Mittermeier Known for Substance, Not Flash : Profile: Career county worker’s low-key style served her well as airport director, many say. Observers believe that approach will be critical to her success as CEO.

Jan Mittermeier accepted her new permanent role as the top executive in Orange County’s government Monday in typical fashion. No long interviews. Little pomp.

It’s the same low-key approach that she brought to the job as director of John Wayne Airport, and a critical factor in why observers believe she will succeed in her new post.

Mittermeier, 55, is a career county worker who has learned to stay out of the limelight, a trait that contrasts sharply with that of former CEO William J. Popejoy. Mittermeier sees herself as an enforcer of Board of Supervisors’ policies, rather than making them herself.

“She is excellent at taking a direction that the political organization wants her to take and implementing it,” said Airport Commission Chairman Gary L. Proctor, who calls Mittermeier the best director he has seen over the past decade. “That is contrary to a guy like Popejoy that doesn’t want to take direction [or] build a consensus.”

Mittermeier limits her public comments, and her performance Monday was typical. On what would have to be considered the biggest day of her career--thrust into one of the most closely watched jobs in municipal government--the Huntington Beach resident spoke to reporters for only a couple of minutes.

She said she was “glad for the opportunity,” that she will have to work a lot next year, and that her top priorities are restructuring and downsizing government.

She didn’t get much more reflective than to say, “lots of nights I don’t sleep too well” pondering the task ahead.

She became the county’s first female auditor in 1974, a job that then paid $12,000 a year. She later headed the internal audit division, then joined John Wayne Airport in 1987 as assistant director just in time for a massive expansion.

The mother of two sons, she has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a master’s degree in business administration, both from Cal State Long Beach.

Relying on her financial background, she successfully guided the $310-million project to construct a new terminal building and parking structures at the airport. Her ability to spot trouble before it became an embarrassment earned her a nod from then-County Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, whose district included the airport.

“We had gone through two or three airport managers having difficulty,” said Riley, for whom the new terminal is named. “I had observed her there in the county. She was strong. . . . She studied the situation. She was a good leader.”

Proctor said he admires Mittermeier’s abilities to solve disputes quietly and persuade warring parties to compromise.

“She has a management style that [involves] listening to all parties and trying to find a common ground solution in a way that brings everyone forward,” he said.

At the airport, that meant resolving disputes between rental car companies or airlines competing for a limited number of landing slots.

“She’s more low-key,” county spokeswoman Cheri Wilson said. “She’s effective because she’s a real go-getter.”

Times staff writer Matt Lait contributed to this report.