March 18, 2025 • 27 mins
Jorge Roberts is the CEO of Avports (formerly Pan Am World Services), America’s most experienced airport operator and manager. Avports is owned by West Street Infrastructure Partners III, an infrastructure fund managed by the asset management division of Goldman Sachs.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
M and T Bank presents CEOs. You should know power
ind by Iheartgadia.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Let's meet Hora Roberts. He is the CEO for Aports,
a leader in United States third party airport management services
for small and medium sized airport owners. Before we talk
more about Jra's company, what they do and what they
offer their clients, I first asked him to talk a
little bit about himself, where he's from and his origin story.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Born originally in Mexico City, but my father was from
Texas and my mother was Mexican, so a real tex
mex grew up both in Mexico and the United States
and attended initially the National University of Mexico, studying law
in Chinese. By then I dropped out after a few
(00:46):
semesters and migrated to the United States, where my father
was living, and ended up going back to school at
the University of Washington and Seattle, where I got two degrees,
one in business one in economics, so minored in math.
Thought I was going to do a PC in economics.
Came to work in Washington, DC for the Federal Try
(01:06):
Commission to buer of economics. After three years, I decided
that I wanted something more applied, but still with policy
and government. And from the very beginning I was interested
in the intersection of business, public policy, and economic development,
and that led me to go back to school, went
to get my MBA at Harvard Business School, and I've
(01:29):
been pursuing in the last seventeen twenty years career in
public infrastructure with business, and so that's where I'm at
now and airport public private partnerships and fulfilling that interest
in that dream of contributing to the betterment of society.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
So, as you told our listeners, you have a very
robust education behind you, with a lot of different ways
you could have gone. I can see why I have
Ports was something that made you wanted to be a
part of six years ago, and I can see why
they were interested in you. Why were you interested in
joining them?
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yeah, I think what I've seen is recummulated accumulated enough
experience in the sector and seen learned a lot of
lessons from both abroad in the United States. And this
company had been around for over ninety years and had
the experience and the wherewithal in the breath in a
(02:30):
culture of good work, ethic of safety, but needed reboost,
a reboot of repositioning in the market with a commercial focus.
It also needed to build up the team and what
it wanted to be again, and so I took that culture,
(02:53):
enhanced it, and then repositioned it to I would argue
that we are the leaders and what we do by
far undisputed. I would say not many companies. There's a
lot of companies outside the United States that even want
to come in, but nobody has the experience that the
airports has. And so I've been able to reposition both
(03:17):
the company but also created a team that people were
proud of and expanded the portfolio and creating value for
our owners, but also for our clients and the community
the airports serve.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
So before we get into the weeds about what you do,
your programs, your capabilities of clients in different cities and
states that you work with, what's the mission statement of airports?
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Yeah, I would say to be the undisputed leader in
what we call manage airport services. And we wanted to
be on par with the global operators airport operators that
we see from pressure the Europeans, and we feel that
we're there and we've demonstrated that now and say we
(03:59):
operate in manage airports and help airport owners achieve their
objectives to the benefit of the community they serve.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
So all right, So if we have listeners that are
introduced to airports for the first time, and you would say,
this is what we do, giving that thirty thousand foot
view as a were, what would you tell them what
you do?
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Yeah? I do like to say that we follow the
We created this hashtag the Airport's Way, which means that
anything that's related to airports we are able to accomplish.
And so we manage and operate airports. And what I
tell airport owners, I said, okay, and airport owners or cities,
municipalities or states, and I said, what what do you
(04:42):
want to retain in terms of the scope within the airport.
We'll do the rest and so we can do the
soup to nuts. We keep the lights on, but we
make sure that the airport is compliant through safety and security.
But we can do everything from the part one thirty nine,
which is the comprehensive operations on the airfield and then
the termanal management through the facilities to the firefighting, to
(05:03):
the fuel farm management to the commercial which is the
food and beverage and the retail we can do it
all and so that's what an airport owner wants the
outsourcer and they also over the last few years, because
of our ownership, we have access to capital and so
we can invest our own capital take on the risk.
