JAMAICA, N.Y. – Rick Ducharme, a native of Auburn, Maine, and a 23-year veteran of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Air Traffic Service, has been named manager of the Air Traffic Division for the Eastern Region. His appointment became effective Feb. 23.

Ducharme, who previously served as deputy director of the agency’s Air Traffic Systems Requirements Service, succeeds Frank Hatfield, who was named director of FAA’s Air Traffic Resource Management Program in Washington, D.C.

Ducharme is responsible for overseeing the work of more than 3,200 air traffic controllers and supervisory, managerial and support staff in approximately 52 facilities in the seven-state Eastern Region. Ducharme is based in New York City.

The northeastern United States is a heavily used corridor for commercial, military and general aviation aircraft movements and is among the busiest air traffic corridors in the world. The region is also home to some of the country’s busiest airports, including Kennedy International, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty International Airports in the New York metropolitan area.

Ducharme is a 1974 graduate of Edward Little High School in Auburn, Maine. Following four years of service with the United States Air Force, he attended the University of Maine at Farmington from 1978 to 1981. He began his FAA career in March 1982 as an air traffic control specialist at Logan International Airport in Boston. He held several supervisory positions in Boston before accepting a staff position at Eastern Region headquarters in New York in January 1991. He also served as an assistant air traffic manager at Washington’s Dulles International Airport and as the air traffic manager at Philadelphia International Airport before returning to New York four years ago as assistant manager, Air Traffic Division.

During his career, Ducharme has been the recipient of numerous aviation industry and FAA employee recognition awards. They include FAA Eastern Region Manager of the Year and a National Spirit Award for Quality of Life and Diversity Accomplishments. He has received a National Manager of the Year Award from the Air Traffic Control Association for outstanding achievement and contributions made to the science of Air Traffic Control. Under his leadership, the Eastern Region Air Traffic Division was recognized nationally for its efforts on September 11, 2001 and in the days and months following the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C.

Ducharme and his wife, Sally, reside in Bethlehem, Pa.