John Ackerman is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), and has oversight of Los Angeles International (LAX) and Van Nuys (VNY) airports.

Ackerman has over 30 years of experience in the aviation industry. He most recently served as Executive Vice President of Global Strategy and Development for Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), where he was part of the team that expanded the organization’s global footprint by driving the first-ever cargo strategy — a multi-year program focused on Asia-Latin America trade flows. His team also designed and launched the first online parking system with dynamic pricing offered at a U.S. airport, and grew the business to be DFW’s largest source of earnings. Additionally, he helped develop a data and analytics strategy that led to the creation of the airport’s first data science team, deploying Data360 across the enterprise and consolidating all data in a single data lake.

Prior to his time at DFW, Ackerman served as Chief Commercial Officer for Denver International Airport (DEN), where he led teams that transformed the customer experience at every touchpoint. During his tenure, he launched new retail and restaurant concepts that transformed DEN’s customer offerings, while augmenting same-location sales; led the airport’s first major expansion since its establishment — a multi-modal infrastructure project critical to connecting DEN to the central business district; and secured the largest capacity and network growth in over 15 years, inaugurating the airport as a mega hub for United Airlines and Southwest Airlines.

Ackerman holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Duke University. He is also a trained pilot and veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces.