Denver International (DEN) has promoted one internal advisor to the level of executive vice president and has brought on another official at the same level.
Ken Greene, chief operating officer executive vice president, will lead the business unit that includes airport infrastructure management, technologies, airport operations, the hotel and transit center and special projects. Greene has been with DEN since 2009, when he was appointed special advisor to Kim Day, the airport’s CEO. He was later promoted to deputy manager for maintenance and, in November 2011, he assumed the role of deputy manager for airport operations.
He has spent time in both the public and private sector during a 32-year career, including several positions primarily in the transportation and food logistics industries. At one point, he was assistant director of operations in the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey’s Department of Aviation.
Bhavesh Patel has joined DEN from Tampa International (TPA), where he most recently served as the director of airport concessions. In Denver, he will be the chief revenue officer executive vice president.
Patel has nearly two decades of experience in the airport and airline industries in both the public and private sectors. At TPA, he led the team responsible for implementing the Airport Concessions Redevelopment Program, which is projected to increase concessions revenue by nearly 50 percent in five years. He also developed and implemented the airport’s largest outreach program, which is designed to connect contractors, banks, prime operators and local, minority- and women-owned businesses.
He previously worked as manager of the concession development program at San Diego International (SAN) and spent some time with the aviation consultancy then known as SH&E/CAM, where he focused on concessions planning.
“Over the last five years, Ken Greene has become an invaluable member of the leadership team at Denver International Airport and helped implement many of our strategic objectives and innovative programs,” Day says. “I’m also pleased to welcome Bhavesh Patel to the executive team at DIA, where he will oversee our thriving concessions and commercial programs, as well as our efforts to develop Colorado’s own aerotropolis and help us take these programs to the next level.”
Greene and Patel are the first two DEN executives appointed under a provision Denver voters approved in 2013 allowing the airport to create up to five executive level positions to be appointed by the CEO. Greene begins his new role Jan. 1; Patel will join DEN on Jan. 20.
