Cynthia Nichol, most recently chief financial officer for the Port of Portland, has been appointed the new director of the Sacramento County Airport System.
The Board of Supervisors last week approved the appointment of Nav Gill, county executive.
“After an extensive search, Ms. Nichol brings a diverse and extensive background in airport management that is well suited for Sacramento County,” Gill says. “Her experience has equipped her to lead the Sacramento County Airport System, and we are pleased to welcome her in her new role with the county.”
She’ll start the role on October 22, replacing the recently retired John Wheat.
Nichol has more than 30 years of executive experience in airport management that includes public- and private-sector work in airport operations, planning, capital project financing and development, revenue enhancement and rate setting.
She’d been at the Port of Portland since 2012. While there, Nichol worked with an executive team to manage three airports, four marine terminals, five industrial parks and a dredge. She was responsible for establishing the Port’s financial direction and analysis of all of its business dealings and contracting, along with communicating fiscal policies and financial performance to the Port Commission, airlines, investors, rating agencies and other stakeholders.
From 2008 to 2012, Nichol was the finance director at San Francisco International (SFO).
In Sacramento, she’ll oversee Sacramento International Airport (SMF); Mather Airport (MHR); a public-use airport that sits on the former Mather Air Force Base; Sacramento Executive Airport (SAC), a general aviation facility; and Franklin Field, a public airport four miles southeast of the central business district of Franklin in Sacramento County that does not have an IATA designator.
