Tri-Cities Airport Authority narrows search for executive director to three

The Tri-Cities Airport Authority (TCAA) has released the names of the executive director candidates who will be interviewed on Monday, January 7.

The finalists being interviewed are Gene Cossey, executive director of the University of Illinois – Willard Airport, Champaign, Ill.; Rick Feltner, airport director, Minot International Airport, Minot, N.D.; and Shaun Germolus, executive director, Chisholm-Hibbing Airport Authority, Hibbing, Minn.

Cossey is the Executive Director of the University of Illinois – Willard Airport and has been with the Airport since December 2015. He has worked aviation operations management since he was 19 years old and has held positions at five airports spanning more than 30 years. Prior to moving to Willard Airport, he was the director of Operations at the Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and the director of Airside Operations at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Cossey spent the majority of his career on the Oregon Coast where he was the operations manager and director of Information Technology at the Southwest Oregon Regional Airport, and Airport Director at the Newport Municipal Airport.

Cossey holds a Masters of Public Administration degree from the University of Illinois, Springfield and Bachelor’s degree from Linfield College in McMinnville Oregon majoring in Business Management and Information Systems Design. He is currently a doctoral student in the University of Illinois Public Administration program. Cossey is an Accredited Airport Executive with the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) and is an International Airport Professional with the Airport Council International (ACI).

Rick Feltner is an aviation executive with a unique industry background that includes both airline and airport management. He is currently the airport director at Minot International Airport in Minot, North Dakota, a position he has held since 2016. In 2014 Feltner transitioned to the airport industry from the airlines and served as the deputy executive director at New York’s JFK Terminal One.

His early career included sales and marketing positions with Northwest and Delta Air Lines focusing on developing mutually beneficial relationships with corporate customers and travel agencies. He then moved to the operational side of the business and held responsibilities at locations such as Washington Reagan National Airport and Los Angeles, then regional responsibilities for the carrier’s operations in Europe. He finished out his airline career as the corporate director for Customer Service at Delta Air Lines’ hub in Minneapolis-Saint Paul where he oversaw all above the wing operations. Feltner holds a bachelor’s degree from Purdue University and has earned the Certified Member designation from the AAAE.

Shaun Germolus currently serves as the executive director of the Chisholm-Hibbing Airport Authority, Range Regional Airport, Hibbing, Minnesota, a position he has held since December 2006. Prior to his current position he served as the director of Operations at the Duluth Airport Authority in Duluth, Minnesota. He also served as the operations superintendent at the Roanoke Regional Airport Commission in Roanoke, Virginia, and as airport manager at Worthington (Minnesota) Municipal Airport.
Germolus holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with a double major in airport administration and management from the University of North Dakota. He is an accredited member of the AAAE, past chairman of the Minnesota Council of Airports (MCOA), and a private pilot.

The TCAA will interview candidates at MeadowView Conference, Resort and Convention Center in Kingsport beginning at 9:00 a.m. Monday.

The new executive director will replace Patrick Wilson, who took the director’s position at McGhee-Tyson Airport in Knoxville last year. Deputy Executive Director David Jones has been serving as interim executive director since Wilson departed Nov. 2.