John Selden, currently deputy general manager of John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), has been selected as the new general manager at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, effective October 1.
The appointment was announced Tuesday morning by Atlanta Mayor Lance Bottoms, though it still must be approved by the City Council.
Selden is a former Navy pilot who served at the Pentagon and in Puerto Rico, among other assignments. He has been at JFK since 2008 and has served as the deputy director at there, where he oversees customer service, rail access, security, maintenance, finance, commercial development and physical infrastructure investment, since 2014.
He also has been a commercial airline pilot.
“I am excited that we have identified someone with the qualifications and passion of John Selden to lead our airport into the future,” Bottoms says.
Selden was one of five finalists selected by a search committee led by UPS CEO and Chairman David Abney and Carol Tome, chief financial officer and executive vice president at The Home Depot.
These are tumultuous times at ATL. The Georgia Senate is studying a possible state takeover of the airport. There also are ongoing federal and Federal Aviation Administration investigations into various issues at the airport.
Selden would become the fourth person to hold the role, either temporarily or permanently, since 2016. He would replace Balram Bheodari, interim general manager, who has been on the job since former GM Roosevelt Council became the city’s chief financial officer in June. Former Mayor Kasim Reed fired Council’s predecessor, Miguel Southwell, in 2016.
