Major: Airport Management
Year of Graduation: May 2002 Current Position: President of Critical Path, Inc. Hometown: Missoula, MT

After I graduated from UND, I did an Airport Operations internship at the Dane Country Regional Airport (DCRA) in Madison, Wisconsin. I left the DCRA to move back to Missoula to start my own consulting firm that would work with Critical Path, Inc. I was planning my wedding and knew I would have to be doing a lot of moving around in the next few years while my husband went through Air Force Pilot Training, so airport consulting was a perfect fit and I had done an internship with CPI while attending UND. After a few months of having my own company, my current business partner took me on as minority owner of Critical Path, Inc. I am currently majority owner of Critical Path, Inc.

There are several best parts of my current job. The flexibility of my job allows me to work from home or wherever I can or need to be. Wherever I am in the world, I can work. Another great thing about my job is travelling the world and getting to meet and work with different people and see their countries.

My education at UND was a good start to the education I received in the real world. Saying I am a UND grad has also helped with contacts in our industry. There are so many UND grads out there that give you the instant connection with people in a job interview or a project interview. Being a UND grad helped me get my internship at the DCRA.

The biggest piece of advice that I would give current aviation students is to do as many internships that you can during school and upon your graduation. Internships are the best way for you to figure out whether or not you really want to work at an airport, for an airline or for a company. I did three internships and knew after the first one that I wanted to work in Airport Operations. The second piece of advice would be to not be in such a hurry to graduate. Enjoy college because the real world will always be there and life gets a lot tougher in the real world. Third, think outside the "pilot" box. There are so many different careers in aviation and you don't have to be a pilot. Nothing wrong with being a pilot, but there are just so many other options for a person that wants to work in the aviation industry.