Airport Experience® News - Leadership 2022

2022 DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR MEDIUM AIRPORTS

TODD HAUPTLI president and CEO of the American Association of Airport Executives “He’s just really good guy. He and I had these similar paths in that we both took over for long termCEOs. He took over for Larry Cox, who had been the Memphis CEO for, I don’t know, 30 years. And I took over for Chip Barclay, who’d been the CEO at AAAE for 30 years. And we both took over just about the same time. And there’s a certain challenge involved in taking over after somebody who’s run an organization for that long. There’s a long shadow cast. And he did a terrific job of creating his own organization and his own team. He had a pretty significant challenge early in his tenure in that Memphis was de-hubbed. That would be a very tough issue for any airport director, and I think it was a particularly tough issue to deal with inMemphis because they were used to having a lot more air service and a lot more options than similarly situated cities would otherwise have. So, there’s a piece that involves outreach to the community and education of the community and then having to go out and find different kinds of air service options for the community. That’s not an easy assignment. And he nailed it.”

KELLY JOHNSON former director at Northwest Arkansas National Airport (XNA) and founder of Kelly Johnson and Associates LLC “It takes a lot of vision and the ability to bring people together and coalesce. When Northwest and Delta did what they did I think their traffic dopped close to 60%. They basically reinvented themselves. That took a lot of guidance and leadership, community leadership community buy in and putting together a great team. Scott has done that. Getting the community on board and working to get the tenants, the airlines to see the vision, that’s not a small task. He’s done it with such grace he makes it look effortless.”

KEVIN KANE president and CEO of Memphis Tourism

“The concourse modernization, it wasn’t a renovation or sprucing it up, it’s a total transformation. People get off a flight in that concourse and people who have traveled to Memphis in the past are saying ‘am I in the wrong airport?’ Scott has led the $700 million renovation of our main terminal and baggage area. His fingerprints are all over our airport and our air service in this community. He’ll be missed by our community when he retires but he’s done an outstanding job serving not only the airport but our community.”

BEVERLY ROBERTSON president and CEO of the Greater Memphis Chamber

“I’ll bet you just about every major business that toured that new concourse turned around, gave him a call, wrote him a note and thanked him deeply for all he has done for Memphis. When you create a front door, when people step off the plane and they see the art, the state of-the-art technology, the beautiful restrooms that are so awesome, the local artwork that’s featured there, the Memphis music they hear there, they get a taste and a flavor of the culture of the marketplace of Memphis and of the region. He has created a world-class asset here in Memphis, Tennessee, and we are so proud of him.”

20

A X N E W S L E A D E R S H I P I S S U E 2 0 2 2