Airport Experience® News - Leadership Issue 2024

Right: Twenty-seven years in the United States Air Force gave Kreulen the background needed for a transition into commercial aviation.

Doug Kreulen never dreamed he’d be the CEO of a major U.S. airport. He built his career in the military and, after retiring, took a page from his son’s playbook when he decided to enter the commercial aviation world. “I never envisioned being in airport management,” says Kreulen, who is now president and CEO of the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority. Nevertheless, he’s now leading Nashville International Airport (BNA), one of the fastest-growing airports in North America. The airport served just under 22 million passengers in 2023, more than double the 10.6 million passengers served a decade earlier. Kreulen has had a front seat for the ride. He joined the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority in 2012 and served as chief operating officer before being named president and CEO in 2017. To accommodate the rapid rise in passenger numbers, BNA launched the BNA Vision expansion program in 2016, a year before Kreulen took the helm. He oversaw that program to its final completion earlier this year. At the same time, a new expansion plan, dubbed BNA New Horizon, began the design phase in 2022. Construction is underway with anticipated completion in 2028. Kreulen recalls the euphoria of tackling some of the capacity challenges the airport faced when BNA Vision launched, and the realization that more would be needed. “You get going, you’re hitting a rhythm, you’re feeling good and everything is on budget and on schedule,” he says. “Then it’s like, you know what? We’re not big enough. What happens if we keep growing?” Kreulen, the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority Board of Commissioners and the BNA leadership team had the foresight to begin BNA New Horizon well before the BNA Vision program had wrapped up. Now, they’re planning what comes after that.

In recognition of Kreulen’s adept handling of BNA’s expansion during a time of unprecedented growth (albeit marred by the pandemic blip) and his vision for future growth, Airport Experience News selected Doug Kreulen as its 2024 Director of the Year in the large airports category. A Military Man It used to be commonplace for senior airport leadership to have military experience – the U.S. Air Force, in particular, is a conduit to the airport management track. That path is less prevalent today, but in Kreulen’s case it worked fairly seamlessly. Kreulen didn’t have his eye on airports when he retired after 27 years in the U.S. Air Force. After flying helicopters for eight years and jets for 19 years, Kreulen left the military and landed a job in business development, based in Huntsville, Alabama. It was his son, Ryan, who sparked Kreulen’s interest in airports. Ryan Kreulen was at Auburn University, studying for a degree in airport management and searching for his first post-college job in aviation. An engaged and helpful parent, Doug Kreulen kept his finger on the pulse of his son’s job search. Some of the job descriptions peaked Kreulen’s interest. “I thought, ‘well, gosh, I used to do stuff like this in the United States Air Force.

Maybe I could apply for some of these jobs’,” Kreulen recalls. “So while helping him, I started looking at positions where I could start sort of at the entry level. I applied at Chattanooga, at Phoenix, at [Fort] Walton [Beach] – they all rejected me but Huntsville, Alabama gave me a chance. After four years at Huntsville International Airport (HSV), Kreulen’s wife Susan gave him a nudge for the position at BNA. He applied and was offered the job, thus laying the groundwork for his trajectory to the airport director role. Meanwhile, Ryan Kreulen, who inspired Kreulen’s career shift 15 years ago, is forging his own path in airport management. He’s currently vice president of operations at South Carolina’s Columbia Metropolitan Airport (CAE). At The Helm When Kreulen took over as president and CEO, the $1.5 billion BNA Vision project was just getting started. Key elements included a new Concourse D, a renovated terminal lobby, an expanded security checkpoint, a state-of-the-art International Arrivals Facility, three terminal garages and other upgrades. It also included an overhaul of the BNA concessions program and a switch from a master concessionaire model to a developer model. “In 2017 we were launching BNA Vision and we didn’t really have a lot of

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AX NEWS DECEMBER 2024 / JANUARY 2025