John Potter Selected as President and CEO for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority
The Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority today selected former Postmaster General John E. (Jack) Potter to be the President/CEO of the Airports Authority.
“We are confident that Jack has the leadership and management skills necessary to continue the Airports Authority’s strong legacy of providing outstanding aviation services to the Washington region and the travelers throughout the world who use our airports,” said Charles D. Snelling, the Chairman of the Board of Directors. “Jack is also the right person at the right time to meet the challenges of building Metrorail in the Dulles Corridor and improving the Dulles Toll Road to promote mobility and economic development for our region.”
Mr. Potter served 10 years as Postmaster General, where he worked to modernize management and led the transformation of the Postal Service into a service-driven, customer-focused and cost-sensitive organization. He will join the Airports Authority by July 18, 2011.
“I’m excited about the opportunity to serve this region, and I thank the Board members for the confidence they have placed in me. This is both a great honor and a big challenge,” Mr. Potter said. “The core reason I accepted this challenge is because I believe the Airports Authority can do more to grow the economy of this region than almost any other organization. Our two great airports and the rail system to Dulles are extraordinary job creators.”
Mr. Potter brings extensive management experience to his new position, having managed an organization with more than 500,000 employees as postmaster general. His work to enhance the workplace environment contributed to record levels of safety and employee satisfaction at the Postal Service. Computerworld named the Postal Service one of the best places to work in information and technology. Fortune chose it as one of the 50 Best Companies for minorities, and Careers & the disABLED recognized it as public-sector employer of the year.
A native of the Bronx and son of a Manhattan mail carrier, Mr. Potter began his career as a postal clerk in New York in 1978. He earned a degree in economics at Fordham University and a master’s degree as a Sloan Fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority operates Ronald Reagan Washington National and Washington Dulles International Airports, which served more than 40 million passengers combined in 2010. The Airports Authority also operates the Dulles Toll Road, an 8-lane, 14-mile highway in the Dulles Corridor of Northern Virginia and is currently constructing the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project, a 23- mile rail extension of Metrorail system to Fairfax County, Dulles International Airport and beyond to Loudoun County.
source: Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority press release