Deborah Crews

Entrepreneur Deborah Crews was born on May 4, 1954 in Wichita, Kansas to Betty Wood and Mortimer Mercer Marshall. She received her B.A. degree in architectural science in 1976 and her M.A. degree in architecture in 1978 from the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama.

Crews began her career at the automotive and aerospace corporation TRW, Inc., based in Cleveland, Ohio, as a staff manager. In 1989, she founded Honoré Electric Construction and Design in Los Angeles, California. Crews then became director of operations and design for the airport retailer and food and beverage operator, Crews of California, in 1994, and then an owner-managing partner with her husband, Robert B. Crews, in 1996. She was responsible for concession design and construction and oversaw the retail, food and beverage operations at Los Angeles International Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. In 2008, Crews co-founded Airport Retail Management Atlanta (ARM Atlanta) at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where she was managing partner and COO. She was responsible for fifty-two retail locations and four cafes in the airport hospitality industry, including Lemonade, Rock & Brews Concert Bar and Klatch Coffee at Los Angeles International Airport; and seven news and gift shops, six specialty retail shops and one restaurant at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. She retired in 2021.

Crews was a founding board member of the Delta Foundation Education Leadership Training Academy Foundation and a member of the Airport Minority Advisory Council. In 2012, she was elected chair of the Tuskegee University Foundation’s board of directors. Crews also has served as vice chair of the Vineyard Preservation Trust. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

In 2015, Airport Retail Management received an Airport Restaurant and Retail Association nomination for Retailer with The Highest Regard for Customer Service.

Crews lives in Los Angeles, California with her husband, Robert B. Crews. Together they have two sons, Rob Crews and Nicholas Crews.

Deborah Crews was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on August 20, 2022.