Airport Experience® News - Leadership Issue 2024

NEXT-GENERATION STEPPING UP ACI-NA Opens Board To Young Professionals

BY JOHN QUINNIES

In an effort to bring new perspectives into the mix, improve the talent pool, and mentor the next generation to take the reins down the line, Airport Council International-North America (ACI-NA) has tapped three young professionals from across North America to serve as non-voting members on its Board of Directors in 2025. The three selected individuals will serve a one-year term. The move is a first for ACI-NA. President and CEO Kevin Burke says the decision will give each new member a look behind the wall to see how governance and operations work inside. The goal is to bring excitement for the future and continue involvement in the association, Burke says. “It’s indicative of the fact that we have to continue to look to the future in our industry,” says Burke. “And the more we involve young professionals at all levels at the airport, the better our industry will be in the future.” Two of the new faces, Victor Cadoret and Erin Burns, come from commercial airports, while the third new member, Deborah Blass, comes from the industry’s associate world business partner side. Each brings a diverse career background representing experiences in construction, communications, planning, airport operations and more, and all shared excitement for the new opportunity. “When I see younger people, it gets me excited because I realize we are bringing people in our industry learning new things,” says Burke. “They’re learning from mentors who are helping them, and also – based upon the experience they’re having – they’re encouraging friends to join the industry as well.” A Learning Experience Cadoret, an airport planner for the Halifax International Airport Authority, comes to the board with five years of experience at Halifax Stanfield International Airport (YHZ). The first half of his tenure there was spent as a project coordinator, and for the past two and a half years, he’s served as an airport planner. Before his experience in the aviation industry, Cadoret says he was in the construction and engineering world.

“What I’m interested in is the learning experience,” says Cadoret. “The board members all represent decades–maybe even hundreds of years of experience in the industry from different tracks of career development.” Cadoret says he’ll be interested in being a “fly on the wall,” seeing the board’s approach to prioritizing the complex and diverse industry topics the association can focus on at any time. “At the same time, I don’t want to discount the value that I carry and that I’m building upon as I continue to learn,” he says. “This is a really interesting time for the industry; we’re fully recovered from Covid and we’re in a new growth era.” Before the association selected him for the board position, Cadoret says he applied for and was accepted into the ACI-NA Educational Foundation Canadian Airports Online College program scholarship. Shortly after, the association informed him he was selected for the board member program. “I think it will inspire people, people like myself and [other] professionals, to maybe dream a little bigger and think of ‘what direction

do I want my career to take,’” says Cadoret. “So I think certainly it’s done that for me. It’s certainly inspired me.”

Above: Victor Cadoret, airport planner, airport planning and development, Halifax Stanfield International Airport

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AX NEWS DECEMBER 2024 / JANUARY 2025