Alumni Spotlight: Greg Donovan

This summer, Greg Donovan took the helm of Melbourne International Airport. His airport management experience spans from Texas to Wisconsin to north Florida, where he served as the airport director for Pensacola International Airport (PNS) prior to
joining MLB.

[quote]Serving as executive director of MLB is a professional opportunity of a lifetime, considering the industry-leading business development taking place. Responsible for a $28 million budget, MLB has an annual economic impact of over $1 billion with over 7,000 people working every day on the airport campus. Aircraft final assembly, aerospace, engineering, heavy maintenance, flight training and support of Department of Defense programs are incredible opportunities for our community, with MLB providing the infrastructure for success.
It is very important that we keep momentum of bringing companies and new air service to the growing Space Cost. I appreciate the user perspective of being a pilot, a customer or a company that must achieve the most competitive edge from a pricing standpoint. I also fully appreciate our military service members and their families. In addition to providing flight and operational support, many of our passengers are military members who are deploying or returning from a mission.
Having served in several honorary commander programs at Eglin AFB, served on the USO board of directors for several years and selected as a community ambassador by Gen. Davis, I place an importance with our organization’s goals to support our military and their missions.
Beyond leading MLB into future successes, I look forward to teaching at FIT someday as a second job, hoping to communicate my 23 years of airport management experience to students considering the same professional track. It is an incredibly rewarding field that encompasses a wide range of disciplines such as planning/engineering, regulatory compliance, marketing, finance, facilities maintenance and emergency management to name a few.
The bottom line is that my education gained at FIT opened the doors to achieve a career that I specifically aimed for. The return on investment for a quality education, from an industry recognized and leading aviation university is invaluable. Combine this with actual work experience and it is a winner. For this reason, I am starting an internship initiative at MLB by the spring 2015 semester that will provide an undergraduate and graduate level paid internship. In the years to come, we will further utilize FIT’s resources for airport research and want to eventually establish a “working school” program at MLB for aviation management majors.” [/quote]