Staff Spotlight: Colleen Plonsky, Director of Finance & Human Resources

For the past nine years, Colleen Plonsky has helped oversee the financial operations and human resources functions of Sebring Regional Airport, supporting everything from budgets and payroll to grant reimbursements, compliance, and day-to-day administrative operations.

Plonsky describes accounting as a form of investigative work.

“If the numbers don’t add up, I want to figure out why,” she said. “I’m a numbers lady. If you like numbers, this is the job for you.”

As Director of Finance and Human Resources, her responsibilities touch nearly every corner of airport operations. She oversees payroll, employee benefits, vendor payments, recruiting, compliance requirements, financial reporting, and grant reimbursement activity connected to airport projects and development efforts.

Each month, Plonsky and her team prepare detailed financial reports for the Airport Authority Board, ensuring expenses, funding, and operational activity are carefully documented and reviewed.

She also helps oversee financial activity tied to the airport’s industrial park, which includes commercial tenants, aviation businesses, and aircraft hangars serving a wide range of airport users.

Although the workload is significant, Plonsky says her accounting department remains small and close-knit.

“We are small, but we are mighty,” she shared while recognizing fellow team member Heather Leon for her support within the department.

Originally from Toledo, Ohio, Plonsky began her career in banking before transitioning into accounting and financial administration. Prior to joining Sebring Regional Airport, she worked for 13 years as an accountant for the John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina.

Eventually, she and her husband returned to Florida and settled in Sebring, drawn by its small-town atmosphere and strong sense of community.

“It’s how Florida used to be over 20 years ago,” Plonsky said.

Today, that same sense of community remains one of the things she values most about working at the airport.

“The whole airport essentially flies as a team,” she said. “It has been wonderful. We’re like a family.”

Outside the office, Plonsky enjoys yoga, fitness activities, walks through Highlands Hammock State Park, and spending time with her husband and their two dogs, Jasmine and T’Spoon.