Airport Experience® News - Leadership Issue 2024

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DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR LARGE-HUB AIRPORTS

Clay Paslay, CEO and managing partner of Paslay Group consulting firm, says Kreulen’s leadership has brought the long term planning that is evident today. “Doug has really upped the scale in terms of the professionalism of the organization,” he says. “This idea of starting to look out into the future simply didn’t exist before. There wasn’t this long-range perspective – he has really brought that to the organization.” Kreulen says he enjoys the long-range planning. “That was the primary task the board gave me when I took over,” he says. “They wanted somebody who could establish a long-range vision of the future and who would ensure that the financial health of the airport was always at a premium.” Challenges and Achievements All the growth and future planning doesn’t come without hiccups, of course. Like many directors of the past decade, Kreulen says the most challenging event in his airport career was the pandemic. For Nashville specifically, that upheaval was

exacerbated by another local event. On March 3, 2020, a tornado hit John C. Tune Airport (JWN), a general aviation airport also under Kreulen’s leadership. “It destroyed 91 aircraft and 40-plus hangars,” Kreulen recalls, adding, “We’ve now built 100 hangars to replace what was damage.” Just a week or two later, BNA was feeling the impact of the pandemic. “Prior to the system starting to shut down, we were [serving] 50,000 people a day,” he says. “And I’ll never forget April 8th, 2020, we had 545 people go through the airport – we went from 50,000 to 545. That’s like a one-person per-airplane kind of statistic. We started our recovery a few weeks after that and we’ve been going strong since then.” When it comes to achievements, Kreulen spreads the accolades. “If I look at it in terms of what drives me and the achievements here at the airport, I’m obviously very proud of my staff and very proud of what we’ve been able to do in in the seven years I’ve been leading it,” he says. BNA is investing in its staff, Kreulen says, as the organization looks to help build the next generation of aviation leaders. Kreulen completed his airport executive accreditation from the American Association of Airport Executives “at the ripe young age of 59.” Now, he’s encouraging others to do the same. “We have a program [at BNA] for professional development, where we give

everybody $1,500 that passes [as a certified member]. We give them $3,000 if they get their accreditation,” he says. “We’ve had just under 100 people get their certified member exams out of the way and a few have made it to the A.A.E., with a few more on their way.” Kreulen says the professional development serves BNA well, but he also supports individuals who jump to other airports. “I want my people to be successful and I want them to move on if they so choose,” he says. “I moved many times to get promoted in the military and I’ve moved to get promoted in the airport industry. If people who are here in Nashville or that worked for me in Huntsville end up being CEOs elsewhere, that’s great. I don’t think there would be a greater honor than having somebody who remembered that Doug gave them a little bit of a push.” A Life Well Lived Kreulen also recognizes that he is “blessed beyond belief,” a reality that propels him in both his professional and personal life. In his Air Force days, the precarious nature of life was apparent –13 friends lost their lives over the course of his military career. “I feel like I’m living for my buddies that didn’t have the same luck that I did,” he says. “I don’t want to let them down and I dang-sure don’t want to let the city and state down.” Those buddies “meant a lot to me, and I feel like I owe them,” Kreulen adds. In fact, work aside, Kreulen says his family is his biggest achievement. Doug and Susan Kreulen have been married 44 years and have two adult sons, Ryan and Sam. The four all are Auburn University alumni and Kreulen remains a die-hard fan. He also participates on the Auburn Aviation Advisory Board. Kreulen also supports multiple charities. He was present when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon – he had left a conference room seven minutes before the plane destroyed that room and killed a few who were still inside. “Anything I can do for veterans or any first responders is a passion of mine,” he says. An avid hiker, Kreulen has a dream to hike the 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail – “it would be awesome, six months in the woods,” he says. But for now, Kreulen is staying steadfast at the helm of BNA. “Tennessee and Nashville have been great to my family and this will probably be our home,” he says. “We’re pretty happy, and as long as the board will keep me, I’ll keep pushing the airport.”

Below: Doug Kreulen led BNA through the BNA Vision capital program and is now focusing on yet another expansion, this one titled BNA New Horizon.

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AX NEWS DECEMBER 2024 / JANUARY 2025