Transportation 2023: JOHN E. ‘JACK’ POTTER

PRESIDENT AND CEO, METROPOLITAN WASHINGTON AIRPORTS AUTHORITY, WASHINGTON, D.C.

Published August 30, 2023 by Virginia Business

Potter’s responsibilities include managing and operating Ronald Reagan Washington National and Washington Dulles International airports, the only two federally owned airports. He also oversees the Dulles Toll Road.

Since taking on his role in 2011, Potter has focused on improving efficiency and technology at the airports. In July, the authority’s board approved a $16.4 million overhaul of two of the Dulles airport’s mobile lounges. The authority also has an option of rehabbing the other vehicles in its 60-year-old mobile lounge fleet for $143 million. Meanwhile, a July effort to add more long-term flights at Reagan was defeated in Congress; local residents and officials were concerned about congestion and noise, as well as safety risks posed by adding flights to what is already one of the nation’s busiest airports.

A New York native whose father was a letter carrier and postal executive, Potter previously served as U.S. postmaster general for 10 years, modernizing the system and managing a workforce of more than 500,000 employees. Potter earned degrees from Fordham University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He serves on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Advisory Committee on Travel and Tourism Infrastructure.

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