Why a small airport must punch above its weight: Resilience and resolve — a case study of Lynden Pindling International Airport

Author's Biography

Vernice Walkine started her career at The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism in 1979, as a Bilingual Tourist Information Assistant, having studied French and Spanish at Elmira College, New York. She moved steadily through the ranks of the Ministry of Tourism, while pursuing her MBA with the University of Miami. She has had a varied career in tourism, having had responsibility for marketing, product development and sales, eventually becoming Deputy Director General in 2001, then being appointed to the post of Director General in 2005, the first female to achieve this position. She held the position until October 2010 when she demitted office to take a position with the Nassau Airport Development Company (NAD), as Vice President of Marketing and Communications, the first Bahamian executive to be retained by the company. Vernice assumed the role of President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at NAD in March 2013 and saw the Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) expansion terminal through to completion in October 2013. She heads a staff of more than 250 employees at the airport management company. Vernice has served on a number of boards and committees, including the National Art Gallery, The Bahamas Hotel Association’s Executive Committee, the board of The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce, as the Co-Chair of the Downtown Nassau Partnership, and board member of RBC FINCO, the mortgage arm of RBC Royal Bank of Canada in The Bahamas.

Jan Knowles is Vice President, Marketing and Commercial Development for Nassau Airport Development Company Limited. For more than 27 years Jan has been a notable leader in the public relations and marketing profession. In September 2014 she was appointed Vice President of Marketing and Communications at the Nassau Airport Development Company (NAD) and in 2018 she assumed additional responsibility for Commercial Business Development. In her role, Jan is responsible for all marketing initiatives, air service development, brand development, stakeholder and community relations, and overseeing the growth of aeronautical and non-aeronautical revenue. Prior to joining NAD, she served as regional manager for public relations and communications for RBC Royal Bank of Canada with responsibility for the bank’s Northern Caribbean businesses (The Bahamas, Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands). She has worked as a development director for The Bahamas National Trust, a non-profit organisation, and spent ten years in the hospitality industry working in human resources and communications for the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island. She holds a MBA from Nova Southeastern University, Ft. Lauderdale, and undertook undergraduate studies at Jacksonville University, Florida and The University of The Bahamas, Nassau, earning a Bachelor’s degree in marketing.

Jonathan Hanna is the Vice President of Operations for the Nassau Airport Development Company (NAD), which oversees the management of the Lynden Pindling International Airport in Nassau, Bahamas. He has more than ten years’ experience in operations and has been with the company since 2014. He leads a team of over 100 individuals and is responsible for directing the development and execution of the airport’s long-term, medium-term and short-term operational plans while maintaining stakeholder relations. A graduate of the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida, Jonathan earned a Bachelor of Science degree in aviation management and a Master of Science in airport development and management. In 2013 while working for a private aviation start-up as an operations manager, he earned his Federal Aviation Administration Dispatcher’s License through a scholarship with the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA). Since joining NAD, Jonathan has worked in a number of capacities from airside operations to terminal operations and, in 2018, was the inaugural recipient of the Young Airport Professional Award from Airports Council International for the Latin America and Caribbean region.