Airport Experience® News - Leadership & Culture Issue 2023

2023 DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR SMALL AIRPORTS

He quickly moved up the chain in Columbus. In preparing to leave, Roberts tapped Richardson as someone with the skills and presence to succeed her. “One of the things I saw when we were having emergency preparedness drills, he was just so steady and calm under pressure,” she says. “You never saw him get flustered by anything that didn’t go as expected. If we were on a sinking boat, he’s the guy I’d want to be with.” During his tenure there, he reached the c-suite executive vice president and chief operating officer. Passenger traffic increased by 33%, to 8.4 million travelers, and freight nearly doubled to 300 million pounds. He was positioned to succeed Roberts when she retired in 2017 but ultimately was not selected for that role. Instead, he moved to his current role at GRR in August 2019. Building Grand Rapids Currently, GRR is in the midst of an ambitious, five-phase, $500 million “Elevate” capital program that includes terminal and parking upgrades, moving its air traffic control tower, adding a federal inspection station and streamlining baggage and security operations. The first phase, a $110 million expansion of Concourse A that was unveiled in June, added 155,000 square feet to the airport, added eight new gates, expanded gate space to accommodate larger aircraft, enhanced concessions and art programs and upgraded amenities, such as seating and restrooms. “This facility was really built back in the day for regional jets, the smaller gates, 30 to 50 passengers,” Richardson says. “We now have 200-plus people going out of the gates, so we’re really capacity constrained in the gate areas in terms of the number of gates, but also the gate hold areas.” That expansion started in the fall of 2021. Additional components include the addition of a consolidated rental car facility, which is under construction. That facility will free up 1,000 spots for parking in the main garage. “We’re more than 1,100 spaces short on parking today,” he says. “We’re really buying ourselves some time to get those parking spaces in the parking garage right in front of the terminal before we can build what is needed.” What’s needed is a new, six-level parking structure, but that will be built where the current air traffic control tower – too short

with line-of-sight issues – stands and will remain until a new one goes up as part of the Elevate project. “We’ve been working with the [Federal Aviation Administration] literally for decades … to relocate that so we can develop the core area of the airport the way we need to, to grow,” Richardson says. “We’re moving parts and pieces around just to buy ourselves some time to get the development needed, but in the right sequence.” That project is in the design phase and still a few years away from completion but will make the airport more efficient. Other terminal enhancement projects will address a shortage of roadway curb space, insufficient baggage claim devices and a lack of space for adding more, and a lack of passenger flow due to capacity issues. Ticket counters will move to accommodate baggage claim improvements that will allow GRR – one of the last airports to use a manual security process – to finally automate with a modern system. Transparency Amidst Upheaval While there are a lot of temporary amenities amid the chaos of construction at GRR, the airport still generally scores well on customer service. That’s in large part due to focusing on communicating with guests about what’s going on and how they can deal with the changes. “Our focus going into each one of these projects within the program is how do we make this the best experience for the guest,” Richardson says. “We take a step back, look at it and say, ‘If this were me going through this facility with my family, what is it that I would want that experience to be, and how can we get as close to that best experience possible?’” Doug Small, president and CEO of Experience Grand Rapids, thinks the airport is doing a great job. He and Richardson sit on each other’s boards, and they work together frequently. Richardson, he says, is always willing to present to business, civic and other groups to talk about what’s going on and find out what the community would like to see from GRR. And Small says Richardson, whose positivity he admires, has built a team around him that embodies the same positive spirit and collaboration. “He is the leader,” Small says. “Those that he has chosen to surround himself with are very bright and good leaders in

Above: The American Association of Airport Executives awarded Tory Richardson its Distinguished Service Award in 2023. He helped the organization navigate the early days of Covid-19, right-sizing staffing and making other vital changes that helped the organization survive.

Director Development While at Fort Wayne, Richardson caught the eye of Elaine Roberts, then the CEO of the Columbus Regional Airport Authority, which operates John Glenn Columbus International Airport (CMH), Rickenbacker International Airport (LCK) and Bolton Field She was impressed with his breadth of knowledge and his calm under fire. “His background is the most diverse of anybody I’ve ever been around in the industry,” she says. “He worked for an FBO, he worked for an airline, he worked for the national weather service. He worked in airport management and maintenance. He was even an aircraft rescue firefighter. You don’t find that very often.”

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AX NEWS LEADERSHIP ISSUE 2023