Hamm-Niebruegge, who will retire in August after 17 years leading St. Louis Lambert International Airport, has shepherded several significant milestones. Among them: the longsought nonstop flight to London, set to launch in April, and the much-anticipated single-terminal consolidation project. She also oversaw the airport’s tornado-damage recovery and major route expansion. When she retires this summer, she’ll leave the region’s next chapter in aviation on firm ground.
2025 QUESTIONNAIRE
PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS & OPPORTUNITIES
What has you most excited about the future of your company or industry? The fact that we are continuing to negotiate with our airline partners to hopefully agree on the build of a new consolidated terminal that will serve this region for decades to come.
If you could change one thing about your industry, what would it be and why? There are so many outside factors that can influence the need for both leisure and business travelers and our growth is solely reliant on the need to move people and cargo across the world. We are an industry that can fluctuate overnight for supply and demand and that makes it difficult to determine future growth.
What’s the toughest business challenge you’ve had to overcome (excluding the pandemic) and why? People’s opinion of the airport and the economic value to the region! After the dehubbing, it was very difficult for people to see the value this airport brought to the region and how we were going to move forward. That has changed but it was not an easy path.
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MENTORS & PEERS
To whom or where do you go for sound business advice? I look to industry leaders who have spent decades in aviation to get solid advice but I also lean on local business leaders who have a passion for the region and moving it forward.
What piece of advice has had the most significant impact on your career? Stop being a show of one, and rely on the team!
If you could have dinner with any two area business leaders, who would you choose and why? Flint Fowler. He is so balanced in his approach to solving issues and he has made an incredible impact on the lives of so many young boys and girls who could have been lost in the system. Second would be Kathy Mazzarella. She has a fascinating background and being a female CEO of what was historically a male dominated industry parallels with my career path.
Who is the most interesting under-the-radar/emerging business leader in St. Louis and why? This is a tough one because I think there are quite a few, but I think Carolyn Kindle is on the path to being one of the great cheerleaders for St. Louis. She is smart, articulate, caring, and passionate about her work.
What is one thing you would change about the St. Louis metro area business environment and why? I think we have a good start to changing what I thought was a dysfunctional system around economic development. The creation of a unified voice with Greater St. Louis, Inc. (GSL) is moving the needle in the right direction and works closely with the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership to ensure there is alliance on things that matter to the business environment.
BACKGROUND
Where were you born? Oran, MO
What was your childhood aspiration? To work for the CIA.
What was your first job, and what did you learn from it? Working at Nickerson Farm’s as a waitress at the age of 16. It taught me that communication skills and a positive attitude are the best tools for success.
What educational degrees do you hold, and where were they earned? I have a BA in German from the University of Missouri-Columbia and studied at the Goethe Institut in Freiburg, Germany, for a semester.
HOBBIES & INTERESTS
If you were not in your current profession, what would you be doing and why? I honestly don’t know. This was not the career path I intended, but it has given me an incredible journey and I can’t imagine what else would have been as rewarding as these past 40 years in aviation.
What is your favorite St. Louis-area restaurant, and what do you typically order there? I have several, but a great patio is important to me, so Edera would be my pick. It has the best patio in St. Louis, and I order something different every time.
What is one item you recently crossed off your bucket list? A trip to Italy that included Tuscany and Cinque Terre
What is one book you think everyone should read (or podcast everyone should listen to) and why? Tuesdays with Morrie. The book is a true story about resiliency and the human spirit. It is about a man so grateful for life and all that it has to offer that he looks at his diagnosis with ALS in a manner that no one can imagine.
What’s your hobby/passion? I love to host dinner parties, experience different vineyards across the world and spend time with my five grandchildren, all who live in St. Louis.
What is your most prized possession? My family.
What would people be surprised to learn about you—a fun fact? I was raised on a farm and have done everything from milking cows to butchering hogs to canning hundreds of jars of kraut, beans, beets, etc.
What is your go-to karaoke song? “Bad Moon Rising”
