Linda Valdez Thompson Recognized At "Great Women Of Texas" Event By Fort Worth Business Press

DFW INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Texas (Nov. 7, 2003) — The Fort Worth Business Press has named DFW's executive vice president of Human Resources and Diversity Linda Valdez Thompson as one of its "Great Women of Texas." The publication's second annual award honors women who have achieved significant accomplishments in business, civic and social contributions in the Fort Worth/Tarrant County area. Twenty local women were selected from more than 200 nominations.

"Linda has made a huge impact on our organization in the critical areas of human resources, diversity and our minority and women-owned business initiatives," says Jeff Fegan, CEO of DFW. "She is the ultimate professional and very community conscious. She personifies the executives we're looking for to run DFW as a well-managed, tightly focused organization" he said.

Thompson joined DFW in February 2001 after 15 years as a human resources executive at a variety of successful businesses and Fortune 500 companies. Her proactive private sector expertise almost immediately was called to action during the Airport's response to the 9/11 tragedy.

"We understood that day that in the airport aviation, it would no longer be business as usual," said Thompson. "We also knew it was important to let our employees more than ever how much we appreciated their dedication to the job. We also knew it was critical to assist and comfort our passengers. On a very bad day for this country, our Airport set a new standard for customer service that continues today."

Thompson began her career in the field of human resources because "it is the key component in business success," she says. "Human resources is the function that has responsibility for ensuring the organization is able to attract, retain and motivate talent needed for the organization to achieve its goals."

However, Thompson does more lead industry leading human resources efforts at DFW. She oversees the Procurement and the Small and Emerging Business departments, which handle millions of dollars in contracts for the Airport. That is a key factor that attracted her to the world's third busiest Airport. "I wanted to do something broader," Thompson said. "When I looked at this opportunity, one of the impressive things is the organization is cognizant of its economic impact on the community. There is a desire to run the airport like a business, and typically you don't see that in public sector organizations."

Thompson was nominated for Great Women of Texas by Kevin Cox, Senior Executive Vice President of DFW, who told judges, "Her considerable talents and leadership skills, balanced by her warm, congenial personality, distinguish her among her co-workers and peers. Her enthusiasm for her work is not only contagious, but spills over into her community involvement." From the moment Ms. Thompson set foot on the Airport, she began to substantially influence all aspects of our organization." 

Thompson began her career at Levi Strauss, and went on to work at Turnkey Services, Inc., Baxter Health Care Corporation, Hasbro, Inc. and Fruit of the Loom, Inc. before coming to DFW.

When she's not concerned about the Airport's 55 million annual passengers or 1,600 DFW employees, Thompson's world revolves around her family, her husband, Charles, and daughter, Consuelo. Her daughter, 14, takes dance classes and flute lessons. The next most important thing in Thompson's life is her home. "Home is very important to me in terms of the environment I create for my family."

Editor's Notes: This release, and past news releases issued by DFW International Airport, are available online at www.dfwairport.com in the "MediaSite" section.