When a woman reaches the C-suite in the travel concessions industry – or any industry – she is usually expected to influence workplace culture, particularly around diversity and inclusion. But when a Black woman attains that level of leadership, her presence has a broader impact, shaping the organization’s culture from executive leadership to frontline employees.
Nikki Harland, of Concessions International LLC wields that type of influence in the business world and has levied her considerable cache of career achievements and business accomplishments to elevate opportunities for minority inclusion in growth and leadership. Harland’s success underscores both the growing presence of Black women in top executive roles and the influence they bring to bear economic development.
Harland began her career at Turner Broadcasting but she went on to make her mark with retail giants like The Gap and Old Navy before landing in the C-Suite at Paradies Lagardère, a leading travel retailer and restaurateur operating hundreds of stores and dining locations across 90+ airports in North America. At Paradies, the Atlanta-born Spelman grad served as chief operating officer and managed a $1.6 billion budget. For most, that would have been a fete accompli and a ticket to a comfortable retirement, but not for Harland. She instead made a remarkable career move and decided to leave Paradies to become chief executive officer of Concessions International, LLC, a $130 million airport food and beverage company based in Atlanta.
“I received a call that an Atlanta-based concessionaire [was] looking for a CEO,” Harland said, who at the age of 50 had become a key player in the industry and was slated to continue on an upward trajectory.
But in 2025, Harland received a phone call that would change her forever. “Life was good, I was in line for succession in my current role and I [thought] I probably don’t need to … disrupt this,” the pragmatic executive explained. “And then I heard the name Donata Russell, and the gentleman that I’m speaking to said ‘Donata is retiring, and we think you’d be a great fit. She thinks you’d be a great fit,” Harland beamed. “And I was like, ‘you had me at Donata.’”
Donata Russell Ross, CEO of one of the largest woman- and Black-owned airport food and beverage operations in the country, was retiring from CI in after 42 years at the helm of the 46-year-old company. During Russell Ross’s tenure, CI increased airport presence, added national brands, increased women and minority business participation, and successfully managed the company through social and political ebbs and flows in airport environments across the country and in the Virgin Islands
“This decision of leaving a really kind of large gorilla size international prime [organization], to a local, and knowing that we have an audience that wants to see that strategically and business wise and financially was something that makes complete sense,” said the woman who doesn’t shy away from a challenge.
Since taking the reins, CI has grown its dining revenue significantly and made two acquisitions of smaller dining companies to add to its portfolio.
CI is uniquely positioned and remarkably agile since it is relatively free of the internal constraints and bureaucracy that bring decision making to a grinding halt, stall innovation and progress.
Harland says she encourages worker involvement and input. “All of us together are working on how we compete and what that looks like. … It’s more about the quality of your operation, the quality of service. A passenger, in my experience in this industry, doesn’t need to know that Concessions International is on their receipt. They need to know that the brand and their experience [are] five-star,” she concludes adding that CI has the capability and the credibility to make it happen; transaction by transaction, day by day and operation by operation.
CI initiatives implemented by Harland include kiosks operations for an assortment of small electronic technologies at Atlanta-Hartsfield International Airport and the first ever in airport recording booth which recently provided travelers with an opportunity to engage with music titans T.I. and Killer Mike.
As a dynamic food and beverage operator, they serve more than 30 national, regional, and proprietary brands, including quick-service, casual dining, bars, delis, snacks, and café concessions at nearly 40 locations in eight airports in the U.S. and the Virgin Islands.
“It’s that level of innovation, which means try it, fail, succeed, keep going, and that’s a part of our competitive advantage,” says Harland.
