Ep 105: Meet the African-American Woman Dominating the Airport Retail Landscape

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Have you ever been in the airport, walked into a store or restaurant, and wondered who owns it or how that particular store got such prime real estate?</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Well, today’s guest will shed light on an industry I personally knew very little about. And I promise you you will never look at an airport news, gift shop, or restaurant the same way again.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Her name is Mary Morgan and she is the</span> <a href= "http://morgangroupventures.com/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">President of Morgan Group Ventures, Inc.</span></a></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mary entered the airport arena initially as a consultant to the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority which sparked an interest in airport concessions. After five years of management consulting, Mary decided she wanted to focus solely on concessions and obtained her first inline retail location (</span><a href= "http://www.flyreagan.com/dca/pen-prose-boutique-0"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Pen & Prose Boutique</span></a><span style= "font-weight: 400;">), which she continues to operate today.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Following five years of retail operations, Mary entered a partnership with</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">HMSHost where she has been able to jointly bid, win and operate food and beverage and</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">news and gift locations within airports. Today, Mary operates independently and in conjunction with HMSHost multiple locations in National, Dulles and BWI Airports. Mary</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">has also operated concessions in Philadelphia International Airport.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Prior to founding Morgan Group Ventures, Mary worked in Fortune 100 </span><span style= "font-weight: 400;">companies providing financial services, strategy, process redesign and information </span><span style= "font-weight: 400;">techn