COO Strikes Work-life Balance as a Mother, Wife and Community Leader

Keiva Rodriques is an industrious woman of many talents. She serves as Chief Operating Officer (COO) for the Maryland Aviation Administration, while striking a work-life balance as an attentive mother, wife and community leader.

The career woman reflected on being reared in Baltimore by her parents and first mentors, Valerie Hughes and Charles Hughes. Rodriques attended Baltimore Polytechnic Institute in her youth which prepared her to pursue engineering.

“At the time, I didn’t know I wanted to be an engineer. I thought I wanted to be an architect, but I talked to one of my drafting teachers and told him what I wanted to do, and that I wanted to do something in urban development,” Rodriques said. “I wanted to build and do something where I could come back to the city and make it beautiful. And he said, ‘Well, you don’t want to be an architect. You want to go into civil engineering.’”

Years of focused preparation yielded earned rewards and abilities to make enriching contributions. Rodriques majored in civil engineering at University of Maryland, College Park before earning an MBA from University of Baltimore. She now sits on the Women in Engineering Advisory Board for the University of Maryland, College Park School of Engineering. She looks forward to new opportunities to contribute advice and encouragement.

“I went to the University of Maryland, College Park’s Alumni Affairs Office and told them I wanted to get involved. I told them that I think there is a need for someone to represent aviation as a part of a potential career path for future engineers, and to also be an example for young women who may also be interested in construction management [project management] but may feel uncomfortable in those spaces because there are not many women who look like them.”

Rodriques has been serving as COO in her day job for approximately eight months.

“My core duties include oversight of all internal affairs for the Maryland Aviation Administration, and that also means that I am second in command to the Chief Executive Officer, and our Executive Director, Ricky Smith. I directly oversee our divisions of Administration and Performance Management, which I like to refer to as our people services,” Rodriques said. “I also oversee our division of BWI Operations & Maintenance; our division of Martin State [Airport] Operations & Maintenance; our division of Airport Technology and Innovation; and our division of Planning & Engineering.”

Rodriques—an attentive mother—began working in the aviation field because she wanted to work closer to home and remove the need to commute to D.C.

“I was newly married. I had a new baby. Being a mom is a huge part of my life,” she further explained, stating that her family is her number one priority. “I found a construction management job with a firm with a contract at the airport.

Her initial opportunity was approximately eight years ago. Rodriques has accomplished a great deal while climbing higher, including fostering equity, diversity and inclusion.

“I currently serve as the Chair of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee for the Northeast Chapter of the American Association of Airport Executives. As the chair, I am responsible for promoting, not only diversity, equity and inclusion within our airports in the Northeast chapter, but also for educating… our other aviation partners and our other airport counterparts on how we need to look at operating as an airport; how we serve our community through the lens of diversity, equity and inclusion, because we don’t serve just one section of the community. We serve all of the community,” said Rodriques, also mentioning that she sits on the board.

She added that making sure there is representation within the ranks of airport management and transportation is also important to her. Rodriques noted the importance of making sure that everyone from every generation, every ability level and every ethnicity is comfortable in spaces.

Rodriques, who is a part of other committees, boards and volunteer opportunities, also makes time to contribute to Breaking Down Barriers (a nonprofit that removes barriers for underrepresented individuals who aspire to become pilots); Meals on Wheels of Central Maryland; and the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland.

Despite her many achievements, Rodriques acknowledged the value of impactful family support.

“I couldn’t do any of this without the support of my husband. He is a great advisor and so supportive. His more consistent schedule really helps to keep our daughter on a routine when I’m traveling or supporting other things outside of my day-to-day work activities,” Rodriques said.