This episode of The Capital Runway we talked Chris Paolino, the interim Vice President and Airport Manager at DCA. He talks to us about his career and some of the important lessons he's learned along the way. Also in this episode, we talk to Courtnie Gore about the publication of our Environmental, Social, and Governance report.
Read our 2023 ESG report here: https://www.mwaa.com/esg
Interested in a career at the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority? See what we have available here: https://www.mwaa.com/careers
Have questions for us? We'd love to hear from you! Send us an email at info@thecapitalrunway.com
For more information, please visit our website at https://thecapitalrunway.com.
Staff:
Tanisha Lewis, VP of DISI
Jaimini Erskine, VP of Marketing & Concessions
Charles Wilson, Co-host/Co-producer
Amanda Ohbayashi, Co-host/Co-producer/Social media producer
Ryan Burdick, Editor/Co-producer
Bong Lee, Graphics
Brian McCoy, Digital Strategy/Co-producer
Sagia Depty, Marketing Lead/Co-producer
[music]
[00:00:00] Amanda: I'm Amanda
[00:00:05] Charles: I'm Charles.
[00:00:06] Amanda: This is the Capital Runway Podcast. Hey, Charles.
[00:00:11] Charles: Hey, Amanda. How are you?
[00:00:12] Amanda: Good. How are you?
[00:00:13] Charles: Life is good. Life is good.
[00:00:15] Amanda: How has back to school been for you?
[00:00:17] Charles: Good so far. Everybody is adjusting into the higher grade, and the mornings are a little bit more hectic, getting out the house, but all is well. What about yourself?
[00:00:28] Amanda: I don't have children, so there's no back to school for me, so everything is the same.
[laughter]
[00:00:35] Amanda: Life is good. The summer, just coming down from the summer, enjoying those cooler temperatures.
[00:00:41] Charles: It got cool kind of quick.
[00:00:43] Amanda: I'm ready for it. Bring on all of the pumpkin, everything. Pumpkins spice my life [crosstalk]
[00:00:48] Charles: As long as we stay away from the 30 degree weather, as long as we can, I'm happy.
[00:00:54] Amanda: Oh, yes. That super cold weather. In my mind, I was thinking 30 degrees Celsius, and I was like, "That's quite warm. I don't understand." Who are we talking to today?
[00:01:03] Charles: We've got a couple of folks lined up. First we're going to talk to Courtnie Gore, who's the social impact specialist here at MWAA. She's going to talk to us about the recently published ESG report. We're going to learn more about that.
[00:01:16] Amanda: Do you know what ESG stands for?
[00:01:17] Charles: Yes. ESG stands for environmental, social, and governance.
[00:01:22] Amanda: Oh.
[00:01:22] Charles: Yes. The airport is involved in all three aspects, and I'm excited to hear from her and see what we're doing.
[00:01:29] Amanda: Yes. She's going to bring some really great information, I'm sure.
[00:01:31] Charles: Yes. Then we have who?
[00:01:33] Amanda: After that, we are talking to Chris Paolino, who is wrapping up his role as the acting airport manager over at DCA.
[00:01:42] Charles: Yes. He's learned a lot over the past couple of months, but he has had an interesting career. I'm excited and interested in hearing what he has to say.
[00:01:52] Amanda: Absolutely. Let's get into it.
[00:01:54] Charles: Let's go.
[00:01:57] Amanda: Okay. Today we are talking with Courtnie Gore, who is our social impact specialist. Welcome to the pod.
[00:02:06] Courtnie Gore: Thank you for having me.
[00:02:08] Charles: Courtnie, I understand that we just filed our ESG report.
[00:02:12] Courtnie: Yes, we did. We just published it.
[00:02:14] Charles: Okay. For our listeners, what is ESG and why is it such a big deal that we file this report?
[00:02:20] Courtnie: The rollout of the Environmental, Social, and Governance Report, that's what ESG stands for, is really important and significant, especially for US airports, a really big deal for MWAA, for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, for several reasons. There's a growing emphasis on sustainability, on corporate responsibility, and also accountability from leadership. We're really excited because this report is an excellent demonstration of the hard work of our team members, but also to the greater aviation industry about how we are committed to all of those different themes I shared before in our ESG impact report.
[00:03:00] Amanda: What's one thing you're most excited for people to learn about through this report?
[00:03:05] Courtnie: This report is-- That's a hard question to answer because our teams are amazing, they're innovative and we have some really cool programs that we roll out within the year 2023 and that we're rolling out in 2024. This report covers our 2023 performance and progression. I'll steal one element or activity from the E, the S, and the G. On the environmental side, there's really awesome activities happening, but a really cool feature that you all probably covered before is that of the liquid collection stations.
