By Jacquelynn D. Powers, Photographs: Tomas Muscionico

osemary Vassiliadis comes across as more soccer mom than power player. But don't let her sweet demeanor sway you. As Clark County Deputy Director of Aviation, Vassiliadis oversees McCarran International Airport, the fifthbusiest airport in the country—internationally, it ranks as number 10—and she does so authoritatively. Rosemary's domain spans overcrowded runways, long taxicab lines, lost baggage, 1,300 ringing slot machines and zoning issues. In her position, she supervises more than 1,200 employees and has a high security clearance. Not only has she seen McCarran through some major scares (including 9/11, the last-minute closure of National Airlines in 2002, and the liquid threat last August), but she does so calmly and evenly. What's more, Vassiliadis doesn't get rattled when you mention the lengthy waits at security (the bane of many travelers' existence) or the Disney World-like line to snare a taxi. Instead, she acknowledges these problems and is determined to fix them.

Vassiliadis' composed demeanor likely comes from her many years employed by the City of Las Vegas and Clark County, where she worked in finance. In her last position there, as director of finance for Clark County, she was responsible for a $2.2 billion operating budget. Rosemary came to McCarran in 1997, and in this new role, she had to learn everything about aviation. "Coming to an airport is like coming to a little city," she says. "When I was growing up, you got dressed up to go on a plane. Maybe I'm dating myself, but it was such a privilege to fly." The learning curve was quick, and soon Rosemary was immersed in the final stages of construction for the D concourse. "When I started here, it was a growth period," the Chicago native explains. "We were getting our infrastructure in order for the megaresorts that had just opened or were going to open, like Mandalay Bay, Bellagio and Venetian."

Since then, technology has been a major buzz word at McCarran. The airport prides itself on cutting-edge advances like RFID luggage tags and advanced computer terminals. "Years ago, we decided that an investment in technology really helps utilize the airport to its capacity," notes Vassiliadis. "We were the first airport to introduce CUTE, which is Common Use Terminal Equipment. That means that any airline can operate out of each of our ticketing and gate stations; it's not exclusive to any one carrier. That system was very useful in 2002 when National Airlines closed their door. We had 20 minutes' notice. I'll never forget that; it was 4:20 p.m. when America West came to the plate, and in less than 40 minutes they were up and running out of all of National's counters because of this equipment. Half of National's passengers were en route; they had no idea what had just happened."

Another innovation is the baggage-screening system, which uses RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags instead of barcodes. McCarran is the first airport in the country to implement this technology. "It has an over-99-percent accuracy rate," says Vassiliadis, in her still-thick Chicago accent. "That has been beneficial with lost bags. More people are checking bags than ever before. This electronically identifies the tag and stores it. Barcodes are one-dimensional; it either reads it or it doesn't. We know this from the grocery store. But RFID is dimensional. It has many layers to it. In the screening system, it identifies the bag, sends it where it needs to go, clears it—or not—and either sends it to get rescreened or to the airplane. That information is stored electronically. If there is an issue, we can look it up." But the system is limited to the 70,000 outbound bags McCarran processes daily, so once your Tumi duffel leaves Las Vegas, it's back to those archaic barcodes ...

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