Speaker Profiles

Gail Grimmett
Senior VIce President - New York
Delta Air Lines

Gail Grimmett is senior vice president for Delta Air Lines in New York. As the highest ranking executive based in New York, Gail is charged with developing and achieving Delta’s key strategic objectives for New York State. Within this role, she is responsible for the financial performance of all of Delta’s New York routes and oversees all commercial functions, including marketing, commercial sales, sponsorships, community relations and the customer experience at the airports. She also directs Delta’s state and local government affairs efforts within the State.
During the three years Gail has been in New York, she has led Delta’s cross-functional team to reach an agreement with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on a $1.2 billion terminal redevelopment program at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
She also presided over the largest hub expansion in 40 years at nearby LaGuardia Airport – doubling Delta’s overall capacity out of that airport in July 2012. Through her team’s efforts, Delta’s visibility as a community partner and brand recognition as a corporate sponsor have grown throughout the State.
Delta’s growth and commitment to New York has not gone unnoticed and as such, in 2011, Gov. Andrew Cuomo appointed Gail to the New York State Tourism Council and selected her to serve on his Regional Economic Redevelopment Council for New York City.
Prior to her current role within Delta, Gail served as senior vice president – revenue management for Delta  at its world headquarters in Atlanta. In this role, she was responsible for pricing and inventory strategies to optimize Delta’s passenger revenue across all geographic entities and territories around the world. Under Gail’s leadership, the revenue management team implemented industry-leading technology and competitive pricing strategies that accelerated Delta’s emergence from bankruptcy by achieving its revenue targets more than a year ahead of schedule.
During her 16-year tenure with Delta, Gail has managed some of the airline’s most challenging assignments, including serving as Managing Director of Investor Relations and Chief Economist of Corporate Forecasting and Planning.
Before joining Delta, Gail spent four years as a senior regulatory economist with the Department of Labor – under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, writing and publishing economic and technological feasibility analyses to be included with promulgated regulations.
In 2010, Gail received the Bishop Wright Award and was named Woman of the Year in Aviation. In 2008, Atlanta Business Magazine named her one of the “Top 25 Women to Watch,” and in 2001 Gail was named by Women Looking Ahead magazine as one of Georgia’s Corporate Top 100 Most Powerful and Influential Women.
Gail currently resides in New York City, where she serves on the boards of the Business Council for New York State and the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation and serves on the Advisory Board for the Children’s Health Fund. Additionally, Gail also is a board member of the Aviation Institute at York College.
Gail holds an undergraduate degree from Indiana University and an MBA from George Washington University with a concentration in Business Economics and Public Policy.

Anthony E. Mann
President & CEO
E-J Electric Installation Co.

Anthony Mann is the President and CEO of E-J Electric Installation Co.  He is the third generation of his family to manage the company, which was founded in 1899 and is the oldest independent electrical and communication contractor in the United States.  E-J Electric is a leader in electrical construction and trade management in the healthcare, transit, power generation and mission critical.  Under Tony’s leadership, E-J Electric Installation Co. has completed over $1 billion in major electric construction projects including Yankee Stadium, Brooklyn Nets Barclay’s Center, Mt. Sinai Center for Science and Medicine, The New York Times Headquarters, Bank of America – Mission Critical, 11 Times Square, Astoria Power & Poletti 500 MW Power Plants, WTC Path Station, the Planetarium at the Museum of Natural History, JetBlue JFK Terminal, USTA National Tennis Center, Madame Tussaud’s, Jazz @ Lincoln Center, the United Nations and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Research Center.

Tony holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from Tufts University and earned his MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.  He lectures at Columbia University’s School of Engineering.  He holds Master Electrician Licenses in New York and Connecticut and serves both as a member of the Executive Board of the New York Electrical Contractors, and as a Trustee of the Electrical Employer’s Self Insurance Safety Plan. He is also a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization.  He is President of the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, New York’s largest social services agency serving 65,000 clients annually with 175 programs.

Barbara Wagner
Senior Vice President
Clark Construction Group

Barbara Wagner is a Senior Vice President with Clark Construction Group and is located in their Western Region. Clark Construction is one of the largest general contractors in the country with over $4 billion in annual revenue.  Ms. Wagner has over 27 years of experience in the construction industry working for Clark. She has extensive experience in design/build, healthcare and sustainable markets. 

Ms. Wagner serves on the Executive Board and is the 2013 Chair of National Design Build Institute of America (DBIA) and serves as President Emeritus of DBIA’s Western Pacific Region. She is a graduate of Catholic University earning a BS in Architecture and holds a Masters in Civil Engineering and Construction Management from the University of Maryland. Her professional licenses and accreditations include a contractor and engineer’s license in the state of California and LEED accreditation.

Susannah Zweighaft LEED® AP, IESNA, PLDA, CLEP, LC
Partner – AKF Group, LLC, Director AKF - Lighting Design Studio

Susannah Zweighaft has over 30 years of professional architectural lighting design experience and has been lead designer on over 750 lighting projects. As a Partner headquartered in the AKF New York City office, Ms. Zweighaft manages lighting design projects through-out the all AKF offices, currently numbered at 10. She has been the Director the AKF Lighting Design Studio for over 10 years and previously ran a Lighting Department for 15 years before joining AKF.  Working within an engineering firm provides both creative and practical solutions to every design. Both aesthetic and energy concerns are mastered gracefully. She is Lighting Certified (LC) by The National Council on Qualifications for the Lighting Professions (NCQLP), a LEED Accredited Professional and an Certified Lighting Efficiency Professional (CLEP) by the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE). Her experience includes corporate, commercial, museum, educational, public space, residential, healthcare, monument, institutional, and sports facilities.  She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatrical Lighting from Carnegie-Mellon University and studied electrical engineering at City College. Ms. Zweighaft is a member of the IALD, PLDA and has been a member of the IES since 1982. She has been published in LDA and her work has been recognized by the IESNA. Ms. Zweighaft  served as the Lumen Awards Co-Chair from 2001-2004 and will again in 2013.