Elaine Rodriguez was looking for a new job in 2011 when a recruiter asked if she was interested in being the general counsel of Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.
“I was curious why the airport would be interested in me, since I had never worked in government and knew nothing about airports other than which ones had great duty-free shops,” Rodriguez told The Texas Lawbook. “DFW Airport was looking for someone with a business background rather than a municipal government background like my predecessor. So much of what goes on the airport is business — concessions leasing, commercial development, the parking business, construction, oil and gas, etc.”
“The more I learned, the more intrigued I became. And after years of doing annual reports and proxy statements, I thought it might be interesting to learn new things,” she said. “And, boy, have I learned new things.”
Rodriguez faced a huge test only four months into the job when American Airlines, which carries 80 percent of the 87 million passengers through DFW Airport, filed for bankruptcy.
“It was a wake-up call,” Rodriguez said.
The 14 years since have been filled with steep challenges and major achievements, including:
- The Covid-19 pandemic, which slashed air traffic by 50 percent in 2020 and endangered the jobs of its 2,000 DFW Airport employees;
- Expanded Terminal D, which handles primarily international flights, adding four gates in 2021;
- Renovated and modernized a portion of Terminal C in 2022;
- Supervised and played a critical role in the issuance of more than $10 billion in bond issuances;
- Negotiated and signed a 10-year use and lease agreements in 2023 with American Airlines and 43 other passenger and freight airlines that use the airport — contracts that included preapproved capital investments to modernize existing terminals and make much-needed infrastructure improvements. In 2025, extended the agreement to 2043 and increased the Terminal F investment to $4 billion, creating DFW’s future terminal experience;
- Saw the approval of a historic $12 billion capital investment plan to modernize and expand airport facilities and infrastructure, delivering comprehensive upgrades to airfield, terminal, and roadway systems to support future growth and create a world-class travel experience.
And just this week, DFW Airport saw nearly 4,000 flights cancelled or delayed due to the winter storm.
“There is no shortage of challenges,” Rodriguez said.
The Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Lawbook are honoring Rodriguez with the 2025 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for Lifetime Achievement. Rodriguez and other award finalists will be celebrated this Thursday evening at the George W. Bush Institute.
“Elaine is, in many ways, an important hub of the airport, and through her flows information necessary to keep the airport in compliance with federal securities rules and to complete their many disclosure documents relating to bond sales,” said Bracewell partner Julie Partain, who nominated Rodriguez for the honor. “She takes the airport’s continuing compliance with its disclosure obligations very seriously and works with us to help make sure all departments within the airport are also aligned.”
Carrington Coleman partner Cathy Lilford Altman said Rodriguez uses “incredible legal acumen and strategic insights” in providing guidance to DFW Airport executives and board.
“Elaine’s strength as a lawyer and leader stem from the calm and humble intelligence and conviction she brings to every legal and business challenge,” Altman said. “She values different viewpoints and thoughtfully considers the perspectives of everyone regardless of status or seniority. Even when Elaine sees the right answer more quickly than others, she patiently allows others to consider alternatives and engage in learning before landing at the same place.”
“Elaine models genuine, caring and approachable leadership that inspires others in the profession to follow her lead,” she said. “In a profession where aggressiveness and bravado are rewarded, she demonstrates that humility and warm assertiveness are ideal attributes for the person holding one of the most influential general counsel positions in the region.”
Paul Tomme, who has been legal counsel for DFW Airport for nearly 30 years, said the range and complexity of legal issues that face Rodriguez regularly are astounding. The issues range from constitutional issues (free speech rights involving advertising, picketing and protesting) and employment law to personal injury claims and the thousands of contracts that she must review and approve annually.
Tomme said the real estate and bond issuance issues and the regulatory matters involving those are extraordinary.
“Elaine rides herd over numerous bond lawyers and construction lawyers, as well as advising board members and senior executives of both federal and state law regarding contracting, [and that] is a challenging task,” Tomme said. “Fortunately, Elaine has many years of experience in both securities law and capital development programs. Such programs cannot be done in isolation and require multiple teams, some with competing objectives. Elaine has put together teams under her area of responsibility that are the best in their fields, and she works long hours to study and understand their work products.”
“There are times, especially with respect to bond issuances, when financial markets rely on her signature, among others, and she is acutely aware of the gravity of her responsibilities,” he said.
Premium Subscriber Q&A: Elaine Rodriguez discusses the traits she seeks in outside counsel, what outside counsel need to know when working with her and more.