The liquid collection stations are available at security checkpoints within our airports. Instead of having people throw away their water or their liquid and having that count against us for our landfill count or disposal costs, we can have our passengers pour that out and it's more sustainable, it's helpful for our custodians who work so hard to keep our airports clean, and it helps us to be more sustainable. That's a really great element of the E that you'll see along with many others. For the S, we are really proud of a lot of different social causes, community engagement, diversity, inclusion. A big element we're highlighting this year is our human trafficking awareness and prevention.
More to come in 2024, but we rolled out some great programs in a partnership with the Blue Lightning Initiative Campaign with Department of Homeland Security to keep our airports safe and to also bring awareness to our airport partners. On the governance side, you'll see a great feature about cybersecurity and all of the work that our MWAA labs and technology teams are doing to keep our airports safe, to keep our intellectual property ours, and to make sure that people aren't getting access to our materials. Our finance team is also the recipient of two really great awards. They've worked really hard. Those are just some of the many different features we're really proud to roll out in this report and to continue to report on in 2024.
[00:05:04] Charles: Why is all this work important?
[00:05:07] Courtnie: We're seeing an uptick in regulatory demands, investor demands, and also security assurances for US airports. Metric disclosures or disclosure topics in the E, the S, and the G are becoming mandatory from European governments. If you think of our European airline counterparts and airport partners, it's a requirement for them to roll out a report like this, to make goals and to report on metrics. We want to make sure we're ahead of the curve and we're providing that information to the public and our stakeholders. We're also seeing a lot of institutional investors now require ESG transparency on our metrics as a part of their investment decisions.
Insurance agencies want to understand airports' preparedness for risks, environment-related risks, weather risk. They want to understand what plan do we have in place so that business isn't disrupted. By prioritizing ESG, we can be a more resilient infrastructure and just do better, more responsible business.
[00:06:12] Amanda: How long did it take to put together this year's report?
[00:06:16] Courtnie: This report took an entire year to design, publish, and to present. We collected photos, we made sure the design was aesthetically pleasing, we gathered narratives and metrics. It was a year-long labor of love.
[00:06:30] Amanda: Wow.
[00:06:32] Charles: Congratulations to you and your team.
[00:06:35] Amanda: If listeners want to learn more, or is there a place that they can find the ESG report? Where can they go?
[00:06:42] Courtnie: If people want to access the report, they can at mwaa.com/esg. That's just mwaa.com/esg. It's available for your viewing pleasure.
[00:06:54] Amanda: Awesome. Thanks so much for stopping by.
[00:06:56] Courtnie: Thank you for having me.
[music]
[00:07:00] Charles: We're excited that today's guest is none other than Chris Paolino, Acting Airports Manager for DCA. Chris, how are you today?
[00:07:08] Chris Paolino: I'm doing well. Thank you for having me.
[00:07:09] Amanda: Welcome.
[00:07:10] Chris: Thank you.
[00:07:11] Amanda: You started your career in politics. What led you to work here at the Airports Authority?
[00:07:17] Chris: I had the fortune of working in politics for a number of different elected officials, worked for a governor, worked for a member of Congress, but ultimately ended up in the administration, working for the United States Department of the Interior, and found out that I loved working in an agency, working in a federal agency, working in an administration. After that opportunity ended, spent a little bit more time in politics, but always knew I wanted to get back into that agency environment. I had been on the look for something.
When I saw the opportunity to come join the Airports Authority, that quasi-public agency, very similar, where you know there's an opportunity to actually have your feet on the ground and help make change, in the case of the Airports Authority, to help passengers, to help airlines, to help the people who make airports run, and at the time, also the Silver Line and the Dulles Toll Road, I leapt at the opportunity. I was fortunate enough to get it. That was 11 and change years ago, and I haven't looked back. It's been fantastic. Grateful to have been able to step out of politics and into something that's a little bit more solid, shall we say.
[laughter]
[00:08:21] Amanda: What?
[00:08:24] Charles: You've had an expansive career at the airports. What accomplishments are you most proud of in each role you've held?
[00:08:31] Chris: Oh, in each role. I've had the fortune while I've been here to be able to move around to a number of different roles. I started in public affairs, built on my political background where I was doing communications and public affairs. Spent about three years there. While I was in public affairs, I had the opportunity to work on a number of things. Snowstorms come to mind and the impact that it has on travelers. I got to spend far more time standing out in the cold being interviewed, talking about delays. I think I perfected the line, call your airline for the most up-to-date flight information.
