New Hartsfield-Jackson GM John Selden
Hoping to bring some calmness to what has been a tumultuous year, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms on Tuesday announced that John Selden has been appointed General Manager of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. That prompted one airport vendor wishing to remain anonymous to remark to InsiderAdvantage: “I wonder if he really knows what he’s gotten into!”
Selden, formerly the deputy GM at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, is a former naval pilot who served a stint in the Pentagon before joining JFK in 2008. From there he worked up the executive ladder, being named Deputy General Manager in 2014. He was selected by a search committee that included such names as UPS CEO David Abney and Home Depot Executive Vice President Carol Tomé.
Said Bottoms on the hiring, “Hartsfield-Jackson is without question one of our city and state’s most valuable assets, with an annual economic impact of nearly $35 billion for metro Atlanta. It has allowed our city to become a gateway to the world and it serves as a critical cargo hub for North America. I am excited that we have identified someone with the qualifications and passion of John Selden to lead our airport into the future.”
Hartsfield-Jackson could certainly use some steady, honest leadership, since it is caught up in the Atlanta City Hall corruption scandal related to vendor contracts. Since former Mayor Kasim Reed fired GM Miguel Southwell in 2016, the airport has seen successor Roosevelt Council named as City CFO and interim GM Balram Bheodari chosen to serve on just a short-term basis.
In addition the General Assembly is considering the implementation of a state airport authority that would wrest control away from the city of Atlanta. That study committee, headed up by state Sen. Burt Jones (R-Jackson) holds its second meeting today, and IAG will be there to bring you the latest from what figures to be one of the biggest political stories of 2019.
