It is with heavy hearts that we continue to mourn the loss of our CEO Sandy Ross, who passed away last month after a short illness.
The sense of loss throughout our YSJ community – from our dedicated staff to our partners and everyone who works on airport grounds – has been profound. Sandy wasn’t just our leader; he was someone who made his team feel valued and appreciated for their contributions.
When we hired Sandy as CEO of Saint John Airport in 2022, we knew we needed someone different. We weren’t looking for business as usual – we needed a leader who could think like a business development person, someone who could look at YSJ and ask, “How do we grow in a new and different way?”
At the time, we were coming out of the pandemic and emerging from a time where all flights here and everywhere were cancelled amid great uncertainty. We had a strong operational team in place. What we needed in a CEO was someone with a growth mindset, and someone who had successfully navigated companies through transition periods.
Sandy was that leader.
In the short time he was with us, Sandy accomplished what many thought impossible. He brought on new airline partners with Flair and Pascan, strengthened our relationship with Air Canada, and became the first leader to truly break through on developing airport lands – something that had been talked about for years, but nobody had been able to make happen.
Sandy’s approach went beyond just checking boxes. He understood that land development wasn’t just about creating another revenue stream – it was about sustainability and creating stability for when challenges like pandemics or business downturns occur.
Wonderful way
It was about ensuring we could continue building more flight options and better service for our communities. He always made sure we told that story clearly: land development as a means to an end, enabling us to grow air service and provide the revenue stability that allows us to weather any storm.
What made Sandy special wasn’t just his relentless determination or his business acumen. It was how he led – with humility, with humour, and always making people feel appreciated for their work. He built strong relationships, whether with our First Nations community partners, community and business leaders, or the staff right here at YSJ.
He had this wonderful way of challenging us to think outside the box, famously joking that we could develop almost “everything from aeronautical businesses to an alpaca farm.”
Alpacas became the running joke, but represented something deeper – Sandy’s ability to stretch our minds and help us see opportunities we hadn’t considered before.
Legacy lives on
Sandy took on YSJ as a real business challenge, and once he locked in on that challenge, not achieving success was simply not an option for him. He worked at this mission right up until his passing.
The best way we can honour Sandy’s memory is to continue pursuing that vision with the same determination, humour, and relationship-focused approach that defined his leadership. His legacy lives on in every partnership he forged, every innovative idea he championed, and every person he made feel valued along the way.
Sandy had a greater plan for YSJ – a strategic view that encompassed sustainable growth, diversified revenue streams, and enhanced air service unlike anything we’d achieved in the past.
As we continue to grieve his loss, we’re also committed to honouring him by finishing what he started.
Susan Harley is Chair of the Board of Directors of the Saint John Airport.