Leadership

Sabine Trenk
Chief Executive Officer

Ms. Trenk has spent 30 years in the industry, gaining extensive experience managing commercial and airport operations throughout the world. Most recently, she served as Chief Operating and Commercial Officer for Fraport Brasil, where she led the commercial department in implementing the concessions program for the airports of Fortaleza and Porto Alegre following the renovation and construction of new passenger terminals. Before joining Fraport Brasil, she was the Deputy General Manager of Operations at Xi’an Xianyang International Airport in China. For nine years, she was Chief Operating and Commercial Officer at Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima, Peru, leading its transformation to an award-winning hub airport in South America. Here she was responsible for passenger operations and managing the retail, food, and beverage concessions program.

Dennis Koster
Chief Financial Officer, Fraport USA

Dennis Koster is a business graduate from Goethe University in Frankfurt and has been part of Fraport team for almost 15 years. He started his career with Fraport in 2008 at the Group Controlling. In 2013, he joined the “Global Investments and Management” division. He was a core team member of the 14 Greek Regional Airports Acquisition project. Following his involvement to this major project, in 2016 Dennis moved to Athens and took charge of Fraport Greece’s Management Accounting & Finance unit, implementing the project finance of almost one billion Euro and setting-up the department. In 2021 he returned to Frankfurt and served as Vice President Cost Accounting & internal Transfer Pricing within the Group Controlling of Fraport AG. Dennis is a proud father of two girls and a passionate mountain biker.

Nia Denise Newton, Esq.
Chief Legal Officer, Fraport USA

As Chief Legal Officer Nia Newton leads the in-house legal team and provides strategic counsel on all legal, compliance, government affairs and human resource matters. She also serves as an officer of the company. Her wide-ranging experience covers all areas of airport leasing, licensing, franchising and commercial agreements as well as a depth of knowledge in corporate governance, compliance and regulatory matters.

Prior to joining Fraport USA, she served as corporate counsel for HMSHost since 2019 and for the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board in Washington, D.C., in 2018. Nia began her legal career as an associate in the D.C. office of global law firm Nixon Peabody. She earned her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, graduating with distinction, and her B.A. magna cum laude from Spelman College in Atlanta.

Kent Vanden Oever
Executive Vice President Strategy and Analytics, Fraport USA

Kent Vanden Oever brings three decades of airport business and consulting experience to his new position. Prior to Fraport USA, as an independent consultant, he assisted airports with commercial improvements and new planning and leasing strategies in the post-pandemic environment. Before this, as vice president of business development for HMSHost, he served as a strategic resource and was accountable for a portfolio of accounts generating $500M in annual sales. At AirProjects, Inc. and HNTB Corporation, he further demonstrated his ability to add value to airports in a variety of consulting engagements that increased concession sales and more profitable business terms for those clients. He launched his career in airport business services with PB Aviation (now WSP USA) and advanced to management, where he gained exposure to all types of airport consulting, including facility planning, environmental, financial analysis, and concession management.

Jessica Winter-Franklin
Head of People & Culture

Prior to joining Fraport as the People & Culture leader, Jessica has spent 20 years as a strategic executive partner specializing in organizational development, change management, talent management and acquisition, total rewards, and people operations particularly with companies experiencing mergers, acquisitions, reorganization, IPO’s, and rapid growth.

As Head of People at Aptiv/Motional she built the global self-driving car division along with think tanks out of CMU, MIT, NUS, and ETH to become a world leader and the first robo-taxi. With Carmeuse, she established a global talent framework uniting employees in 22 countries in a learning culture and career development.

Jessica is active in several programs for underrepresented youths in both STEM and the Arts.

Brian Berger
Senior Director of Accounting, Fraport USA

Brian Berger brings 30 years of professional experience in Accounting, Finance, Information Technology and Operations working with companies across multiple industries including financial services, manufacturing, retail, property management, construction, and telecommunications.

He has held roles as Chief Financial Officer for Allegheny Valley Bancorp, Controller for NSD Bancorp, Director of Finance for Crown Castle International, and Director of Business Intelligence for ServiceLink and has years of consulting on SEC reporting, SOx compliance, revenue recognition and projects with such companies as Ariba, Black Box, RTI Metals and NOVA Chemicals. Prior to joining Fraport USA, he was a consultant to the dealer services division of Harley-Davidson and focused on the design and analysis of accounting and reporting functionality within the dealerships’ ERP and conducted training and system implementations.

Mr. Berger is a Certified Public Accountant and has a B.S. in Accounting from the Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.

Cathy Simoni
Director of Corporate Marketing & Passenger Experience, Fraport USA

Following a successful 27 years on Fraport Pittsburgh’s team, Cathy Simoni has been tapped as Fraport USA’s new Director of Corporate Marketing & Passenger Experience.

