november-december 2021 - 40

Sri Kumar, PE
Sri Kumar was " boots on the ground from the very first hour
of the very first day " of his first job out of college, working on
a runway reconstruction project at the Detroit Metropolitan
Airport.
" I walked onto the airfield and I never really left. And now I do
airfield construction projects all over the country. And when
I'm not onsite, I do the the indoor version of construction
management, which is estimating, scheduling, plan, review,
constructability analysis, etc., " said Kumar
Age: 32
Hometown: Midland,
Michigan
Alma Mater: Michigan State
University
Fun fact about yourself: I
drove myself in a 2003 Toyota
Corolla from Michigan to
Cape Canaveral to see the
last space shuttle launch.
Someone I look up to in
the industry: The folks that
I look up to are the people
who are not afraid to answer
questions that reveal that
they are human.
Kumar is the youngest employee to be asked to join Connico's
Senior Leader Team in their over-30-year history. In his
role at Connico, Kumar consistently demonstrates a strong
commitment to exceeding client expectations and reaching
project goals. He is known for his innovative thinking and
ability to build consensus among stakeholders across teams
and projects.
The puzzle solving and responsibility of being charged with
solving sometimes complex engineering challenges is one
of the aspects of his job that Kumar says he enjoys the most.
" We had an issue where a couple of years ago on a project.
We had the runway closed at night to rehabilitate it and we're
drilling out these big 36-inch cores. We've got a 3-foot-wide
I walked onto the airfield and I never
left. Now I do airfield construction
projects all over the country.
drill bit, and the drill bit got stuck in the runway. And there
was literally no way we could get it out.
" The first flight was going to depart at 5:15 a.m. So at 4 in the
morning, there isn't anyone you can call. All the final decisions
rest with me. And how are we going to get this runway back
open? So, I feel privileged in a way to be able to have the
responsibility to make those big decisions, " recounted Kumar.
In addition to his career success, Kumar is active in the industry.
In 2015, he was selected to participate in the Leadership PE
program in Kentucky, a highly competitive leadership development
program designed to encourage, strengthen and
build the professional careers and the civic involvement of
engineers. He's widely known for his work and contributions
and has presented numerous times at the ACC/AAAE Design
Symposium over the last 10 years.
In 2017, he was nominated as chair for the ACC Young Professionals
Forum and currently resides on the ACC Board of
Directors.
www.AviationPros.com/21245442
Natalie Schraner
Natalie Schraner went from the newsroom to the sky, transitioning
from an intern at a local Indianapolis news station to
a flight attendant to start her aviation career.
" I started my career with Republic Airways as a flight attendant
and then I grew into managing their training department. I love
travel and I thought I would fly around and find what news
market I liked, but fell in love with travel, aviation and all the
things that come with it, " said Schraner.
Age: 34
Hometown: Mt. Carmel,
Illinois
Alma Mater: Southern
Illinois University,
Carbondale
Fun fact about yourself:
My favorite book series is
Harry Potter and I try to
re-read it every year around
the holidays.
Someone I look up to in
the industry: Both my current
and former supervisor.
Schraner is now the senior HR partner, Learning and Development
for the Indianapolis Airport Authority, which oversees
the award-winning Indianapolis International Airport (IND).
" I manage all the organization's learning and development
needs, from professional growth, soft skills, online course
library to policy development and annual compliance training
that we do from the human resources side of things. I also lead
our efforts in pursuing higher education opportunities with
different institutions. We try to focus our efforts primarily in
Indiana and stay local to support our community, " she said.
In addition to annual training classes, Natalie leads the organization's
tuition assistance and tuition discount program, mentoring
program, and employee and leadership development
programs - which all support the airport's strategic efforts in
workforce development and building a diverse talent pipeline.
Schraner launched an internal mentoring program connecting
up-and-coming talent with executive leadership through
monthly mentoring moments. She then expanded the program
to include mentoring opportunities with community leaders,
providing a greater breadth of learning and development for
employees and strengthening their connection to the local
community.
" I like seeing people grow and in my role, I get to be seen as
a resource and help them do that. Employees come to me for
a variety of needs as easy as, 'I need help with building soft
skills or can you help me find resources to learn new project
management techniques' all the way to helping someone
go back to college and obtain a degree. I love how versatile
the airport is in offering tuition help and providing different
programs internally that are free of charge to our employees
to help them grow in their careers and get the skills they either
want or need, " Schraner said.
In 2018, Schraner launched two leadership programs, " Accelerate "
for executive leaders and " Agile Leader. "
www.AviationPros.com/21244153
40 \ AIRPORTBUSINESS / NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021
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november-december 2021

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