[laughter]
[00:09:06] Chris: I think the things that I got to work on in public affairs that were always the most exciting were the things that were positive stories. It was new airline launches. It was talking about the new shops and concessions, the opportunities that were coming for passengers at the airports. I also had the opportunity to work on the rollout of our rebranding when we rolled out our new logo. As part of that, I got to work on and create the Airports Authority's passenger pledge. That's something I'm particularly proud of. That sort of definitive statement that our mission here is to serve our passengers.
We're going to do that in working in conjunction with the airlines and working in conjunction with our stakeholders, working in conjunction with the communities we serve. Ultimately, we work when the passengers are having that positive experience flying through. They're the ones who are driving the commerce. They're the ones who are driving the economic development. They're the ones who are driving the community gain, both here and at the destinations that they're traveling to.
[00:10:05] Amanda: Yes, that's awesome. You were here for the saying goodbye to 35X.
[00:10:10] Chris: I was here for saying goodbye to 35X. That was also a-
[00:10:13] Amanda: Positive.
[00:10:13] Chris: -very positive experience. 35X is one of those things everybody loves to remember and is glad to be able to say goodbye to. Project Journey has been a fantastic improvement for this airport and we still hear people talk about it. They look back, I want to say fondly, but usually with a little bit of a smile on their face about 35X. For those who didn't get a chance to fly through it, we had a number of outside gates. Gate 35X was the means by which you accessed them. You went down an escalator, boarded a bus, and we took you out onto the airfield. Then you walked onto a ramp or a stairwell up to the plane. Whether it was raining, it was snowing, it was hot, whatever it was, you had to go outside to get on your plane.
When we opened Concourse E, the new concourse, with contact gates now instead of external gates, that was a tremendous day. Actually, the exchange of our normal security checkpoints, which were at the base of each concourse, moving them back a little bit to create a more comfortable, broader space for passengers, taking what we call National Hall, the large concessions area that connects all the concourse and making that post security. That also changed the experience. In fact, I used to walk through-- I remember walking through, I should say, before the move of security, and people were always rushing, trying to get to the security checkpoint, trying to get to their gates.
After we moved the security checkpoint, now that that area of restaurants and retail stores was post security, it was like the entire space just slowed down. People felt a little bit more comfortable, they felt a little bit more confident, they took their time to move through the airport, and that was really an exciting change to see, as people started to appreciate the architecture, the space that prior they had just rushed through because they wanted to get to their gates. That was a huge change for the airport.
[00:12:09] Amanda: Yes, and it opens up so many more concessions options for passengers, because before, you were really stuck in your pier.
[00:12:16] Chris: Absolutely.
[00:12:16] Amanda: After you cleared security, you could only have what was down there, but now you can go two piers down and get your sandwich or your empanadas.
[00:12:24] Chris: Yes, it's a huge change, both from our standpoint, from a concession standpoint, in terms of how people use the airport, but as you say, in terms of passengers, that goal to get to the gate, to get through security, to feel like, "All right, I've made it through that last hurdle before I get on the plane, and now I have time to go experience the rest of the airport." That's huge. That's a big change.
[00:12:45] Amanda: You're currently the acting airport manager, taking over from Paul Malandrino. What has that experience been like for you?
[00:12:54] Chris: It's been fantastic. I guess jumping back a question to the point, Charles, that you made about having a number of different roles. After public affairs, I spent a little bit of time in IT. From there, I led the Airports Authority's implementation of a full suite ERP system, so HR, payroll, financials, and procurement, and then I took on a new challenge in terms of actually managing that system in production, but also corporate strategy, and to that has been added some operations support. Now the permanent role is vice president of strategy and operational performance.
I've had an opportunity to work on a number of different components of the Airports Authority, seen a lot of different pieces of it, but until you're sitting in the airport and you're actually part of what it takes to keep the airport running on a day-to-day basis, I don't think it's possible to really understand all the different components that go into a successful day at the Airports Authority. You hear it talked about and you understand it, but until you actually see it, it doesn't really register, and that's with almost 26 million or potentially even past 26 million passengers traveling through this airport by the end of this year.
The Airports Authority employees and all the employees associated with Reagan National have that immense sense of pride that they are going to make sure that that experience for those passengers is as wonderful as it can be, and that means responding overnight to issues as they come up so that the airport is there ready to open and ready to take care of those passengers the next day. It's been incredible to watch, and it's really nice to be a little bit of a part of. My job, I like to joke, is just to stay out of the way and make sure I don't do something to make life more difficult for them.
