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It is with great honor
and pride that I have the opportunity to serve as the 1999/2000
President of the Northwest Chapter of the American Association of
Airport Executives. Having the privilege to serve on the Chapter
Board in the early '90s and having been very close to the
Chapter's development over the past several years, it is apparent
to me that your chapter has a great foundation, is very well
organized, is concerned about providing the most service possible
for all our members (corporate and non-corporate), is financially
stable and is on a solid growth pattern. These tremendous
corporate assets do not just happen. They are a product of a great
foundation of past leaders with vision, dedication and a love for
the industry. From the start of the NWAAAE in 1971 with Frank
Ladwig as our first President, to Lori Beckman, A.A.E. last year,
your Chapter has been blessed.
I would be remiss
without highlighting some of Lori's excellent achievements this
past year. A Chapter Mission statement, the development of the
Chapter Policy Manual, the institution of a Chapter Awards
program, the development of a mentoring program, the advancement
of a financial plan to further fund the AAAE Foundation and the
expansion of the NWAAAE Board to include two Canadian and one
Corporate board members, are just some of the fine accomplishments
that took place over the past twelve months under Lori's
leadership. As with any organization, these goals could not have
been implemented without the great support Lori received from the
Membership, Chapter Board and our Executive Secretary, Janelle
Olson.
One of my goals for
this year is to bring some of our larger key NWAAAE airports into
the fold and get more of their employees involved in our
organization. Having worked in the airport business for almost
twenty years now, it is apparent to me that the "body"
of individual personal development and industry networking is the
American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) and to a further
extent the "legs and arms" of this entity are the
Chapters. My intention will be to extend a welcome hand to our
leaders of the larger airports in the chapter, extolling the
benefits of our organization, and forwarding the concept that
industry enlightenment through NWAAAE will not only benefit the
employees that will join, but also the organizations in which they
are employed. I will be calling on some old friends to help me
carry this message both in the U.S. and Canada.
Another area of
interest for me is the development of a "NWAAAE Legislative
Committee." I will be looking for a volunteer from each state
in the NWAAAE that would be willing to serve on the Legislative
Committee. Each member would be responsible to act as a liaison
for its state and to organize critical lobbying efforst relative
to key federal aviation legislation matters. The airport lobby,
which you are all a part of, is one of the most unique,
under-funded lobbies in the country. It is well documented and
known that our financial presence in Washington in terms of
support of legislators is almost non-existent. This is no surprise
as it would be naive to think that poorly paid public
administrators would be compelled to give scarce personal
resources to aviation legislators to support funding for bigger
airports so that we could take more noise complaints. Seriously,
our efforts in Washington in financial terms are dwarfed by the
major airlines and other powerful aviation lobbies. Our only hope
in influencing the outcome of the game is to be well organized in
the terms of "grass roots" lobbying. AAAE does a
tremendous job on the national level of carrying our message. The
NWAAAE Legislative Committee would be responsible to provide a
support role for AAAE on key matters when they arise. I already
have volunteers from Wyoming and Alaska—please contact me if you
are interested in serving. I will be contacting state presidents
to fill out the committee for states that don't respond.
Before closing, I
would like to send out a great public thank you to Mike Boggs, the
Oregon Airport Managers Association and the staff of the Eugene
Airport for hosting a wonderful annual meeting in Eugene in
September. Everyone I spoke to thoroughly enjoyed the conference
and the fine hospitality shown by our hosts. It truly was a
wonderful setting and I feel re-energized after purchasing my new
tie-dye shirt and hemp slippers.
In closing, I will
tell you that your Chapter is an exciting, diverse, energetic and
growing organization that I believe has a very bright future. My
ultimate goal is to maintain the momentum and not "screw it
up." Along these lines, I have received much advice from past
presidents of the Chapter. My favorite comes via e-mail from our
old friend Joe Attwood, A.A.E., who says, " . . . do your
best, but if all else fails refer to Janelle." Sage advice
from an old salt. |