(05:24):
And so it's a lot about transferring risk from the
airport owner from being an operator for them to becoming
an a regulator, which is you could argue that the public
is better suited for that and then us being the operator,
and so that creates that ideal public private partnership.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
So I don't want to assume that there's another company
that does exactly what you and your team do. But
with competition, how do you differentiate yourself to make sure
that you're selling to your clients and the states and
the cities and the municipalities to say we're the ones
you should work with.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Yeah, there is really no one that comes close to
the experience we have in the United States with the
regulatory framework and the regulatory processes that are different from
the rest of the world. And that's also a track
record that we always can show that we know how
to do this, but also we demonstrate that I think
(06:21):
what we also pride ourselves, and because I've had experience
with competitors, especially foreigner competitors that bring a lot to
the table from their side, but adapting it to the
United States or is very difficult because there are a
way to be doing that. So one of the things
that we pride ourselves is that we customize the solutions.
(06:44):
Because the company has been around for ninety eight years,
has gone through all the cycles of the airport aviation industry,
but also global economics, societal shifts, even in technology, so
the companies continuously had to adapt. So I inherited that culture,
have just amplified it, and it's very difficult for anybody
at this point to come and try to replicate that
(07:07):
anytime soon. So we continued to push ourselves to say, yeah,
we're the leaders, but we but but we all know
that in order to stay there, you need to keep innovating,
keep pushing yourself. And that's something that from a cultural standpoint,
we were very proud of.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
So when it comes to your clients and also casting
your net, how many states, how many airports, how many
different partners do you have currently?
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Yeah, we're at fifteen airports today. Mostly historically has been
mostly in the United States. A few years ago we
made the decision to start looking at the Caribbean. So
we we historically operated the majority of our continuous time
has been in the Northeast. For example, we've been operating
(08:01):
Teterborough Airport for the Port Authority of New York, New
Jersey for the last fifty two years, which is the
busiest corporate aviation airport in the world, has as money
operations as any of the larger airports. And then with
Westchester County and White Plans, which is one of the
most complex airports in the country because it is the
second third busiest corporate aviation but it has a very
(08:22):
large commercial with a very local community and engaged community,
and so we've been there almost for fifty years. So
that partnership that we have, we started translating that across
different states. So we're in California, in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut,
and then starting to expand more in the Midwest, and
(08:42):
we're down in Saint Louis and on the Caribbean. Last
year we started at South Bimini Airport and we're about
to transition three more airports in Bahamas. We're involved in
the newest public part partnership in the United States, which
is the US Virgin Islands of Saint Thomas, Saint Croix.
So bringing all those airports in to the standards. We
were awarded a contract to manage the regional airports in
(09:05):
Puerto Rico. I'm still waiting for the government there to
sign that contract. But again it's bringing that expertise of
safety and compliance and then eventually also capital if they
need that as well.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
I want to ask you a little bit about COVID
because we've talked to so many leaders that started their
companies and they were running them before COVID happened, and
then it pandemic happened, and then some had to pivot.
Some had the major league pivot, and some people didn't survive.
All well documented and no matter what industry. And I've
also found out talking to leaders that maybe while they
(09:39):
didn't have to do a major league pivot because they
were their own computers, or they've got people spread all
over the United States or even over the world, but
it also gave them an opportunity to maybe get a
little bit smarter at how they do business. As you
went through the pandemic, what happened with the company and
how did you pivot at all and how did you
get Martyer as a company?
Speaker 1 (10:02):
I think one aspect one is we were very fortunate
and probably one of the few, not the only one
that didn't lose any revenue. We had already contracted. Our
contracts are fixed, and so our clients were able to
they paid on time, so we're able to keep the
lights on. We focus a lot on the health and
(10:23):
safety of our workers, and so that really brought back
a refocus on what's our core mission. And our core
mission is if we treat our staff and our employees
and make sure that they're well being but also trained,
they'll do the right thing and so we don't have
to then spend too much time on the other stuff
because they're doing in the front line. So we also
(10:48):
realized that we were much more prepared than we thought
because we had gone through other pandemics like or smaller
like ABOLAF for example. So a lot of our procedures
and SOPs where standard operating procedures were already in place
and we just needed to re reactivate them, and so
that that was a good way to do that. And
(11:10):
then lastly it forced us to become much more virtual.
