Honoring a Visionary: Oris Dunham

By Morgan Dye
Oris Dunham, with heartfelt sentiment and reflections accepted the William E. Downes, Jr. Award this afternoon at the Chairman’s Honors Luncheon. It was very evident that Dunham not only sincerely appreciated ACI-NA’s recognition of his nearly 50 years of service to the aviation community but also was intentional about recognizing all of those that have contributed to his success over the years. The inclination to recognize those that had guided and supported him along the way was a clear indication to me that both Dunham and Garry Ridge have been reading from the same leadership handbook. As we learned yesterday in Ridge’s keynote, in leadership, it’s not about you.

The Downes Award is presented by ACI-NA to an individual who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in promoting the cause of airports and aviation throughout the local, national and worldwide communities. The award, which commemorates the three-time aviation director, is the highest honor given by ACI-NA.

As evidenced in the tribute video, Dunham has most certainly checked all of those boxes throughout his tenure in aviation engineering, management and sales.

After a career in the air force and a 10-year stint in aviation engineering and sales, Dunham was appointed Director of Aviation for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. He then moved on to Deputy Executive Director for operations and administration of the Los Angeles Department of Airports, and finally was appointed Executive Director of Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport.  Dunham now operates an aviation consulting and development business internationally.