Gwen Basaria
Age: 35
Vice President, Member Delight and Engagement
American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE)
- Alma Mater: American University
- Something people may not know about me: I was voted everyone’s best friend in my high school senior class
- Favorite book: The Harry Potter Series
- Favorite TV show: Veep
- Favorite movie :Grease
- Favorite hobby(s): Running, spinning
When Gwen Basaria got out of college, she was living in Virginia, when fate led her to an accidental career, which turned out to be the one of the best accidents of her life.
Her roommate introduced her to a third roommate who had interned at the White House who got an email from a colleague who knew someone with the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) who was hiring for manager of grassroots communications position.
Basaria jumped at the opportunity and found herself on an incredible career path.
“My favorite story that our CEO Todd Hauptli, who then led the federal affairs team tells is that they were all lined up to hire someone else, but I came in and blew them away,” she said. “Unfortunately, that person didn’t get the job, but I did and I’ve been here ever since.”
Basaria got her start covering hearings on Capitol Hill, meeting members of congress at the airport for conferences, handling press and media inquiries and covering the Aviation News Today weekly show. The more she did, the more she asked for.
She also manages the Airports Going Green Conference and the Digital Media Summit, where she recently brought in a partner in with Sixel and the legislative conferences.
Basaria works the showcase at the annual AAAE conference - the nerve center for all things members. One of her goals is to personally reach all 5,000 members of the organization.
She was named vice president, member delight and engagement in 2016. In her new role, the focus is even more on providing benefits and services the members want and use. Basaria led the team to start the AAAE YoPro Group.