Our team. Corporate was already I had already set it
up that way, but with our staff and creating a
lot more means of engagement, so technology such as video conferencing,
we started town halls, and having a broader reach that
(11:31):
we just didn't have that involved more physical presence that
we're able to leverage that technology. So for me, it
was more about creating more engagement and brought us together
as a company and focused us, but also emerged stronger
and we put together the New Haven project in Connecticut,
the public prior partnership with City of New Hamen doing
(11:52):
the COVID and the pandemic, so we were able to
go through that. And so when we look back and say,
and now there's always challenges, but it's easier a little
bit to operate versus when we were COVID. It gives
us that confidence that, hey, we went through some of
the worst times and we came out stronger. So that
(12:14):
that creates that sense of not just pride, but also
confidence that there is really nothing that we cannot do.
And that's been translated into new projects, not taking the
company from just operating regional airports, but we have a
major presence at LAX airport, for example, not Detroit, so
we operate on behalf of the airlines that Detroit North Terminal.
(12:36):
At LAX, we're operating the International terminal broadly with the
West gates in Terminal five, and now we want a
new contract to do the coming use so we're doing
at the large hubs as well. So bringing in that expertise.
So when we talk about confidence, is that we feel
that we can help any size client and any community
(13:00):
because we've gone through some of the most difficult challenges. Right.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Well, I'm glad you talked about that, and I think
this is an excellent segue. Is I asked my next question.
I realize your journey as CEO is very specific to
you and your company. But between sustainability to making sure
that you're a healthy company, but also growth, which I'm
sure excites you, let's talk about that. What's the future
look like over the next five ten years for your
business but specifically your company.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Yeah, I would say that what we had identified as
opportunities in the sector are trends that will continue to
hold and one of them is the emergence of the
ultra low cost carriers. So that's a shift that because
of the consolidation of the airline industry, it's created new
(13:48):
opportunities for regional airports and underserved, which is combined with
what Jesus talked about Bennis in terms of the shift
demographic shift that was accelerated through COVID where people don't
need to be in the large cities anymore. They can
go to secondary cities UH and still be engaged in
workd uh and and has created also opportunities for suburbs
(14:12):
or New York towns near large cities in urban areas.
So the same as what has happened in New Haven
as well as in the project that we're looking in
d C and Manassas UH to bring in the commercial
service is that those shifts and that's where that's not
going to change. The population growth is continues to explode.
(14:34):
You can just see what happening in Prince William County
as well as in southern Connecticut. People are looking for
more affordable places but also still be connected, and so
an airport creates that connectivity not just for business, but
also with their families, secondary homes, tourism uh and and
UH and that's something that a company like ours, which
(14:56):
has the experience and the expertise, but then we combine
it airports that are regional airports that don't have the money,
we can bring in that financing, they don't have the expertise,
so we bring that and create that partnership to unlock
that economic potential such as what we've shown in new
Haven and we hope to do that later this year
(15:18):
in Manassas.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
When it comes to challenges in the industry, what are
they currently for you and your team?
Speaker 1 (15:27):
I would say that the biggest challenges is being able
to seize the opportunity in the market. So I talked
about the conditions that are happening. Can we scale fast enough,
can we convince our capital providers to give us enough capital?
(15:48):
And so what we're doing is we've invested a lot
over the last few years and making sure that our
product and our service was robust and our company was
able to scale. I think we're there, and then the
the couple of projects like New Haven making sure we're
executing those and Manassas, and once those are complete, I
think I believe that other regional airports are going to say, hey,
(16:10):
we we like to engage and take advantage of that
economic potential, and so we want to partner with you.
