The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority board of directors appointed Monica R. Hargrove the Airports Authority’s vice president and secretary at its monthly meeting Wednesday.

Hargrove joined the Airports Authority in 2013 as deputy general counsel. A veteran aviation attorney, she previously served as general counsel at Airports Council International – North America and associate counsel at US Airways, Inc. Prior to that, she was a trial attorney in the antitrust division at the U.S. Department of Justice.

In her new position, Hargrove will report to the seventeen-member board of directors, carrying out its official duties and managing day-to-day operations, including serving as a liaison to Airports Authority top management.

Upon her appointment, Airports Authority Board Chairman Shaw McDermott congratulated Hargrove and thanked Lisa Makle-Brooks for her outstanding service as interim secretary during the search process. “Following an extensive search, we determined the best candidate is right here at the Airports Authority,” McDermott said. “Monica has broad experience in diverse sectors of the industry that will help advise and carry out the board’s decisions regarding important transportation assets in the National Capital region.”

Hargrove chairs the Forum on Air and Space Law of the American Bar Association. She is a graduate of Dartmouth College, Wesley Theological Seminary and the University of Michigan Law School. Hargrove is the fourth secretary in the Airports Authority’s history. She succeeds Quince Brinkley, who departed the Airports Authority in 2015.

Hargrove will transition to her new position in the coming weeks.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority operates Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, the Dulles Airport Access Highway and the Dulles Toll Road and also manages construction of the Silver Line project, a 23-mile extension of the Washington region’s Metrorail public transit system through Fairfax County and into Loudoun County, Virginia. More than 44 million passengers a year pass through the two airports. The Airports Authority generates more than 387,000 jobs in the National Capital Region.