The City of Smithville hired a new airport manager last week, filling the position after the former manager left for a career move. Chelsea H. Jones was named during last week’s meeting of the Smithville Mayor and Aldermen. Jones will take over for Katelyn Sanders.
“Chelsea came highly recommended from the city airport committee. She is a graduate of MTSU and has even done some teaching there. She has been here for about a month and it’s working out very well,” said Mayor Miller.
“We formed a search committee for a new airport manager, and it so happened that Chelsea was the recommendation of all members of the search committee. She came very highly recommended so at that point we began reaching out to her knowing she would be a good candidate. We were very fortunate that she accepted the job. She has been doing a great job. I am not an aviation expert but being the city’s representative on the board I am very pleased with her,” said Alderman Jacobs.
Jones, a resident of Murfreesboro, has an education background in aviation. She earned her bachelor’s degree (B.S.) in Aerospace Administration in the fall of 2018 and a Master of Science (M.S.) in Aviation Safety and Security in the fall of 2020. Prior to college, Jones attended Central Magnet School in Murfreesboro where she graduated with Honors in 2014.
“I spent the last three years as a full-time lecturer for MTSU’s aerospace department and I loved every minute of it,” said Jones. “I was able to get a lot of great experience and meet a lot of great people there and hopefully influence some of the future aviation personnel which is very rewarding. Before I settled down into a long-term career, I did want to pursue what my original degrees were for. I have a bachelor’s degree in airline management, and I have a master’s degree in aviation safety and security. I really wanted to get out on the industry experience side itself which is why I decided to take a step back from the education field and instead go more toward the airport side,” Jones explained.
Asked why she chose Smithville for a career move, Jones said she learned about the job from a friend. She also has a family connection here. “My grandmother grew up in Smithville, so this city came highly recommended to me, and I met a couple of local people here around Smithville that highly recommended the position for me which is how I learned of the job. One of my friends, Christopher Thomas, who was born and raised here is the first one who informed me of the position. He said that Smithville was a very nice city, that this was a very nice airport, and that they (city) were looking for a new manager. I was already looking as well. When it comes to managerial roles, they don’t really crop up too often within airports themselves, so I was eager to jump at this opportunity,” said Jones.
