38. Teresa Rizzuto

Teresa Rizzuto has her feet firmly on the tarmac but she always has her eyes on the skies. This Elmont native knows how to fly passengers off Long Island. She got her start in the aviation business almost two decades ago at JFK, supervising in-flight services for United Airlines before becoming United’s general manager first at the Newark airport in 1999 and then at Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C. in 2003. After a nationwide search, Rizzuto was picked by Islip Town Supervisor Phil Nolan to lead Long Island MacArthur Airport (LIMA to those in the know), where she not only manages critical day-to-day operations at the 1,300-acre facility but spurs the development of Long Island’s fast-growing transportation hub, which serves some 3 million residents. She’s overseen the completion of the Federal Aviation Administration’s $25 million construction of a new state-of-the-art control tower and managed the start of a $12 million road improvement project to make the already convenient Ronkonkoma airport even more appealing and hassle-free. This woman’s surely got wings.