Karen W. Ellis serves as the Chief Customer Experience Officer for the San Antonio Airport System (SAAS) which comprises San Antonio International Airport and Stinson Municipal Airport. Karen has more than 20 years of leadership and customer service experience in the aviation industry. Prior to arriving at SAAS, she has served Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and the Houston Airport System.

In 2020, Karen was selected as the Ted Bushelman Legacy Award Recipient for Creativity and Excellence. She has extensive conference planning experience and currently serves as the National Conference Planning Chair for the Airport Minority Advisory Council (AMAC) as well as the At-Large Director for the AMAC Board of Directors as SAAS prepares to host the 38th Annual AMAC Airport Business Diversity Conference, which will be held June 10-14, 2023. She has served as Planning Chair for the America Association of Airport Executives (AAAE)/Airports Council International (ACI) Customer Experience Symposium for the past five years and served as the Conference Planning Liaison for the SMART Airports Conference in San Antonio in 2021.

Karen holds a master’s degree in Human Resources Management from Troy University and a bachelor’s degree from Jacksonville State University.  In conjunction with her educational background, Karen is a Certified Customer Care Manager by the Customer Service Institute and a Certified Customer Service Manager by the Customer Service Institute of America. She is also a Certified Customer Experience Specialist by ACI. Through Toastmasters International, Karen has achieved the status of Competent Toastmaster, Advanced Toastmaster Bronze and Competent Leader with Toastmasters International and served as President of the International Customer Service Association – Georgia Chapter. She currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Customer Experience Working Group for ACI and is the past Chair of the Training Committee for AAAE.

Under Karen’s leadership, SAT has been recognized as one of the Best Airports in overall satisfaction for several years. In 2022, JD Power ranked SAT ninth out of 27 airports in the Large Airports category. During the same year, The Wall Street Journal ranked SAT as the fourth Best Medium-Sized Airport and #1 overall in Texas.

In 2019, SAT received recognition for being the first airport in the United States to complete Level 1 and 2 of ACI’s globally established Airport Service Quality (ASQ) program.  In 2021, SAT was one of six airports worldwide to receive the Director General’s Roll of Excellence Award from ACI World and was inducted into ACI World’s Hall of Fame. The accolade is given to airports that have won multiple ASQ awards over a five-year period during the last 10 years.