First Government Official to Receive the Award

Airports Council International - North America (ACI-NA) has just presented DoT Secretary Norman Y. Mineta with the ACI-NA Lifetime Achievement Award. This marks the first time the award has been presented to a government official. Secretary Mineta will be honored with the award during the Leadership Reception being held tonight in conjunction with the ACI-NA/AAAE Spring Washington Conference.

"Secretary Mineta has given airports tremendous support during the most challenging times in aviation history," said David Z. Plavin, president of ACI-NA. "His contributions have spanned a period of more than 25 years from his days in Congress to his current position as a cabinet secretary. We are grateful for his constant attention and unwavering support."

Recognizing his efforts on behalf of airports and the industry, Kent George, ACI-NA Chairman and Executive Director of Pittsburgh International Airport, and Mike Gibbons, Chairman of the ACI-NA Commissioners Committee from Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, will present the award to Secretary Mineta.

Mineta became the 14th U.S. Secretary of Transportation on Jan. 25, 2001. He became the first Asian-American Cabinet member during the Clinton administration, and the first Cabinet member to switch directly from a Democratic to a Republican Cabinet. In December 2004, Secretary Mineta accepted President Bush's invitation to continue his service in the Cabinet during the President's second term. As Secretary of Transportation, he oversees an agency with almost 60,000 employees and a $61.6 billion budget.

In addition to honoring Secretary Mineta, ACI-NA will also recognize three outstanding college students who were recently named finalists in the 2004 ACI-NA Airport Commissioner's Scholarship competition. Anthony McMichael will graduate in December with a degree in Aerospace Administration from Indiana State University. McMichael is the current AAAE student chapter president and his work experience includes an internship at the Indiana Department of Transportation.

Leigh Hedrick will graduate from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in the spring of 2006. Hedrick is majoring in aviation administration and hopes to pursue a career as an airport administrator and has worked at Omaha's Eppley Airfield since July 2001.

Clinton Torp will graduate this spring with a degree in aviation from the University of North Dakota. He is an active AAAE Chapter Member and has interned at the Owatonna Regional airport. Torp works at the Devils Lake Municipal Airport.

Airports Council International - North America represents local, regional and state governing bodies that own and operate commercial airports in the United States and Canada. ACI-NA member airports enplane more than 95 percent of the domestic and virtually all the international airline passenger and cargo traffic in North America. Over 300 aviation-related businesses are also members of the association, which is the largest of the six worldwide regions of Airports Council International.

FMI: www.aci-na.org, www.usdot.gov