Darryl Gardner

About Darryl Gardner

I’m a transformational aviation operations leader who turns complex airport networks into frictionless, customer-centric experiences. Over the past 16+ years, I’ve led large-scale aviation, airline, and vendor ecosystems—governing $490M+ P&L, overseeing 42 airports, and supporting team members across the U.S. and Canada.My passion is elevating service environments where travelers feel valued, employees feel connected to purpose, and operational excellence becomes a natural outcome—not an initiative. I specialize in: Airport, customer experience, and lounge operations Data-enabled performance, workforce, and vendor strategy Union/contract leadership and large-scale labor optimization🤝 Executive stakeholder partnerships across airports and agencies Culture transformation rooted in hospitality principlesFrom leading the launch of new airport stations at Frontier Airlines, to orchestrating vendor and labor transformation at Amazon Air, my approach blends hospitality mindset, analytical rigor, and scalable execution. The result? Customer experiences that are intentionally designed, operationally reliable, and financially sustainable.If your organization is driving the future of airport experience, or service transformation—I’d welcome a conversation.

Experience

1. Head of Vendor Management & Analytics - Amazon Air

   Amazon

   Dec 2024 — Present · Seattle, WA, US

   Direct end to end management of Amazon Air’s third-party ground handler portfolio, spanning two countries (USA/Canada), 42 airport site locations, ten ground handling vendors and approximately 11,500 external associates.•Lead an org of Sr. Managers, Department Managers, Business Intelligence Engineers and Analysts.•Governance of $490M annual budget to support airport infrastructure, ground support equipment, labor, and operational logistics.•Responsibility for the connective tissue of data fidelity between external parties and Amazon internal systems. In addition, ownership of the delivery estimation accuracy reporting for customer experience utilization.•Improved cost to serve by 6% within first five months of role by deploying resource waste elimination mechanisms.•Deployed two external facing tools allowing the third-party network to submit required performance and amazon accountable financial line items in a streamlined work-stream, eliminating processing defects by 7%.

Education

• Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology

  Bachelor's degree, Airline Management

  2009 — 2013