After a third-party review of its organizational structure and a national search, the City of Philadelphia Department of Aviation, operator of Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) and Northeast Philadelphia Airport (PNE), has announced several new appointments to its leadership team.
Kate Sullivan has been hired as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). She began her tenure on January 8. Sullivan most recently was Vice President, Business Investment and Regional Marketing at the Chamber of Commerce of Greater Philadelphia. Prior to her position with the Chamber, she was Deputy Director of Strategic Partnerships for the Department of Aviation.
The CCO will be responsible for planning, organizing, directing, and controlling all functions and activities within the commercial division, which includes air service development, cargo development, concessions, retail, food and beverage, parking, real estate development and all other commercial activities at the airports. She will oversee several functions previously led by the current Chief Revenue Officer James Tyrrell, who is retiring later this year after 37 years with PHL and PNE.
“We are delighted to welcome Kate back to the Department of Aviation,” said CEO Atif Saeed. “We were looking for a strategic and innovative leader to lead our dynamic commercial division and are thrilled that we identified the best candidate right here in Philadelphia. Kate has a strong background of business development in our community, as well as experience in the aviation industry.”
Cassie Schmid has been hired as Chief Strategy Officer (CSO). She will start on March 4. Cassie was a leader within the Strategy and Stakeholder Engagement division at the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC). During her time there, she was responsible for leading strategic marketing and communications functions with a focus on stewarding a consistent brand voice, engaging key stakeholders and supporting non-aeronautical revenue growth and passenger engagement. Before that, she held leadership roles within several organizations successfully spearheading innovative go-to-market strategies and partnerships.
The CSO role is a new role to address the need for enterprise-wide strategic planning and performance management. Additionally, the CSO will also oversee the Guest Experience, Marketing and Communications units.
“It is critical that we have a clear and focused plan of action for all functions within the organization to meet and exceed expectations of the traveling public. Cassie has extensive experience creating data-driven strategies and processes while achieving break-through results,” said Saeed.
Dr. Jamaine Mungo has been hired as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and started his role on January 22. He has more than 20 years of cybersecurity experience designing, implementing, and overseeing cybersecurity programs and solutions for various organizations. Most recently he was a Cybersecurity Executive at Comcast Advertising. He has also recently published a book, Anatomy of Cyber Attacks. The role had been vacant and will now report directly to the Chief Information Officer with a dotted line to the CEO.
“Information security has become increasingly critical for all organizations, and airports are no exception. It gives me confidence that we have selected such a highly experienced individual with experience in leadership and a strong background in information systems security, risk management, and cyber threat analysis,” said Saeed.
“For the past six months in coordination with aviation consultants, we have engaged in a thorough analysis of our organizational structure and operations. The creation of these positions and appointment of these individuals reflects our efforts to follow todays’ best practices for airport management that allow the Department of Aviation to be better focused on its core mission which will ultimately provide the best services to our travelling customers and the communities we serve,” said Saeed.
