The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority board of directors elected Director Thorn Pozen as its new vice chairperson Wednesday, succeeding William Sudow, who moved to the chairperson’s position in July following the departure of former Chairperson Earl Adams Jr. Pozen will hold the position through the end of 2021. During the board’s November 17, 2021 annual meeting, they will elect 2022 officers: chairperson, vice chairperson and secretary.

Pozen is a partner in the law firm of Goldblatt Martin Pozen LLP in Washington, D.C., where, he advises government and private sector clients on local government, administrative law and local and federal government ethics issues. He previously served as a partner at Stinson Morrison Hecker, and was the D.C. Government’s chief ethics counselor and chief freedom of information act officer. He has over 30 years of experience working for and with the District government, in the executive and legislative branches, as well as for the former D.C. Financial Control Board. Pozen graduated from American University, Washington College of Law, magna cum laude, and from Connecticut College with honors and distinction in his major. He is an appointee of the Mayor of the District of Columbia.

Also at Wednesday’s board of directors meeting, Airports Authority President and Chief Executive Officer Jack Potter announced several key staffing appointments. 

Richard Golinowski was named vice president and airport manager at Dulles International Airport, effective when current Airport Manager Mike Stewart departs later this month. A 26-year veteran of the Airports Authority, Golinowski has served in a variety of key roles, most recently as vice president of Operations Support. He brings more than three decades of engineering and operational leadership to the position, including overseeing Reagan National Airport’s Engineering and Maintenance department for 13 years. Golinowski holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. 

Potter also announced that Christopher Paolino, deputy vice president for Strategy and Business Transformation and Performance, will assume Golinowski’s current duties in Operations Support. 

In addition, Chryssa Westerlund was named acting executive vice president and chief revenue officer following the upcoming retirement of Jerome L. Davis, who has held that position for the past seven years. Westerlund joined the Airports Authority in 2015 and is the current vice president for marketing and consumer strategy. She brings almost three decades of business experience to the role. Prior to joining the Airports Authority, Westerlund served as a global alliance director for Hewlett Packard’s IT services division and was responsible for generating revenue through strategic partnerships.  

She also spent a number of years as a management consultant providing advisory services to Fortune 500 companies. She received her bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Texas at Austin and a master’s degree in business administration from The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. She is also a certified public accountant. 

Deven Judd, who has been directing customer and concessions development, will now serve as acting vice president for Marketing and Consumer Strategy.