Rodriguez was born in Oklahoma and raised on a farm just north of Tulsa.
Her father was in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II and flew cargo planes in the South Pacific Theatre. During the Korean Crisis, he served as a flight instructor in France. After retiring from military service, her parents purchased a farm near Sperry, Oklahoma, and her dad worked for the National Bank of Tulsa. Her mother grew up in Eastland, Texas, and earned her B.A. in Music from the University of Evansville in Indiana. She was a principal soloist at several churches, directed choirs, taught private voice lessons and taught elementary and high school music.
“Growing up on a farm, I learned the value of hard work early on,” Rodriguez said. “Everyone is expected to pitch in and do chores. I was driving tractors, hauling hay, feeding animals, repairing fences, working in the garden at a very young age. There are no days off or vacations. But the work is satisfying, in that, at the end of the day, you can actually see and take pride in what you accomplished.”
“That’s where I grew up — at least until they decided to extend Highway 75 from Tulsa to Bartlesville, Oklahoma,” she said. “It went right through the middle of the farm. Civilization had found us. Fun fact. My maternal grandfather was a landman for Sinclair Oil for years working out of Eastland, Texas. I don’t believe his work was nearly as exciting as that portrayed in a certain Netflix series.”
The summer before her junior year in high school, her dad retired from banking and they moved to a cattle ranch in Southeastern Oklahoma, near Poteau.
During her junior year in high school, Rodriguez got a job working for the Poteau News & Sun, a local bi-weekly newspaper.
“I did everything you can imagine at a small-town newspaper — wrote stories, took photos and even delivered the newspapers to local grocery stores when it was published on Wednesdays and Saturdays,” she said. “I also covered the courthouse. I’d go to the LeFlore County Courthouse each week to get the names of folks who got marriage licenses or who had been arrested. That gave me the opportunity to get to know the sheriff, county judge and some of the local lawyers.”
At that point, Rodriguez planned to pursue a career in journalism, but it gave her an early exposure that definitely piqued an interest in the law.
After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in communications from Loyola University in New Orleans, Rodriguez earned her law degree from neighboring Tulane University in 1982.
Rodriguez spent five years as a corporate associate at Akin, Gump, Straus, Hauer & Feld in Dallas and then a year at Atlas & Hall.
Zoecon, the Swiss pharmaceutical and chemical giant now known as Novartis, had been one of Rodriguez’ clients at Akin and Atlas & Hall. In 1991, the company hired her as its general counsel.
In 1993, the wireless communications company CellStar hired Rodriguez as its first GC. During her 14 years at CellStar, the company grew revenues from $224 million to $2.28 billion.
In 2008, Rodriguez joined another wireless communications firm, EF Johnson Technologies, a NASDAQ-listed company, when a private equity group took the company private in early 2011.
Then came the call from the recruiter for the DFW Airport job in the summer of 2011.
Rodriguez said she is “particularly proud” of how the airport handled the Covid-19 pandemic, which saw demand for passenger air travel plummet.
“We made the decision to support our concessionaires who depend on passengers to keep their businesses alive, giving significant breaks on rent,” she said. “We received approximately $615 million in federal relief proceeds, which we used to offset the negative impact of the pandemic on airline rates and charges. We made hard decisions to reduce operating costs but also made a commitment to keep all of our employees. We also had to navigate the rapidly changing landscape of federal, state and local health and safety regulations and orders.”
The biggest change during the past 14 years, according to Rodriguez, relates to innovation and technology.
“Our business folks are focused on finding innovative ways to deliver services to passengers,” she said. “But, as a governmental entity, we don’t have the same flexibility that private sector businesses have, particularly in procurement. A big part of my job is trying to help our business folk achieve their goals but always in compliance with applicable law and regulations. As with all in-house counsel, cybersecurity has also become a major focus for us.”
A major recent challenge that Rodriguez and DFW Airport have faced is the Trump administration’s ban on what it considers to be “illegal” DEI and diversity contracting. Through executive orders, the president has required all federal agencies to require federal grant recipients to certify that they do not operate any programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in violation of applicable federal antidiscrimination laws.
The administration states diversity programs that grant opportunities, benefits or advantages to certain groups based on race or gender presumptively violate federal law. In October, the federal government published an interim final rule that amends federal regulations governing the Department of Transportation’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise and Airport Concessions Disadvantaged Business Enterprise programs to remove the presumption of disadvantage based on race and gender.
