Hard-charging airport leader has Rockford 'at heart'

The hard-charging and sometimes abrasive Mike Dunn has been called a political operative, a deal maker and a consensus builder. He's also been called things that can't be printed.

But there is little doubt that Dunn, 71, is one of a kind.

As he retires this month after 12 years as executive director of the Chicago Rockford International Airport, his mark on the Rockford region can't be denied.

Those who know him say Dunn is a Republican who plays "old school" political hardball, but doesn't hesitate to befriend and praise Democratic elected officials for their support of the airport including Sen. Dick Durbin and Gov. JB Pritzker. Dunn is a regional ambassador and, when necessary, the guy who is unafraid to throw his weight around to get things done.

"People don’t really understand that Mike is patriotic," Rockford Election Board Chairman Ryan Brauns said. "He has a fierce sense of loyalty to friends and family and this city. He also has just a God-fearing nature despite that Irish temper that can hold some long grudges."

Rockford's airport was little known outside the region when Dunn began his tenure at the airport. An annual airshow was a way to draw attention and show off what it had to offer. Eventually, the airport was so busy that the airshow was impossible to continue.

Although passenger service has expanded on Dunn's watch, cargo business has exploded. With 3.4 billion pounds of landed weight recorded by the Federal Aviation Authority in 2022, Rockford is now ranked the 13th largest cargo airport in the United States.

Airport deputy director Zack Oakley will succeed Dunn and take the role of executive director starting Jan. 1.

'Wanted that billion'

Dunn said the airport spurred more than $900 million in annual economic activity according to an Illinois aviation economic impact analysis released soon after he was named executive director in January 2012.

"That was just shy of a billion and I was really upset because I wanted that billion in the worst way. Couldn't get it," Dunn said in an interview. "So 10 years later, they re-did it. Now it came out at $4.5 billion dollars this time."

That 2020 report found that the Rockford airport had the third-most economic impact among airports in Illinois behind Chicago’s Midway and O’Hare airports. And the study showed that not only did 8,000 people work at the Rockford airport itself, but that it helped to create 21,476 jobs in the region, nearly 75% more than the 2012 study had shown.

Dunn worked with city, county and airport officials to parlay every investment into the next big thing, from UPS expansions to partnering with Rock Valley College to create a Aviation Maintenance Technology Program in 2014 and recruiting AAR Corp. to establish a maintenance, repair and overhaul facility in 2016 that now employs about 400 people and services United Airlines' 737 fleet.

Rockford is now home to the second-largest UPS hub in North America, has a huge Amazon Air facility and serves more than 15 international airlines and freight businesses.

Tough times

A Rockford native, Dunn is a Boylan High School graduate who attended the University of Saint Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota until 1974 where he majored in journalism. Dunn planned on becoming a sports writer and landed a couple internships at Chicago newspapers.

But after college he wound up working in his father's manufacturing company called Winnebago Cabinet Company and married Linda, his high school sweetheart. Always interested in politics, Dunn went to work for Jim Thompson, who at the time was a U.S. Attorney running for governor. He worked as a travel aide for Thompson during the campaign and for a couple years in Springfield.

He returned to Rockford to start a trucking business. Called Miller Transportation, Dunn operated the business until the late 80s when a recession crushed it.

"Those were tough, tough, tough times," Dunn said. "But it was a failure and I felt bad about it."

He went to work as a real estate agent for Dickerson & Nieman Realtors where he stayed for 18 years and became general manager.

"With the help of two people — Tom Dickerson and Frank Wehrstein — the three of us, we called it the triumvirate, the three of us, took that company from $20 million to $350 million in sales and from 20 agents to 160 agents in five offices," Dunn said. "I loved every minute of it. I loved real estate."

Eventually, Dunn was tapped to reinvigorate Rockford downtown entertainment venues.

'Real deal'

During the administrations of former Mayor Larry Morrissey and former Winnebago County Board Chairman Scott Christiansen, there was plenty of division and disagreement between the city and county from law enforcement to government, Dunn said.

Dunn went to work for the mayor and chairman through a deal in which he was paid by the Rockford Area Economic Development Council to work on multiple fronts to improve cooperation and communication. Dunn was doing that job when he said it became clear that the MetroCentre was in financial trouble.

"Mayor Morrissey came to me and said 'I'd like you to go downtown to the MetroCentre Authority and see if you can clean things up a little bit.' He said, 'We're running out of money to give them. We're going to have to close the place if we don't get it figured out.' So I went down and basically we reorganized the whole place, including the board and the management," Dunn said.

Dunn led two committees that studied the city's downtown entertainment venues and in 2010 produced a “Raising the Curtains” report. It was the culmination of nine months of work and hundreds of volunteer hours of research, debate and meetings.

It led to the creation of the Rockford Area Venues & Entertainment Authority which changed how the city managed its downtown entertainment venues. Eventually, the BMO Center — then known as the MetroCentre arena — Coronado Performing Arts Center and Davis Park were placed under the RAVE Authority's umbrella.

With Morrissey and Christansen, Dunn said he wanted to avoid typical political appointees to the board. They assembled a RAVE Authority team that had expertise in a wide variety of business, human resources and legal matters.

Rockford Ald. Frank Beach, R-10, said he watched as Dunn helped turn around the operations of the venues and drive "amazing" growth at the Rockford airport.

"Mike Dunn is the real deal," Beach said. "He speaks his mind. I think he has the city at heart. He's a person that really can make things happen, bring consensus. And a lot of times people don't like him. When he's got a mission in mind, he goes after it."

'Love the guy'

Dunn has also kept a hand in politics, preferring to work behind the scenes.

It was Dunn who in 2015 convinced Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Crosby Stark Real Estate owner Jean Crosby to run for Winnebago County Board.

Crosby who isn't seeking re-election next year, said Dunn backed and advised her campaign, twice writing letters to constituents urging them to support her. She went on to defeat John F. Sweeney, then the county board majority leader, in a March 2016 Republican primary to represent District 16.

Asked what she thinks of Dunn, Crosby said "love the guy" and that his work at the airport has been "exemplary."

"When Mike Dunn came in, things began to happen," Crosby said. "And now we're a full blown cargo hub that never would have existed had Mike Dunn not stepped into the job."

No 'accident'

Greater Rockford Airport Authority Board Chairman Paul Cicero said commissioners found strong candidates when a national search was conducted for an executive director. However, they weren't looking for a caretaker who would come in and do a nice, status quo job.

They wanted someone to push the envelop and develop the airport into an economic engine.

They turned to Dunn who had previously served as airport board chairman from 2001 to 2011. Dunn was coming off the successful reorganization of Rockford downtown entertainment venues including the MetroCentre, Cornado Performing Arts Center and Davis Park under the banner of the Rockford Area Venues & Entertainment Authority.

And he promised to turn the airport's potential into a reality.

"We wanted to have somebody who was going to produce and do something for the community," Cicero said. "So when you look out here today and you see Rock Valley College, AAR, International cargo, Amazon, UPS expansion — all this stuff was promulgated and encouraged and sold and it takes a lot of effort to do that. That stuff didn't happen by accident. And that's why it happened here instead of some other place in the Midwest or Des Moines."

Jeff Kolkey writes about government, economic development and other issues for the Rockford Register Star. He can be reached at (815) 987-1374, via email at jkolkey@rrstar.com and on Twitter @jeffkolkey.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Love him or hate him, Rockford's Mike Dunn pushed hard for airport