Houston Airports Director trades desk for the terminal

Jim Szczesniak’s face-to-face approach is steering Houston’s $40 billion airport system with unconventional leadership rooted in Texas hospitality.

Jul 28, 2025

Houston’s airport director is rewriting leadership one step at a time.

Airports are often run from boardrooms, not baggage claims. But in Houston, Director of Aviation Jim Szczesniak prefers a different vantage point. Several times a week, he trades conference calls for concourses, walking the terminals of George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) and William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) to talk directly with passengers and employees. It’s leadership in motion—face-to-face, unscripted and designed to catch problems before they become headlines.

“It’s about staying connected to the operation and to the people,” Szczesniak said. “Houston Airports welcomed a whopping 63.1 million passengers in 2024. We inject $40.6 billion into the region’s economy, and our airports are ranked among the best in the world.”

The ritual isn’t new. “This approach started while leading the team at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Alaska,” he said. “I made walking the terminals to engage with staff a priority then, and I’ve carried it with me to Houston. It’s important to be out in the field when leading a large, complex operation like this with more than 1,200 employees.”

He times the walks deliberately. “I typically walk HOU and IAH on Monday mornings and Friday afternoons,” Szczesniak said. “Those are busy travel periods, and the walks give me a solid bookend to the week. I’ve blocked time on my calendar to make sure it happens. It helps me stay connected to airport operations, spot issues early and thank employees for a job well done.”

The feedback has been immediate and personal. “The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, especially from employees,” he said. “Whether it’s terminal staff, maintenance crews or airfield operations, people appreciate that leadership is present and listening.”

On Valentine's Day, Szczesaniak shared chocolates with passengers. In December 2025, he joined a high school choir as they serenaded passengers with holiday carols.

In 2024, Houston Airports rolled out bright orange polo shirts for all employees who interact with passengers. “Orange means we can help,” Szczesniak said. “When I wear our signature orange polo, passengers often stop me with questions or concerns. That’s valuable. It helps me understand where the pain points are so I can work with the team to remove them.”

Houston Airports does not many photographs of the airpory director walking the terminals in the orange polo. That’s intentional. The airport director doesn’t do it for a photo-op. He prefers to blend into the crowd, becoming just another friendly face at the terminal who happens to have the authority to fix what’s broken.

Most staff recognize him, but passengers rarely do. “I’ve had travelers ask who I am, and when I say, ‘I’m Jim Szczesniak, Houston Airports Director,’ they’re surprised,” he said. “They don’t expect to see it in the fourth-largest city in the U.S., but that’s the point. I want people to see leadership out in the terminal, answering questions, offering help and being part of the experience—that’s Texas hospitality.”

The greatest value, Szczesniak says, comes from hearing repeated concerns. “The biggest value is hearing directly from passengers about what’s not working,” he said. “As airport professionals, we don’t always see the friction points passengers experience. But when you get asked the same question over and over, that’s a signal that something needs fixing. These terminal walks help me identify those blind spots and work with the team to find solutions.”

His message to other airport directors is simple: get out from behind the desk. “You’re doing it wrong if you’re not out in the terminal regularly,” he said. “You can’t lead an airport from behind a desk. Being out in the field—talking with travelers, listening to staff—that’s how you know what kind of experience you’re actually delivering. It’s how you spot problems early and build a strong, motivated team. Face-to-face interaction is critical if you’re serious about running a world-class airport.”

For Szczesniak, the orange shirt isn’t a uniform. It’s a statement: that billion-dollar airports are built not just on concrete and steel, but on conversations in crowded terminals and trust earned one question at a time.