President’s Award Winner LaRonda Hunter

Piedmont Flight Operations

Nomination #1: LaRonda’s unwavering dedication, professionalism, and exceptional service throughout her career with Piedmont Airlines and her commitment to excellence has consistently gone above and beyond the expectations of her role, making a lasting impact on both passengers and colleagues. From day one, she has exemplified Piedmont’s core values. Whether assisting nervous first-time flyers with compassion, stepping in to support crew members during irregular operations, or volunteering for extra shifts during peak travel seasons, she has always put the needs of others first.

During a recent IOE cycle, LaRonda played a pivotal role in onboarding a new hire student, demonstrating exceptional leadership and teamwork that directly enhanced operational reliability and team cohesion. She represents the care act that we are fostering within our company. Caring: she went out of her way to ensure each new hire felt supported and confident. She personally checked in with trainees before and after each flight, offering encouragement, answering questions, and sharing practical tips. This personal attention helped ease the transition into a high-pressure environment and built trust from day one.

Nomination #2: As a flight attendant and part-time instructor, LaRonda consistently demonstrates the professionalism, poise and service mindset that define what it means to be a Piedmont Flight Attendant. Her attitude and demeanor sets the tone in every cabin, classroom or office she enters: emphasizing safety first, caring for customers with empathy, and supporting her teammates with respect, all while exuding a calm confidence. Over the past year, as the inflight training department has navigated significant change, including our transition to an Advanced Qualification Program, LaRonda has stepped forward without hesitation. She moved beyond her comfort zone to take on unfamiliar tasks, learned quickly and delivered results that not only met, but exceeded expectations. She actively sought guidance when appropriate, welcomed feedback, and took the initiative to build new skills so she could meet the challenge. LaRonda embodies the spirit of Piedmont: compliant and safety minded, adept and continuously learning, responsive to customers and colleagues, and efficient in execution. Her contribution has been invaluable to our department’s progress toward AQP.

LaRonda volunteered to assist in the development of our department’s Job Task Analysis, playing a critical role in the drive toward AQP. She then followed up that task with helping in developing new training materials to align with our JTA and qualification standards. When others were tasked with helping, LaRonda helped to build up our team’s capacity by sharing what she had learned, ensuring a smooth transition and consistency within the program.