Trail of yes leads one-time engineering trainee to aviation director post at the Port Authority of NY/NJ

On one of her first days working at Newark Liberty International Airport, Sarah McKeon was still trying to get her bearings. At the time, she was an environmental engineering design trainee, new to the Port Authority, new to airports entirely, and was assigned to learn how environmental programs are managed in the field. Then she heard her name. The airport’s general manager, Sue Baer, was walking toward her.

“Within the first week or so, she sought me out and introduced herself,” McKeon recalled. “She told me it was great that I, as a young female in engineering learning about maintenance, was there.”

To McKeon, the brief encounter left a lasting impression, one that inspired her to continue saying yes to new opportunities, even when they took her to unfamiliar territory. After 21 years at the Port Authority where she started as a young engineering recruit, she now finds herself in charge of one of the busiest airport systems in the world as the Port Authority’s aviation director.

McKeon joined the Port Authority in 2004 after the agency held a recruitment event at her alma mater, Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J. Fresh out of college with an environmental engineering degree, she said yes to the Port Authority with more of a focus on paying off student loans than finding a lifelong career.

She came on board as part of a wave of young recruits joining an agency undergoing rebuilding and renewal following its profound loss on 9/11.

“People were regrouping, the agency was close-knit, there was a lot of collaboration and focus on developing talent because there was a clear need for succession plans,” she said. “The people I was working for always encouraged me to say yes. Always take an opportunity when it comes to you.”

Three years into her Port Authority tenure came the first test of that mindset. After starting as an environmental engineer, an opportunity arose in the procurement department, which is responsible for doing business with vendors and suppliers, transforming plans and ideas into contracts and construction.

It wasn’t a natural fit for her skill set, but she accepted anyway.

“It was a sidestep a little outside my comfort zone and outside my interests,” she admitted. “But from there I learned a lot about how this agency works and got to know a lot more people. Procurement opened my eyes to the breadth of work that the agency does and the things we’re responsible for.”

A year and a half later, she was asked to join the aviation department as the Port Authority was introducing a new asset management program. Senior leaders thought McKeon’s engineering background and growing institutional knowledge made her a strong fit. Again, she said yes to a largely unknown prospect.

She dug into aviation facility management as a career, working under the leadership of Baer, who was well on her way to becoming a trailblazer not just inside the Port Authority, but within the worldwide aviation community. Baer would go on to serve as the agency’s first female aviation department director, after becoming the first person ever to serve as general manager at all three of the agency’s major airports.

“At the time I met Sue, I was a peon at the airport,” McKeon said. “Sue was a huge proponent not just for women in the agency but for women within the aviation community, and for her to come and find me and tell me she’s there to support me spoke volumes.”

From there, McKeon’s career took off, rising into the managerial ranks of Newark’s maintenance and construction teams, culminating in early 2023 when she became the general manager of New Jersey airports, which include Newark Liberty International and Teterboro airports, just as Newark opened its acclaimed new Terminal A. She was named the agency’s aviation director in early 2025 following the retirement of Charles Everett.

With McKeon’s appointment this year, the Port Authority also reached a first in its century-plus history: all five of its major business departments across aviation, PATH, tunnels, bridges and terminals, the seaport and the World Trade Center are now led by women.

Her arrival in the role comes at a transformative time. At John F. Kennedy International Airport, a $19 billion overhaul is redeveloping the nation’s busiest international gateway. At Newark Liberty, a new Terminal B and a fully modernized $3.5 billion AirTrain are on the horizon as part of the long-range Newark Vision Plan, which will reimagine airport terminals, roadways, and taxiways through 2065. Even as those projects unfold, the airports continue to serve near-record passenger volumes.