|
Chicago
Aviation Commissioner Nuria I. Fernandez
|
 |
In March 2006, Chicago Mayor Richard
M. Daley named Nuria I. Fernandez Commissioner of Aviation for the City of
Chicago. As head of the Chicago Airport System, Fernandez oversees the
management, planning, design, operation and maintenance of O’Hare and Midway
International Airports.
More than 94 million passengers passed through Chicago's airports in 2005 - 76.5
million at O'Hare and 17.8 million at Midway. The Chicago Airport System serves
as landlord to 93 airlines, 140 business tenants and approximately 60,000
employees. Commissioner Fernandez oversees a staff of approximately 2,000
employees with an annual operating budget of more than $800 million. Together,
Chicago’s airports generate more than $45 billion in annual economic activity
and 540,000 jobs for the region.
Prior to her appointment as Chicago’s head of aviation, Fernandez served as
Senior Vice President, Major Projects Division for Long Beach-based Earth Tech,
where she was responsible for the management and operations of major
infrastructure projects and the growth and profitability of the company’s
business in new and existing markets.
Fernandez also served as Acting Administrator for the U.S. Department of
Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration where she provided high-level
expertise on mass transit policies, programs, technologies and safety and
security initiatives. During her tenure, the agency awarded more than $5 billion
in planning, design and construction of bus and rail projects. Fernandez also
served as Deputy Administrator before serving as the agency’s top executive.
She played a vital role at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority,
where, as Assistant General Manager for Design and Construction, Fernandez led
the engineering, construction and real estate departments and managed the $2.1
million, 23-mile heavy rail extension of the area’s Metro system, and ultimately
secured funding for the completion of the 103-mile system.
Before relocating to the Washington, D.C. area, Fernandez served as Senior Vice
President, Development and Construction for the Chicago Transit Authority.
During her tenure, she worked on major development and construction projects by
leading the team that developed the agency's billion-dollar capital improvement
program while reducing project costs across the board.
Interestingly, Commissioner Fernandez began her career working for the City of
Chicago as Assistant Director for the Department of Public Works, where she
managed the expansion of landside capacity and infrastructure for the O'Hare
International Airport Development Program.
Commissioner Fernandez holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Bradley University
in Peoria, Illinois and an M.B.A. from Roosevelt University in Chicago. She is a
currently a member of the Women’s Transportation Seminar, Airports Council
International and the American Association of Airport Executives. She currently
resides in Chicago’s South Loop neighborhood with her husband.
|
|
|
