Bruce A. Gates has joined the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Board of Directors. He succeeds board member Todd Stottlemyer as a Virginia appointee on the board.

Gates serves as senior vice president of External Affairs for Altria Client Services and its companies. Altria is the parent company of Philip Morris USA, John Middleton, U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company, Nu Mark, Philip Morris Capital Corporation and Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. Gates leads Altria’s Government Affairs and Corporate Affairs functions, bringing extensive strategic planning and government relations experience. He also serves as a member of Altria’s senior management team.

Prior to joining Altria Group, Gates co-founded Washington Council Ernst & Young and served as a partner at the government relations firm, which provides legislative and regulatory strategic direction about issues related to taxation, health care, energy, financial services and employee benefits. 

Gates serves on the boards of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, DC Sail, Boulder Crest Retreat for Wounded Warriors and the Congressional Institute. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Washington Performing Arts Society. Gates is a graduate of the University of Georgia and lives in Alexandria, Va. He is an appointee of the governor of Virginia.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority was established in 1987 by the governments of Virginia and the District of Columbia to manage and operate Washington’s Ronald Reagan National and Dulles International airports, which together serve more than 40 million passengers a year. The Airports Authority also operates and maintains the Dulles Airport Access Road and the Dulles Toll Road and manages construction of the Silver Line project, a 23-mile extension of the Washington region’s Metrorail system into Loudoun County, Va. No taxpayer money is used to operate the toll road, which is funded by toll revenue, or the airports, which are funded through aircraft landing fees, rents and revenue from concessions. The Silver Line construction is funded by a combination of toll-road revenue, airport contributions and federal, state and local government appropriations. The Airports Authority is led by a 17- member board of directors appointed by the Governors of Virginia, Maryland, the Mayor of Washington, D.C., and the President of the United States.

###