At Pittsburgh International, she directed and managed retail operations, leasing and marketing for the airport’s award-winning concessions program. She also oversaw the development and success of numerous projects, including the Blue Sky Project, a $10M overhaul of the airport’s center core retail area.

Throughout her tenure, Fraport USA’s 87,000 square-foot concession program at PIT has led the industry in sales per-enplaned passenger – and ranks among the highest for North American airports.

Ms. Simoni has experience in many sectors of airport retail including operations, leasing, security, construction, marketing and advertising.

Faraji Whalen-Robinson
Vice President of Operations, Fraport Maryland

Faraji Whalen-Robinson, Vice President of Operations for Fraport Maryland, oversees the concessions program at Baltimore/Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport (BWI), comprising retail, restaurant and services development, leasing, construction, marketing, and management.

A Washington DC native, Faraji has spent his career working to advance small and local businesses and has represented numerous operators in acquiring, leasing, and expanding their real estate operations. He is passionate about developing local talent and has worked as a mentor with Mentors Inc, as well as served on the advisory board at Paul Public Charter School. He is a Halcyon Fellow and a member of the Capital Impact Equitable Development Initiative.

Matt Jennings
Vice President, Fraport Tennessee

Prior to his appointment to Vice President for Fraport Tennessee, Matt Jennings oversaw the operations of the concessions program for Fraport Maryland at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, where he was responsible for development, management, leasing, design, construction, marketing and traveler experience.

In addition, Matt served as a key member of the transition team when Fraport USA was awarded the development of the new concessions program at Nashville International Airport (BNA) in 2018. There, he oversaw development and construction of tenant spaces and Fraport’s capital expense projects. He first joined Fraport USA in 2017 as an operations and development executive at BWI Marshall Airport.

Prior to entering the world of airport concessions, Matt’s more than 25-year retail career included leadership roles at Stride Rite Inc., Payless ShoeSource and Wolverine Worldwide, covering markets across the United States.

Tina LaForte
Vice President, Fraport Cleveland

Tina LaForte is responsible for tenant leasing, development and planning of the concessions program at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

During her tenure, she’s managed more than $30M in capital improvement for projects at CLE. In February 2008, Fraport USA signed a 10-year agreement with the City of Cleveland to develop and manage concessions at Hopkins.

Prior to her appointment in Cleveland, Ms. LaForte was general manager of the concessions program at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. She also served as retail operations executive of the program at Pittsburgh International Airport. Ms. LaForte has more than 20 years of experience in a broad array of retail operations, including management, customer service, sales, merchandising, and inventory.

Lillian Tan
Vice President, Fraport New York

Lillian Tan oversees the redevelopment and management of the concessions program at JetBlue’s Terminal 5 at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Her expertise includes leasing, public / private partnerships, construction management, financial management, asset management, and marketing and customer service.

Ms. Tan previously managed the $12 million redevelopment of the 45,000 square-foot retail program at the Central Terminal at LaGuardia Airport, part of the $18 million project done in partnership with The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey. She managed all aspects of the project, including client relations, revenue generation, capital improvements, marketing, and tenant/passenger service of the award-winning program, and oversaw in excess of $40 million in landlord and tenant improvements.

She also worked on the $15 million redevelopment and management of The Coca-Cola Company Building in New York’s premier retail neighborhood on upper Fifth Avenue and the leasing/management of The News Building, a 1.1 million square-foot office building in the Grand Central Business District in Manhattan.

Brock Myers
Vice President, Fraport Newark

Process-driven Senior Commercial Manager with over 17 years of experience in the areas of business and economic development, organizational leadership, and operational policy planning. Mr. Myers has deep experience in marketing, community relationship building, sales and revenue budgeting, negotiating sales and contracts, analyzing market data, and balancing business priorities with exceeding client expectations.

Prior to joining Fraport USA, Mr. Myers served as Senior Commercial Manager-JFKIAT at JFK International Airport. His role included driving sales growth across airport terminal services, including food and beverage, advertising, lounges, storage, offices, duty free, retail, marketing, and ACDBE relations. He was also responsible for developing innovative revenue strategies  and providing solutions to client challenges. He developed a noted reputation for delivering excellent client engagement.

Alyson Murphy, C.M.
Vice President of Operations, Fraport Washington Partnership LLC

Alyson Murphy provides a unique, highly qualified experience set to the development and operations of the concession programs at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) and Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD). With a Master of Science in Urban Land Development, Alyson has a deep understanding of the importance of an airport’s economic impact on the region it serves.  Prior to her transition to Fraport Washington, Alyson served as the Senior Director of Operations at Fraport Tennessee, overseeing the development and operations of 83 new concessions at Nashville International Airport (BNA), the 29^th busiest airport in the United States.

Her insight and knowledge allow her to navigate the stakeholder sector necessary for an airport’s growth and vision of the future. She has years of experience in detailed day-to-day operations, concession development programs, airport budgeting, financial forecasting, and facility planning.