My job is really just to do whatever I can to support the employees who are already doing a great job, to clear hurdles where necessary, and otherwise just be their loudest cheerleader.
[00:14:53] Charles: Great. What do you see as the biggest challenges and opportunities for DCA?
[00:14:59] Chris: I think the biggest challenge for Reagan National now and into the foreseeable future is just the number of passengers who are going to be traveling through a really tight space. In 2023, Reagan National welcomed 25.5 million passengers. It was a record for us last year, and we're expecting that to continue to grow in 2024. We're going to see a record this year. In fact, we expect to see records with continuous growth, not huge jumps each year, because there's only so many additional flights that can come and so many more passengers that can fly through, but we do still expect to see growth in 2025 and 2026 and 2027.
As Reagan National continues to grow, we're doing it without any additional space to grow into, and so we're going to have to undertake what are some significant capital programs in order to long-term be able to support the kind of passenger utilization that we have, but we've got to do that while still maintaining the level of service for the existing passengers. That means as we look at things like Terminal 1 and replacing, upgrading that facility, we've got to do it while keeping Terminal 1 operational.
As we look at improving the roadways, we've got to do it while still having the roadways functional so passengers can get to gates, and as we look at opportunities to take better use or to make better use of the land that's on the administrative side, the facilities management side, the part of the airport that the passengers don't necessarily see, we've got to do that while maintaining all that space currently. It does take a small city to run Reagan National, to run any airport. It just so happens that our small city is extremely small, and as we go through some upgrades, we're going to have to do that while keeping the city running, and I think that's the biggest challenge, but it's also the biggest opportunity for Reagan National.
We have that opportunity, and we have the sign-off and the partnership of the airlines who are committed to this airport over the next 15 years in a new use and lease agreement that is in the process of being finalized, that I think gives us that opportunity to make those kind of changes that keep this airport moving into the future.
[00:17:09] Amanda: What's one lesson that you've learned in your career that you think other people should consider for success in theirs?
[00:17:17] Chris: I think the thing that I've taken away, particularly from my time at the Airports Authority, where I've had that opportunity to move around and to see a number of different components of the business, is a flexibility and an openness to change. I'm not saying I'm particularly good at it. I'm not saying I don't have lessons I still need to learn, but I've taken away that flexibility and that willingness to try new things, even if it doesn't seem like the logical next step, can be extremely beneficial. I think that's true for individuals. I think that's true for organizations, that there's no such thing as a linear path in a career, in just about anything, so being open to that non-linear progression I think can be extremely rewarding.
When I first started at the Airports Authority, I certainly wouldn't have expected to be sitting in this chair, but I'm thrilled to be here, and I also wouldn't have expected a number of things that I've seen while I was here. For instance, an overnight runway construction project, where we have to shut down the airport every night at 11:00 PM, and then dig up the runway, relay asphalt, get everything done and off by 6:00 AM so that we can get the first flight in and the first flight out.
I certainly wouldn't have expected the continuous construction program that we've had ongoing essentially for the last six years, starting with Project Journey, the expansion of the new concourse, the moving of the security checkpoints, and now the continuous refreshing of National Hall, of that secure area, with new restrooms, with new concessions, all in the effort to make the airport as fantastic as possible. In fact, it's a lot like I've heard described, the painting of the Golden Gate Bridge. You start on one side and paint to the other, and then just when you get there, you've got to go back and start again.
[laughter]
[00:19:08] Chris: It feels like there's a continuous construction project going on here, but all in an effort to continuously revitalize and to make the opportunity as wonderful as possible for passengers. Then just all the things that we've seen in the two months that I've been here. I never would have expected a citywide boil water advisory, which encompassed Reagan National and required us overnight. Here's where I talk again about the employees who are so diligent in responding. Overnight shutting off, for instance, water to the water fountains and the refilling stations when we thought that there was a need.
Thankfully, that boil water was lifted almost immediately the next morning, and everybody had a normal travel, but that kind of response. As I know, a number of people were impacted by the Microsoft outage and the impact it has on, well, all of us, aviation included, and then the response of so many, including the Airports Authority, to make sure the passengers who were impacted were as well off as they could be. All those kind of things you don't think about necessarily having a direct impact, but it's there.
The Airports Authority, it's been fantastic to watch as everybody does everything they can to minimize that impact on passengers, to minimize that impact on everybody who operates there, thousands of people who work at the airport, not just for the Airports Authority. We're a small number in the grand scheme of things. Making sure that, I keep saying that little city, that community, one is taking care of itself and each other, but also working together to take care of the people we serve.
