DuPage Airport Leader Has Built His Career from the Ground Up

In the mid-1980s, Mark Doles was a college student cutting grass to make money during spring break at the DuPage Airport in West Chicago. Now, he runs the place.

Doles, 52, of West Chicago, has seen a lot in his years at the DuPage Airport, which is the third busiest airport in the state behind O’Hare and Midway with more than 100,000 flights year.

“It was in March of 1986. I was 19 years old and was on spring break from Augustana College and a friend of my dad’s was the director at the airport,” Doles recalled. “He wondered if I was looking for work and I came back again at Christmas and the summer. When I graduated in 1989, the executive director asked me if I’d like to come to work full-time and he told me he’d teach me more in three years than I learned in college.”

Doles elected to take the job and 30 years later, he’s still there. The Augustana grad, who majored in business with a concentration in management and marketing, began his full-time career at DuPage Airport working as a purchasing manager dealing with the acquisition of land and equipment.

With time and experience, new responsibilities were added.

“There was an expansion project going on in the early 1980s that continued into the 1990s, and we added two new runways, a control tower, the DuPage Flight Center building and the Prairie Landing Golf Course,” Doles said. “Today, we have 3,000 acres in total and 1,100 of them are used for the runways."

Along the way, Doles has held various titles including assistant director of operations as well as deputy director of the airport. On Sept. 18 this year, he was named the executive director of the airport, a job he said he hopes the nine-member executive board will allow him to keep forever.

Russ Danwin, a longtime hangar tenant and airline captain, said Doles understands the complete picture.

“Mark understands the importance of general aviation and supports all aspects of it including the DuPage Airport flight schools, charter aircraft operations and the corporate flight departments that operate worldwide from DPA,” said Danwin. “Mark is hands-on and involved in every aspect of airport operations - you are just as likely to see him giving an airport tour to interested students as you are seeing him on the tarmac checking on airport conditions.”

Beyond managing flights, the DuPage facility is also largely about selling fuel and managing property in the form of hanger space. Doles said the facility currently has 66 employees including those who manage the golf course.

There was a time when the airport actually handled over 200,000 flights a year until the recession back in 2008 hit and the numbers haven’t returned since.

“The recession back in 2008 really had a negative effect on the aviation industry ... and it’s still not back to the ’08 levels,” Doles said. “Fortunately due to the expansion and being strong financially, we’ve been able to handle ourselves.”

Stephen Davis, chairman of the DuPage Airport Authority Board, acknowledges that Doles keeps things running at the airport and believes in his leadership.

“Mark began his career at the DuPage Airport 30 years ago and he has done it all - from cutting the grass and plowing runways to managing multi-million dollar airport construction projects,” Davis said. “The DuPage Airport is an economic engine for the county … and there is no person more qualified to oversee all aspects of airport operations and ensure that the airport continues to be a driver of growth in the western suburbs than Mark Doles.”

Regarding the job itself, Doles said every day is different as flights don’t follow a schedule like O’Hare.

“I meet with the staff every day and maintenance and look at what’s going on in construction,” Doles said. “We do what’s best for the airport as well as the safety of our customers and staff. We don’t have the luxury of commercial airlines that keep the same schedule – no two days are the same. Every day, we provide great runways and taxiways."

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