Vancouver International Airport's Susan Stiene Named ACI-NA Concessions Contest "Person of the Year"

CONTACT:

Eileen Denne, edenne@aci-na.org (202) 293-4537

Megan Miller, mmiller@aci-na.org (202) 861-8080

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Chicago (November 6, 2007) - Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA) today recognized  Susan Stiene, Director, Retail & Passenger Services for Vancouver Airport Authority, as the first winner of  its "Person of the Year" award in the ACI-NA 2007 Concessions Contest. This award recognizes an individual who has enhanced the North American airport concession industry through his or her time, involvement, and expertise.

 Judges recognized Stiene for her many significant achievements at Vancouver International Airport's (YVR) 160-unit concession program.

Stiene has guided Vancouver's transformation into an innovative, customer-focused and financially-aware program. Since joining YVR, sales of food, beverage, retail and services have increased 21 percent, thanks to her key initiatives of growing non-aeronautical revenues, improving the customer experience and reengineering airport processes.

Now in her eighth year at YVR, Stiene furthered partnerships with tenants through "field trips" to learn best practices at other airports, developed a no-cost training program for tenants, and proactively addressed labor shortages through a retail career preparation course for local high-school students. She also demonstrated her leadership through process-reengineering programs for passengers and through her efforts to restore the sales of liquids, gels and aerosols at Canadian airports following August 2006 regulation changes.

The awards were announced during the ACI-NA Airport Concessions Conference in Chicago, at which representatives of the entire North American airport concessions industry are in attendance. This annual conference brings together airport management and concessions professionals to examine the trends and best practices in airport retail planning, goal setting, and key operational and management issues.

About ACI-NA:

The mission of Airports Council International - North America (ACI-NA) is to advocate policies and provide services that strengthen the ability of air carrier airports to serve their passengers, customers and communities. ACI-NA 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. Nearly 400 aviation-related businesses are also members of the association, which is the largest of the five worldwide regions of Airports Council International.