This article featuring OU alumna Smitha Radhakrishnan (Master of Science, Construction Administration, 2002) was originally published by the Tampa International Airport. Read the original feature here. Re-published with permission.
As a little girl, Smitha Radhakrishnan never imaged having a career overseeing hundreds of employees and managing billion-dollar budgets. Born in India and growing up in Bahrain, she says it was uncommon to find women with highly successful careers or serving in corporate leadership positions. In fact, women in Bahrain weren’t even allowed to vote until as recently as 2002.
But none of that stopped Radhakrishnan from working hard, dreaming big and consistently pushing herself to learn more. Today, she serves as Tampa International Airport’s Executive Vice President of Planning & Development and Maintenance, overseeing more than a third of the Airport’s workforce and managing major construction projects like TPA’s $1.5 billion, 16-gate, international and domestic Airside D, scheduled for completion in 2028.
HOW IT ALL STARTED
Smitha Radhakrishnan was born in India but moved with her tight-knit family to Bahrain when she was young. Her parents were part of her area’s strong Indian community and would spend every Thursday at “thambola,” or bingo night. Smitha would perform traditional Indian Bharatanatyam dancing and her family hung on tightly to their community and culture, supporting their daughter’s love of the arts.
Then came the first Gulf War. Worried about stability in the region, her parents decided to move everyone back to India near her mother’s side of the family in Coimbatore, a city in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu. While it was initially a big adjustment, Radhakrishnan says the culture shock quickly wore off.
INSPIRATION FROM MOM
With the move to India, the family decided to build a new home. Smitha says she vividly remembers her mother, despite no formal training, morphing into a master architect, not only designing the new home and drawing it to scale, but crafting a 3-D model out of packing styrofoam from their move.
“You could dismantle each floor and see the stairs and details inside,” recalls Radhakrishnan. “She had envisioned every detail of that house from the custom designed lazy Susan turntable in our dining room to the monumental spiral stair in the center of our house.”
Radhakrishnan’s mother became project manager for the new home, every day packing lunch and sending her kids off to school before heading to the construction site to supervise work on the home. It was her mother’s work ethic, creativity and attention to detail which perhaps inspired Smitha to study architecture at National Institute of Technology in Tiruchirappalli. It would lead to the next big moment in Radhakrishnan’s life: The decision to pursue her master’s degree in in architecture at the University of Oklahoma in the United States.
GROWING, EVOLVING AND CONTINUALLY LEARNING
At the University of Oklahoma, Radhakrishnan took a teaching assistantship job to help afford her tuition and living expenses.
“That was the first big growth spurt for me in developing my work ethic, trusting my instincts, and taking chances,” recalls Radhakrishnan. “For the first time in my life, I had to fend for myself, and in a foreign country, too.”
She remembers the day when one of her professors started describing some architects as having a pipe dream that lacked an appreciation for practicality or how thing actually get built. It was a moment which stuck with the young architectural student who worried her education up to this point was incomplete. Did her architecture degree alone keep her from seeing the full picture?
“Within a month, I switched my masters to Construction Management, so I could have the tools needed to not only design something, but also make it a reality.”
THE BIG MOVE
Radhakrishnan’s first big job out of school would take her to Texas. Working in a male-dominated field with little to no diversity, she says her focus was not to fit in, but to learn her craft and become the absolute best at what she did.
“I quickly became known for my work ethic and for putting in long hours,” said Radhakrishnan. “I realized that continuous learning is what kept me motivated. It allowed me to continue stretching my limits.”
She loved understanding the big picture.
Texas is also where Smitha met her future husband, Nihar Ranganathan, a computer engineer from California. The two met and got married two years later.
While continuing to grow in her career and push her own limits, Radhakrishnan says another pivotal moment in her life was the decision to conquer her severe fear of heights by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.
“It helped me learn a lot about myself and what I can endure,” said Radhakrishnan. “It also taught me the life lesson of “pole pole,” which in Swahili literally means “slow slow.”
The porters who accompanied her on the climb said instead of getting overwhelming constantly focusing on the peak over the eight days of hiking, she should instead just focus on the single steps in front of her.
“The single steps will get you there,” said Radhakrishnan. “That experience helped me build my risk tolerance and gave me a sense of confident humility.”
THE NEXT BIG LEAP TO AVIATION
After spending 18 years in commercial development, Smitha says she was ready for her next big challenge. In 2018, she interviewed for a job working at the world’s second-largest airport— Dallas Fort Worth International (DFW).
The role would put her in charge of overseeing a multi-billion-dollar capital infrastructure program.
She says the new job was the birth of her “golden hour” habit.
“I started waking up every day at four in the morning to learn, read, and prepare myself for the new role,” said Radhakrishnan. “I realized that embarking on unchartered territories was no longer something that I shied away from.”
She was promoted to head of the planning group for DFW.
After more than 20 years working in construction, she says her background in both architecture and building helped provide her with the skills needed to dream up big airport plans that would also be grounded in reality.
“I hope my professor from OU would be proud.”
Smitha Radhakrishnan (Left) with Laurie Noyes, VP of Concessions & Commercial Parking (Middle) and Veronica Cintron, VP of Communications (Right)
JOINING AMERICA’S FAVORITE AIRPORT
It was that unique, well-rounded background which helped Radhakrishnan land a job as one of Tampa International Airport’s Executive Vice Presidents, overseeing the departments of Planning & Development and Maintenance. The new role was especially important as TPA prepared to begin construction on the all-new Airside D, a new shuttle connector, and further expansion of the Main Terminal, including big changes to the ticketing and baggage claim levels.
“What I saw and experienced was an airport that had exceptional leadership, bold vision, and a strong conviction that its community deserved nothing but the best,” said Radhakrishnan.
She was hired in 2024, becoming one of the highest-ranking female leaders at Tampa International Airport.
“It was an exciting opportunity because I quickly realized how much this community supported this airport and championed its growth.”
RISING TO THE TOP
Smitha Radhakrishnan has not only survived, but thrived in the heavily male dominated fields of both construction and aviation.
She says her secret to success was simply following her passion.
“You can’t worry about what the community thinks or other people’s expectations,” said Radhakrishnan. “You just keep doing what you’re doing and master your craft. The success will come after that.”