Even sitting in this chair as the Acting Airport Manager, gives me an opportunity to see new components, to interact with people in a different way, and to have different responsibilities that I'm going to carry with me back to my old job when I return, that'll make me better at that job and better positioned to help, whether it's Reagan National, it's Dulles International, it's the Toll Road, or any of the other pieces of the organization that I'm asked to support. Having had this opportunity, it makes me better positioned to do that. Like I said, it's never easy. I'm still practicing being flexible, but that, I think, is probably the biggest takeaway that I've had in the 11 years, the benefit of that flexibility.
[00:21:35] Charles: Great. We like to ask all of our guests one question. Where are you flying to next?
[00:21:43] Chris: Next, my next flight has to be home to Providence, Rhode Island. My mother is still there. My sister is there. I grew up in Rhode Island, and I think if I flew anywhere before there, my mother might disown me.
[laughter]
[00:21:56] Chris: My next flight, Mom, I promise, if you're listening to this, I'm coming home within the next month. My next flight is there. After that, my wife and I like to travel, and we have not figured out our next vacation after that. We've got some thinking to do. If any of you or your prior guests have had a recommendation, we're open to it. Whether it's flying out of Reagan National or if we can swing an overseas trip out of Dulles International, I'm not averse to flying out of the other airport in the Washington region. We're looking forward to it. I will tell you, our last trip before today, I guess, was to Greenville, South Carolina, which is a wonderful little city. I've had the opportunity now to go twice, and that was a long weekend, but a direct flight out of Reagan National.
[00:22:43] Amanda: Yes, absolutely.
[00:22:45] Chris: I'd encourage anyone to go on that as well. I also encourage everyone to go to Providence, having been a Rhode Island--
[00:22:51] Amanda: I've never been to Providence. I might go.
[00:22:52] Chris: It is well worth the experience.
[00:22:54] Amanda: Good to know.
[00:22:55] Charles: Do you want to leave our guests with any parting thoughts?
[00:22:59] Chris: My parting thought these days is always come visit us at Reagan National. As much as I said that more passengers is a challenge for us, it's a challenge we love to take on. We've got a number of exciting destinations for you to come experience. We're in the middle of another exciting revitalization. We're redoing our Terminal 2, adding new concessions, adding new and expanded restrooms. I will tell you, if you come, you're going to see some dust walls. There's going to be a little bit of construction going on. We apologize for the dust in advance. Come, plan your trip a little bit so you stop and get some food on your way to the gate. There may be a shortage of options in the short-term, but the long-term benefit of the experience is going to be fantastic.
We're really looking forward. In fact, as we record this, we're about to open some of the new restrooms with expanded fixtures, expanded amenities. That continuous rollout of new opportunities, I think is going to be exciting. We encourage everyone to come visit us and to take advantage.
[00:24:03] Amanda: I've never seen so many people excited about new bathrooms as I have than our team.
[00:24:08] Chris: You'd be amazed at how important bathrooms are in an airport. We have a couple of key points. We've got to keep the runways open, particularly when it snows, and we've got to keep the bathrooms clean and working. That's a high priority for Reagan National, for Dulles, and I'm sure for all airports.
[00:24:25] Amanda: Awesome. Thank you so much for joining us today.
[00:24:27] Chris: Thank you. This has been a pleasure.
[00:24:33] Charles: Wow. Those were great conversations.
[00:24:35] Amanda: I know. I really enjoyed both of them.
[00:24:37] Charles: Yes. First we heard from Courtnie to talk about the ESG report. It's amazing how much work we're doing as an airport to have a positive impact on our environment, a positive impact on our surrounding community, and doing all that we can to improve employee relationships here.
[00:24:55] Amanda: Yes, it's great. Plus, I just love Courtnie. She's great. Great to talk to all the time. Then after that, we talked to Chris Paolino, who shared some really great insight on his career path.
[00:25:06] Charles: Yes, love it.
[00:25:06] Amanda: Then also, managing an airport and all of the details. I think it's always interesting to hear about that.
[00:25:14] Charles: Yes. There's so much opportunity and growth here at DCA. It was great to hear his perspective on where we're going from here.
[00:25:22] Amanda: Yes. I think that wraps up today. If you have any questions for us, send us a note at info@thecapitalrunway.com. We'll talk to you later. Bye.
[00:25:35] Charles: Ciao.
[00:25:41] [END OF AUDIO]