Airport Business

OCT 2013

The airport professional's source for airport industry news, articles, events, and careers.

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40 under forty AGE 31 JENNIFER PRIHODA ❘ JENNIFER Prihoda's passion for traveling has been inspirational to her success in the airport business. She began flight training after one year of college and pursued an undergraduate degree in aviation management. Since November 2007, her position has been at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Airports Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC). As the assistant manager of Airline Affairs, she manages over 80 airline and real estate leases for operators at the MinneapolisSt. Paul International Airport (MSP). Her responsibilities include negotiating leases for space occupied by airlines, the Transportation Security Administration and var- ASSISTANT MANAGER OF AIRLINE AFFAIRS METROPOLITAN AIRPORTS COMMISSION ious service providers at MSP; and working with MAC legal and finance departments to ensure lease compliance and resolve delinquent tenant accounts. Prihoda has worked on numerous projects, including successfully managing an RFP process for a full-service bank, ATMs, and the foreign currency exchange at MSP. She was selected to be part of a benchmarking team that traveled to 12 prominent airports in North America in 2012 and reported back to senior leaders at the MAC on the best practices to implement at MSP. Prihoda also chairs the MAC Wellness Committee, which has gained MAC recognition as a Fit Friendly company by the American Heart Association. Prihoda began her career in aviation in 2005 as an intern for Northwest Airlines in the A330 Flight Operations Department. She joined the MAC as the properties and projects administrator and her savvy business acumen and dedication to excellence gained her a promotion in December 2011 to the position she holds today. Prihoda earned her private pilot's license in December 2006 and holds a Bachelor's degree in aviation management from St. Cloud State University. Prihoda is a member of Women in Aviation-Stars of the North Chapter and earned her Competent Communicator designation through Toastmasters International in 2012. YEARS IN AVIATION 8 "Get your foot in the door and stay patient; you will not get your dream job right out of school but if you hang in there and work hard your dream job will find you!" JOSHUA WUSSICK, DEPUTY PROJECT MANAGER, HNTB CORPORATION AGE 35 JOSHUA WUSSICK ❘ JOSHUA Wussick has spent his entire adult life "living" aviation. He started in 1997 at the bottom working on the ramp loading bags and mail early in the morning; while still in high school! Upon graduation he started flight training and now holds a commercial pilot certificate with multi-engine and instrument ratings. He says, "I flew on a Pan Am Boeing 747 from Los Angeles to Sydney as a young child and remember the experience vividly. I have been hooked on aviation ever since!" Wussick earned a degree in aviation administration from California State University, Los Angeles. While earning his degree, he worked for FedEx Express in air cargo operations. His next DEPUTY PROJECT MANAGER, AVIATION PLANNING HNTB CORPORATION stop was at Long Beach Airport working as an airport operations coordinator. He then started his career at HNTB as an aviation planner in the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) office where he worked on advanced planning studies for terminal expansions in San Diego and at LAX. He then went to Colorado to work as an airport planner/environmental specialist with Armstrong Consultants. The highlight of his time at Armstrong included completing an airport master plan, obtaining a Finding of No Significant Impact for an Environmental Assessment and obtaining a Clean Water Act Section 404 Individual Permit for wetland mitigation at the Spanish Fork-Springville Airport in Utah. Wussick has since rejoined HNTB as the deputy project manager for HNTB's on-call planning contract with the Houston Airport System. In this role, he coordinated the development of the $2.4 million Program Definition Manual for Terminal D at George Bush Intercontinental Airport. Committed to shaping future aviation professionals, he remains involved with his alma mater. He participates as an aviation expert panelist for the aviation program's senior seminar course. His advice to students hoping to make their mark in aviation is: "Get your foot in the door and stay patient; you will not get your dream job right out of school but if you hang in there and work hard your dream job will find you!" YEARS IN AVIATION 16 October 2013 airportbusiness 13

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