Veatch

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April 2019 after previously serving as business office manager for HEF Services Inc., an electrical contractor. Prior to that she worked as a human resource associate at Tilson, a professional employer organization in Greenwood, and worked in a similar position at Providence Health Care.

“Kelsey truly is a rising star in our community,” said Brandon Halleck, chief operating officer for Chances and Services for Youth, who nominated Veatch for the award.

“Not only does her role include developing the budget and finance reports for the airport, but numerous other duties like marketing, grants and human resources. Part of her role at the airport is to promote this resource [of the airport] — not only in our community but throughout the United States,” Halleck said.

■ HR and Business Relations Manager for Terre Haute Regional Airport.

■ 2014 Graduate of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College with bachelor’s degree in business administration.

■ Previously served as airport finance manager.

Halleck owns his own plane, renting a hangar at the airport, and said he “has witnessed [Veatch’s] interaction with tenants and staff, and I’ve watched her ‘grow’ into leadership,” he said.

“When I approached Kelsey [and the other airport leadership] about the possibility of a balloon festival, she jumped on the idea and was quick to take a leadership role in the planning process,” Halleck said. “From start to finish, Kelsey was instrumental in the success of the festival — that raised more than $120,000 [for CASY] — and witnessed more than 8,000 in attendance.

“Kelsey worked with CASY to ensure that airport staff provided assistance in the setup/take-down, FAA requirements on temporarily closing a runway, working with vendors [food and merchandise] and helped to provide fundraising assistance. I’ve been involved and worked with many community stakeholders throughout the years and Kelsey ranks among some of the best I’ve had the pleasure of serving with on committees and in fundraising endeavors,” Halleck said.

Veatch graduated from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, playing on the golf team.

“I was not part of the very first team, but was among the first few years when they opened women’s golf,” she said. “I don’t play as often as I would like to, but still play in scrambles and outings for the airport. Having golf is a good way to do networking and has helped quite a bit in creating relationships with people, both in my personal life and in my professional career,” Veatch said.

Veatch and her husband, Ethan, have two children — daughter Parker, 6, and son, Paxton, 4. Her husband, a native of southern Illinois, is a graduate of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and is a software engineer for Matrix Technologies.

“He likes computers. I married a nerd,” Veatch said with a chuckle.

Up next, Veatch will be part of an airport team to recruit a new airport director, working to find a replacement for current director Jeff Hauser, who announced he would retire by the end of the year.

Howard Greninger can be reached at 812-231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar. com. Follow on Twitter @ TribStarHoward.