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\u201cHartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport needs dynamic leadership to drive the continued growth we\u2019ve seen over the past years and Mr. Smith\u2019s extensive experience will help us reach more milestones in the years to come,\u201d said Mayor Andre Dickens. \u201cI want to thank Jan Lennon for her dedication and leadership while we conducted our search, and we look forward to continuing to work with her in the capacity of Executive Deputy General Manager.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am both honored and excited to serve the Atlanta public as the new Airport General Manager for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport \u2013 the busiest and most efficient in the world. Mayor Andre Dickens\u2019 confidence in me to lead the City\u2019s and State\u2019s most impactful economic driver is met with deep appreciation. I am looking forward to working with the very talented and dedicated professionals at the airport and the entire City of Atlanta,\u201d said Ricky Smith<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Smith has more than 30 years of aviation management experience working in Baltimore and Cleveland. Since returning to BWI Marshall in 2015, Smith led the airport to five (5) consecutive record-setting years for passengers, including restoring BWI Marshall as the busiest airport in the Washington\/Baltimore region and the Best Airport in North America for Customer Service according to Airport Council International.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He established a culture of performance, customer service, safety, and innovation, leading the airports to receive several other national and regional awards for customer service, capital development, and marketing including Emmy Awards in 2018 and 2019. In 2017, the LaunchPad program was started to enable minority-owned micro-businesses the opportunity to participate in BWI Marshall\u2019s thriving food and retail program without barriers to entry. In 2015, he launched the BWI Marshall Youth Initiative aimed at introducing youth in Baltimore City to careers in aviation and transportation. To date, over 100 youths have participated in this program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He has been recognized as the \u2018Best State Executive for Minority Business Enterprise\u2019 by the Maryland Washington Minority Companies Association (2022), \u2018Leon C. Watkins Guardian Award\u2019 recipient by Airports Council International\/North America (2020), \u2018Man of the Year\u2019 by Women Transportation Seminar (2019), \u2018Leadership in Excellence\u2019 by Leadership Anne Arundel (2019), \u2018Power 10 CEO\u2019 by the Baltimore Business Journal (2018), \u2018People Who Move America\u2019 by the Boys Scouts of America (2018), \u2018Thomas G. Newsome Founder\u2019s Leadership Award\u2019 by the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (2018), \u2018Influential Marylander\u2019 by The Daily Record (2017), the Maryland Washington Minority Companies Association \u2018Black History Hero\u2019 award (2017), \u2018Most Influential CEO in Northeast Ohio\u2019 by Crain\u2019s Magazine (2014, 2013), \u2018National Executive of the Year\u2019 by the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (2010), and \u2018Congressional Achievement Award\u2019 from Congressman Elijah Cummings (2006).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jan Lennon is being promoted to a new role of Executive Deputy General Manager. In this role she will work directly with the General Manager to lead all aspects of the Airport to include but not limited to operations, finance, strategic planning, and infrastructure. She has more than 25 years of experience, with a deep background in airport security management. She previously served as Deputy of Operations before serving as Interim General Manager. She has more than 25 years of experience, with a deep background in airport security management.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mayor Andre Dickens announced Ricky Smith as the new General Manager of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport beginning April 2, 2025. Mr. Smith most recently served as Executive Director and CEO of Maryland Aviation Administration (MAA) where he was responsible for the management and operations of Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Martin State Airport, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-airports","category-georgia"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30993"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30995,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30993\/revisions\/30995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}