NATCA Leadership

Rich Santa is serving his first three-year term as the seventh president of NATCA. He was elected by acclamation and took office on Sept. 1, 2021.

Santa, a veteran air traffic controller from Washington Center (ZDC), previously served on NATCA’s National Executive Board as Eastern Regional Vice President (RVP) from 2018-2021. He began his career as a controller at New York TRACON (N90) in 1997 before transferring to ZDC in 2001.

Santa has spent most of his career serving NATCA and its members, including four terms as ZDC FacRep prior to being appointed as the Alternate Eastern Regional (NEA) Vice President. Additionally, Santa has served as the Eastern Region Labor Relations Representative, a Basic Representative Training (now RT1) instructor for the NATCA Academy, the chair of the Information Technology Committee, and a member of the NEA PAR, the Grievance Review and Collaborative Steering Committees and the Onboarding, NCEPT, National Validation Team, Constitution, and Election Support Committees. He has also been the lead on several national projects.