In honor of Women's History Month, Chryssa Westerlund, Vice President of Marketing and Consumer Strategy, shared her personal journey, experiences, inspirations, and her take on being a women in an executive role.
Brief introduction of your professional journey
I have always been fascinated by business and I started my career as an auditor with Ernst and Young which allowed me to see the inner workings of many different companies. In order to transition to advising businesses I pursued an MBA at the Wharton School of Business and became a consultant with consulting firm AT Kearney. My next career move was to move to Electronic Data Systems (EDS) which was subsequently acquired by Hewlett Packard. I had several roles in my eleven years there but spent most of my time generating sales and new revenue by developing and managing global alliances. In 2015, I joined the newly formed Revenue organization at the Airports Authority which was focused on driving non-airline revenue and passenger growth and am responsible for our marketing, concessions and revenue strategy organizations.
What are the biggest challenges women face in the workplace and how can they overcome these challenges?
I have been blessed with amazing male mentors during my career who have helped me navigate and identify growth opportunities. One challenge though is that in my early career when I attempted to emulate the style of my mentors I found that styles and approaches that worked for them were completely ineffective for me as a woman. Women executive mentors can play an important role in developing up-and-coming women while clearing some of the hurdles around preconceived notions of what a successful leader looks and acts like.
Why should we have more women in executive roles?
The real question should be why don’t we have more women in executive roles. Women are 50% of our population, more than 50% of college graduates, 70-80% of consumer spending is driven or influenced by women and studies show that Boards of companies that are at least one third female have significantly higher profitability.
What are some of your personal and professional motivations that help you push forward?
Like most people my motivations have evolved over time. When I started my career I was focused on “winning” which I had in my mind defined as getting promoted faster and being recognized as a top performer. As I have gotten older my focus has shifted to using my knowledge and influence to make an impact. I am particularly proud of the work of the concessions team in creating opportunities in the concessions program for historically disadvantaged business owners including women and minorities and the work of the marketing team in connecting with our community and ensuring every potential traveler feels welcome and appreciated.
What does Women’s History mean to you?
The women of today have so much more opportunity than our mothers and grandmothers and that came on the backs of women who fought for change. Individuals like Susan B Anthony and Sojourner Truth fought for women when women had almost no rights. More recently Ruth Bader Ginsburg is an inspiration with an amazing history of excellence and fighting against gender discrimination. Vice President Harris represents another huge milestone having reached the second highest position of leadership in the country.