“Since the airport relies heavily on federal grants to help fund critical aviation infrastructure improvements, as well as law enforcement, public safety, emergency management and other initiatives, our board suspended our Minority Women Business Enterprise program to avoid the risks and costs of potential legal challenges and to preserve the airport’s continued access to much needed federal grant funds going forward,” Rodriguez said. “The airport remains committed to supporting the region’s small business community and, as a result, developed a new Small Business Enterprise program to take the place of the MWBE program. These changes have impacted, not only existing contracts, but the way the airport will do business going forward.”
Dallas bankruptcy lawyer Rosa Orenstein of the Orenstein Law Group, who has worked with Rodriguez through her 14 years at DFW Airport, described Rodriguez as “sturdy as a rock yet has a deft touch in handling people.” She said Rodriguez’s handling of the American Airlines bankruptcy when she first joined as general counsel was an “extraordinary success” for the airport.
“The American bankruptcy impacted many different parts of the airport operation,” Orenstein said. “Elaine navigated all the parts affected with ease, diplomacy and terrific outcomes for all impacted on the airport side. When you consider the results she achieved just in the American Airlines and the Delta Airlines bankruptcy cases, her impact is in the millions of dollars.”
“Elaine listens carefully to the various points of view affecting any particular problem, from the legal side to the on-the-ground practical effect on the employees at DFW who are tasked with carrying out any particular decision,” she said.
Rodriguez told The Lawbook that her best day at DFW Airport came in 2023, when the airport reached a settlement with Turo, the car-sharing company, to get them to enter into a permit to operate at the airport legally.
“Turo and its ‘hosts’ had been operating on the airport for several years, ignoring our demands that they enter into an operating permit and pay the required fees to the airport,” Rodriguez said. “We finally had to file suit, seeking a restraining order to stop their activity. It was a hard-fought battle, but we were ultimately successful in settling the matter. Turo agreed to enter into an operating permit and paid a pretty hefty settlement amount. I’m really proud of the work we did and am happy to report that Turo’s business continues to grow at the airport.”
Rodriguez said the lawyer who won the case for DFW Airport was Shauna Wright, a partner at Kelly Hart in Fort Worth, who she describes as “tough as nails.”
“Elaine is skilled at recognizing team members’ strengths and encouraging growth on her team,” Wright told The Lawbook. “She is respected for her level disposition and wise counsel. Managing the legal and logistical challenges of the pandemic. It’s a herculean task to manage that kind of mayhem at a major international airport.”
Fun Facts: Elaine Rodriguez
- Favorite book: Grapes of Wrath. It is such a powerful story of survival. Also, as a kid growing up in Oklahoma, I had noticed that several of my classmates had moved to Oklahoma from California. It wasn’t until later that I put the pieces together and realized the connection and that many of their families were moving “back home.” I guess that really brought the story home for me.
- Favorite music group: Earth, Wind & Fire — hands down! I’ve seen them in concert several times. Just love the blend of jazz, R&B, soul and Latin genres. It’s impossible to sit still when one of their songs comes on the radio. It may only be a head nod, but it’s moving!
- Favorite movie: I’d give away my secret inner-nerdiness if I confessed that it’s Star Wars! Otherwise, I think my all-time favorite is Some Like It Hot, with Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. One of the funniest movies ever made. Anytime it comes on TV, I have to watch it.
- Favorite restaurant: Mi Cocina and their Mama’s Chicken con Hongos. It’s a great place to go with the family.
- Favorite beverage: A frozen margarita from Mi Cocina.
- Favorite vacation: Years ago, my company’s U.K. subsidiary had a lawsuit that was set for trial in London at the Royal Courts of Justice. I thought it would be a great experience for my kids (who were 13 and 10 at the time) to witness an actual British trial, complete with barristers in wigs and robes, so I took them with me. Since they were missing school, their teachers asked them to send daily reports on what they witnessed as “homework.” As often happens in litigation, we ended up settling the lawsuit on the courthouse steps. We didn’t get to witness the trial, but we turned our trip into an impromptu vacation, spending several days in London and then taking the Chunnel to Paris for another few days. My kids had a blast, exploring museums, art galleries, cathedrals and other historical buildings, and writing home about their experiences each day.
- Hero in life: My mother. She just passed away in August 2025 at the age of 100. Despite illness and the aches and pains that come with old age, she remained happy and always had a smile on her face. I think that was just how she was wired. She was resilient and always looked for the good in people. Even though, as a lawyer, we’re trained to anticipate the worst, I hope that I can be a bit more like her.