law degree to better understand the legal framework of property management is certainly true to form for a self-described AvGeek. “I’m a little bit of a sponge in that way; I just think everything is endlessly fascinating,” Zachrisson says. “If you’ve got your antenna up to new things all the time, there’s always going to be something out there you can learn.” In this spirit, Zachrisson has been active in the broader aviation industry. She is a certified member of

the American Association of Airport Executives, has done several stints on the Airports Council International (ACI) North America Commercial Management Committee and was a chair of the committee in 2014. Something she has especially enjoyed doing over the years is presenting at industry conferences. “It goes back to my feelings on sharing knowledge. I love sharing what I’ve learned, what I know and getting feedback from people,” she says. “In fact, looking ahead, before I hang it up someday I would really love an opportunity to share my knowledge with students of aviation, maybe as an adjunct professor. To be able to get out and share what I’ve learned with folks that are coming into aviation, especially folks that are coming into aviation that maybe don’t see the commercial side so much, that would be the perfect icing on the cake for me.” At the time of her interview with AXN, Zachrisson was still working at SAN. But in late-January she revealed that she has taken a role at Paslay Group consulting firm. It’s a big move, but as she notes, “With aviation, part of the beauty of it, at least as I see it, is that the future is always a bit unwritten.”

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AX NEWS MARCH 2026