News and Press
DENVER – June 26, 2026 – Denver International Airport (DEN) CEO Phil Washington was recently awarded the William “Bill” Jennings Airport Director of the Year Award from the Airport Minority Advisory Council (AMAC). The award honors an Airport Director, Executive Director, President or CEO who exemplifies AMAC’s mission through outstanding leadership, industry impact and commitment to advancing opportunity.
Specifically, Washington received the award because he demonstrates integrity, inspires positive change within DEN and the Denver community and has achieved meaningful results in support of Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE), Airport Concession Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (ACDBE), Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) or Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) initiatives.
“I’m honored to be recognized by AMAC for the work we have done at DEN to expand access and business opportunities for minority and disadvantaged businesses, especially in the concessions program,” Washington said.
Under Washington’s leadership, DEN significantly expanded opportunities for small, disadvantaged, and local businesses. Since 2021, the airport directed over $742 million to small and historically underutilized businesses. DEN has also exceeded small business concession participation goals, achieved nearly 32% participation and generated more than $200 million in small business concession revenue.
Washington advanced structural changes that lowered barriers and created more equitable access to contracting:
The Airport Minority Advisory Council (AMAC) is a national nonprofit trade association dedicated to advancing the full participation of minorities and women in employment and contracting opportunities throughout the aviation and aerospace industries.
The DEN Concessions Program also recently won 12 awards from the 2026 Moodie Davitt Report Airport Food and Beverage Awards, an international food and beverage competition. The “gold” awards DEN won include: Food and Beverage Opening of the Year (The Bindery, Maria Empanada, and Uncle); Bar or Pub of the Year (Williams and Graham) ; Food and Beverage Offer Sense of Place (Williams and Graham, Maria Empanada, the Bindery, the Bagel Deli, D Bar and Tocabe); Instagrammable Location of the Year (Voodoo Donuts); Food and Beverage Offer of the Year (Williams and Graham, D Bar, the Bagel Deli and Tocabe); Food to Go Offer of the Year (Finch on the Fly and Sunset Loop Market). The gold awards have made DEN finalists for the organization’s primary awards taking place in Bengaluru, India in July.
The “silver awards” include Coffee or Tea Shop of the Year (Starbucks and Kabod Coffee), Casual Dining Restaurant (Tocabe and Cholon Modern Asian) and Food Hall of the Year (Denver Street Eats).
Denver International Airport is one of the busiest airports in the world. DEN is the primary economic engine for the state of Colorado, generating more than $47 billion for the region annually. For more information visit www.FlyDenver.com, check us out on YouTube and Instagram, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Sign up for DEN’s monthly newsletter Nonstop News.
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