Valerie Steele

For over 20 years, Ms. Steele has managed operations of large international airports and small general aviation airports. For nearly 15 years she was at Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) and served as Operations Supervisor responsible for TSA 1542 security inspection and compliance, FAA 139 inspection and compliance, and emergency preparations, response, and recovery for airside, terminal, general aviation and cargo operations.

Ms. Steele has planned and executed numerous discussion-based, tabletop, and full-scale exercises. She facilitated RDU’s irregular operations, aircraft accidents, bomb threats, security breaches, access control alarm responses, vendors, cargo and catering inspections, suspicious item and baggage alert response, National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) activities, aircraft and terminal evacuations, airport repopulation, shelter in-place, and law enforcement emergencies.

She has developed airport rules and regulations, SOPs, Airport Emergency Plans (AEP), Airport Security Plans (ASP) and minimum standards. She has also conducted research and guidance for the National Academies of Science and for other organizations. Ms. Steele has a master’s degree in leadership and management, is an Airport Certified Employee (ACE) in both Operations and Security, a certified Airport Security Coordinator (ASC) and is a Certified Member (C.M.) of the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE).