Paul M. Rinaldi, an 18-year veteran air traffic controller from Washington-Dulles Tower, won a runoff election Sept. 17 to become the new president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA).
Rinaldi, who served as executive vice president since 2006, will take office Oct. 17 to begin his three-year term as the sixth president in NATCA’s 22-year history. Rinaldi won 53% of the vote to defeat Miami Center controller Ruth Marlin, who was NATCA’s executive vice president from 2000-2006.
The 5,023 winning votes for Rinaldi were the most for a NATCA national officer election. The runoff election was necessitated because neither Rinaldi nor Marlin won the required 50%-plus one majority in the first balloting in July.
Rinaldi has served NATCA in a variety of roles since the beginning of his air traffic controller career, holding positions such as facility representative and assistant facility representative at Dulles Tower as well as Eastern Region alternate vice president.
