Please join us for lunch!
For our meeting Monday, July 27th, 2026, we welcome
Chris White, A.A.E. President & CEO, Columbia Metropolitan Airport with
Kim J. Crafton Vice President of Marketing & Air Service Development, Columbia Metropolitan Airport.
Chris White
President & CEO
Columbia Metropolitan Airport
Chris White, A.A.E., is an airport executive with more than 30 years of experience helping commercial service airports navigate growth, modernization, and stakeholder collaboration. He most recently served as Chief Operating Officer of the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport Authority, where he oversaw airport operations, marketing, air service development, and a record-setting capital program—supporting passenger growth and securing competitive grants to advance critical infrastructure.
Previously, Chris spent 14 years as Airport Director at Albert J. Ellis Airport in Jacksonville, North Carolina. During his tenure, the airport achieved more than 50% enplanement growth, increased operating revenue, and delivered more than $100 million in terminal, hangar, and airfield improvements with minimal debt. His earlier leadership roles at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, Little Rock National Airport, and DFW International Airport helped build his experience in safety, emergency preparedness, FAA compliance, and large-scale development.
Chris holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and a B.S. in Aerospace Administration from Middle Tennessee State University. An Accredited Airport Executive and private pilot with an instrument rating, he is known for a collaborative, steady approach centered on customer experience, sustainability, and positioning airports as drivers of regional economic growth.
Chris and his wife, Colleen, are excited to join the Columbia community. They are proud parents of twin daughters, Megan and Cora, who will be entering college next year, and the White family looks forward to making the Midlands home.
Kim J. Crafton
Vice President of Marketing and Air Service Development
Columbia Metropolitan Airport
As the Vice President of Marketing and Air Service Development, Crafton is tasked with setting, managing and executing the overall strategic marketing and communications direction for the airport, while also working to proactively increase air service to the Columbia, SC market. Within her department, she leads a team that implements social media tactics that not only inform but creatively connects with its passengers. CAE’s social media presence boasts having the highest number of followers on Instagram of any SC airport. During her time at CAE, Crafton as aided in increasing air service to the airport with the addition of several new routes, on all carriers at CAE, and frequencies.
Prior to CAE, Crafton was the Public Relations Manager at Discover South Carolina. While in that role, Crafton oversaw both domestic and international media relations, managed the award-winning South Carolina Chef Ambassador program and spearheaded numerous events for statewide tourism partners.
A proud Greenville native, Crafton attended the University of South Carolina, where she earned a B.A. in public relations and a master’s in mass communications with a concentration in Integrated Marketing Communications. A former member of the executive board of Public Relations Society of America Travel & Tourism, Crafton is the immediate past president to the Historic Columbia Board of Trustees and the Marketing Chair to the Midlands Business Regional Competitiveness Council. A graduate of Leadership Columbia and Leadership South Carolina, Crafton was also named an “Outstanding Young Alumni” by the University of South Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Communications in 2016 and a Women of Influence by the Columbia Regional Business Report in 2020.