{"id":18933,"date":"2015-05-21T14:27:20","date_gmt":"2015-05-21T18:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/?p=18933"},"modified":"2015-05-21T14:27:20","modified_gmt":"2015-05-21T18:27:20","slug":"high-flyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/2015\/05\/21\/high-flyer\/","title":{"rendered":"High Flyer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Air travel guru Marion Blakey \u201970<\/strong> racks up corporate connections faster than frequent fliers collect miles. So when the soon-to-retire president and CEO of jet-engine giant Rolls-Royce North America asked her to lunch last winter, she took it in stride.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was just part of the ongoing discussions I tend to have with him and others,\u201d said Blakey, who realized during the course of the meal she was being courted for the job. \u201cYou could\u2019ve knocked me over with a feather.\u201d<\/p>\n

She took the reins this\u00a0month, the first woman to lead the London-based company that employs 9,000. It\u2019s just one of the boundaries Blakey has broken in a high-flying career that\u2019s made our skies \u2013 and our country \u2013 more secure.<\/p>\n

\"Blakey_HP\"<\/a>
Photo courtesy of AIA\/Dan Stohr<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Back in 1966, she opted to travel by land, boarding a northbound train from her Gadsden, Alabama, home to an all-women\u2019s college. She reached Fredericksburg before the sun that summer morning, steamer trunk in tow.<\/p>\n

Making her way to Mary Washington, she couldn\u2019t have known the heights she would reach. Looking back now, she isn\u2019t surprised.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt never crossed my mind it would be any other way,\u201d Blakey said in her sultry-smooth Southern voice, springtime sun beaming on the Potomac outside her 17th-story office, where she headed Aerospace Industries Association for the past seven years.<\/p>\n

She majored in \u201cpre-foreign service,\u201d now \u201cinternational affairs\u201d at UMW, and under the guidance of the late Professor of Philosophy and Asian Studies Kurt Leidecker, graduated with honors.<\/p>\n

With college friends, including \u201cbestie\u201d Grammy-winning HBO documentary producer Susan Wagner Lacey \u201970<\/strong>, Blakey moved to Washington, D.C. She studied Middle Eastern affairs at Johns Hopkins\u2019 Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, landed a clerk\u2019s job at the National Endowment for the Humanities and took flight faster than a 747 on a blue-sky day.<\/p>\n

By the time she left, she was director of public affairs.<\/p>\n

Next came a string of presidential appointments \u2013 in commerce, education, and transportation \u2013 and a daughter! In a quest for work-family balance, Blakey switched gears.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you have to accept \u2026 that if you\u2019re going to throw yourself heavily into your career, it will be at the expense of other things,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She launched consulting company Blakey and Associates, and ran it for nearly a decade, leaving after 9\/11 to chair the National Transportation Safety Board. American Airlines flight 587 went down in Queens, New York, that same month, and Blakey led the investigation into the second deadliest air crash in U.S. history.<\/p>\n

Also on her log book: Five years at the helm of the Federal Aviation Administration, the safest period in public air travel; a slew of boards and committees; numerous awards, including the 2013 Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy for leadership in aviation; and one of Blakey\u2019s pet projects \u2013 the Next Generation Air Transportation System.<\/p>\n

She\u2019ll continue to support \u201cNextGen,\u201d a multi-year strategy using satellite-based technologies to improve air traffic control, at Rolls-Royce. It\u2019s a slight change in her flight plan, but Blakey\u2019s still full speed ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fulfilling to know when you get up in the morning that the work you\u2019re doing really matters in the daily lives of people in this country and around the world,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re supporting our national security. It\u2019s tremendous.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aerospace leader lands top job at Rolls-Royce.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":18934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"umw_cb_additional_links":[[]],"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_advisory_expires_time":"","_advisory_meta_include":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4,81],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-18933","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-show","8":"category-umw-home","9":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHigh Flyer - Great Minds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/2015\/05\/21\/high-flyer\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lisa Chinn Marvashti\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2015\\\/05\\\/21\\\/high-flyer\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2015\\\/05\\\/21\\\/high-flyer\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lisa Chinn Marvashti\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/eab3b9dd084c2488474792f0c391b8e7\"},\"headline\":\"High Flyer\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-05-21T18:27:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2015\\\/05\\\/21\\\/high-flyer\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":566,\"commentCount\":1,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2015\\\/05\\\/21\\\/high-flyer\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/20\\\/2015\\\/05\\\/Blakey_HP.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Show on Great Minds\",\"UMW Home Page\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2015\\\/05\\\/21\\\/high-flyer\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2015\\\/05\\\/21\\\/high-flyer\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2015\\\/05\\\/21\\\/high-flyer\\\/\",\"name\":\"High Flyer - 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