Raleigh-Durham International Airport

Ellis Hankins

Wake County

Ellis Hankins is a senior attorney with the Brough Law Firm, PLLC, a seven-member firm with offices in Chapel Hill, Raleigh and Concord. The law firm engages in a statewide practice focused primarily on local government, land use, and public school system representation, and related litigation. Hankins is a visiting professor in graduate public policy and management programs at UNC­ Chapel Hill, NC State and Duke University, and senior vice president with The Mercer Group, Inc., a nationwide public sector consulting firm.

Tammie Hall-Roberts

City of Durham

Tammie Hall-Roberts serves as an Assistant County Manager for Durham County. She previously served as Assistant to the Secretary for HUB Outreach in the Office for Historically Underutilized Businesses in the NC Department of Administration. Tammie has over 30 years of experience in finance, supplier diversity, community engagement and constituent services having served eight years as a United States Congressional Staffer and Policy Advisor. Tammie is a proud graduate of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a minor in Finance. She served on the National Alumni Association Board of Directors for over eight years to include service as the President. She serves on the Board of Visitors for Dominion Energy Environmental Council and Elizabeth City State University. Tammie was recently honored with the Order of the Long Leaf Pine – one of the most prestigious awards given by a Governor to an individual for exemplary public service.

Nina Szlosberg-Landis

City of Raleigh

Nina Szlosberg-Landis is a civic leader with multiple involvements at all levels of government — local, state and national. Szlosberg-Landis is retired from a profession in communications with more than 25 years of experience in broadcasting, media production, community relations and social advocacy. She served four terms under three Governors as an At-large member of the NC Board of Transportation and was the Board’s first female Vice Chair. While there, she established and chaired the Board’s Environment Planning and Policy Committee, chaired the Board’s Multi-Modal Committee (which included Aviation) and Transit Subcommittee and the Board’s Advanced Technology Committee. Szlosberg-Landis also served on the Triangle Region’s transit authority board, GoTriangle, and on the Transportation Advisory Committee of the Durham, Chapel Hill Carrboro and Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs.) She also served as a director on the board of the North Carolina Railroad Company.

Yesenia Polanco-Galdamez

Durham County

Yesenia Polanco-Galdamez is the Principal Attorney at Polanco Law, P.C., located in Durham. The practice specializes in criminal defense and immigration law with an additional specialty in family law. Yesenia has worked as an immigration attorney for over 15 years, gaining her education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and obtaining her law degree from the University of the District of Columbia, The David A. Clarke School of Law.

Richard (Dickie) Thompson

City of Raleigh

Richard (Dickie) Thompson is a five-term Authority Board member and has served as former chairman, vice chairman, and head of the finance committee. He currently serves as head of the operations committee. While chairman, Dickie spearheaded the Vision 2040 planning effort which forecasted the airport’s expected growth for the next 25 years. He served on the Raleigh City Council for two terms and is past chairman on the Raleigh Planning Commission. Dickie is executive vice president/treasurer of JM Thompson Company, a commercial construction company which builds throughout the state of North Carolina.

Patrick Hannah, Esq.

City of Durham

Patrick Hannah has more than 25 years of combined experience in government affairs and finance industries. He is the Sr. Corporate Counsel for a Fortune 70 financial services company, with more than 30 years of combined financial services experience in compliance, legislative and regulatory matters. Hannah has litigation experience doing complex products liability defense work for Womble Bond. He also served in The White House Office of Legal Counsel during the Clinton Administration and worked in the North Carolina General Assembly.

Hannah is the former Chairman of the Durham Area Transit Authority. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in History from Morehouse College and a Juris Doctor from the N.C. Central University School of Law.

David Morgan

County of Durham

David Morgan has more than 40 years of experience working in wide-ranging technology roles from financial management to transportation government agencies. He is currently a customer success manager focused upon value engineering using software with Informatica Corporation. He was formerly with the SAS Institute focused on the use of data and analytics. He is currently part of the Durham City/County Planning Commission and held prior citizen advisory roles with the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County with privatization efforts, parks and recreation. David holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Bowling Green State University and a M.B.A in Marketing and Finance from DePaul State University.

David Kushner

Wake County

David Kushner has more than 20 years of experience in media and communications law, focusing on broadcasting, media policy, First Amendment issues and defamation. He is a Partner at Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard, LLP in Raleigh. A Morehead Scholar, David earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Ph.D. from Princeton University and a Juris Doctor from Duke University. His bar and court admissions include North Carolina, the U.S. Supreme Court, and the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 2^nd, 4^th, 7^th, 11^th and D.C. Circuits.