So our challenge is going to be, well, can we
partner with everybody uh and uh and help them and
and be able to scale. And I said, the other
challenge the industry, and I see an opportunity as the
(16:32):
economic as the is the energy transition. So everything is
being electrified, not just the cars and the landside, but
also the ground service equipment, aircraft, and so there is
not enough from the grid and so this is an
opportunity for airports to transition, create micro grids, some becoming
(16:55):
energy hubs. So last year we we are one of
our so Newhaman was selected as part of the NASA
National Renewable Energy Laboratory to create these energy nodes where
aircraft will be able to charge the aircraft and then
fly to other airports that might not have enough energy
(17:16):
or power. And so that's going to be the next
frontier and the next immediate challenge. If we are going
to electrify the big part of our industry that moves
us to a more sustainable future environmentally but also socidal.
So these producing energy and power could be something that
(17:38):
they could be part of the community. So airport's becoming
much more not just economic engines, but part of the
fabric of the econ of the community where people benefit
from not just flying, but in other ways as well.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Or if I could put a pin in work just
for a second and talk to you about philanthropic and
charity work. I'm sure you're very busy, but when you
have an opportunity, whether it's through work or personally with
you and your family, what do you like to be
a part of.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Yeah, I've benefitted a lot from people providing programs of
new opportunities that I didn't have being a first generation
student in the academic world. But also I became low income,
(18:28):
I was an immigrant, so through different programs that were
outreach and so that's something that I continue to be
involved in giving back, empowering as well, inspiring but for
disadvantage students. So these could be from underrepresented groups but
also low income. My father was a veteran a war.
(18:51):
My mother was a single mom, working mom. So just
trying to see how can I give back. And I'm
involved with two main organizations is one is Management Leadership
for Tomorrow, which is actually based in Betasta. They create
better representation in corporate America and I would say that
they've been very successful in terms of that. But then
(19:13):
also at the University of Washington, I'm on the board
of the Friends of the Educational Opportunity Program, which we
get scholarships to disadvantaged students which include minorities and women.
But also we're an advisor to the vice president of
Diversity Affairs, and so that's something that very passionate and
(19:36):
very involved and just creating just more opportunities inclusivity and
not just say it, but walk to talk, and hopefully
that inspires others in the company. I encourage everybody in
the company to be involved. So if people tell me, hey,
I need to take time off because I'm involved in
this community. I encourage that. Same with wellness and other
(19:58):
places because I feel if you don't allow that to happen,
a doing a disservice. But also people need that in
their life. And I think we talked about more being
community leaders, and so I encourage people to walk the talk.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Well, thank you for doing that, and I appreciate you
sharing and you're paying it forward, which a lot of
people don't do, and you're doing it. It sounds very important.
Before I get some final thoughts from you, Hore, you
mentioned the word culture quite a few times in our conversation,
and it always strikes me because I'm a sports guy
and I know that in the sports world and the
business world, the one thing that really collides is a
(20:39):
sense of culture. It can be a horrific one or
it can be a great one. Tell me to our
future leaders that are listening to this program and all
the CEOs and entrepreneurs that tune into this series about
your specific journey and why you think culture is so
important at Atports.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Well, I think it's essential because in a company where
we're going to be by the end of the year,
we're seven hundred employees, I I'm not able to spend
time with most of them. And so culture is really
when people do the right thing when you're not there.
And so I work very hard to make sure that
(21:18):
our leaders and our managers understand that it starts all
with trust. And I do follow the pillars from one
of the most memorabile professors at our business school, Francis Fry,
which talks about these three pillars of trust, which is
one is authenticity, and so people, I think historically we
(21:40):
were there's a lot of corporate speak, but people get
through that you know, people know that where you're not
being authentic. I think humans doesn't matter your educational level
or their smartness. Every human has that instinctual So if
you're not authentic, it's very hard for somebody to trust you.
The second piece is the empathy and understanding of people
lives and that people that are happier outside of work
(22:04):
and inside of work are better and more productive workers.
And then the other is and that you care for
them because then they'll pull for you. And the last
is to make sure that you have enough logic to understand, hey,
this is where my knowledge is, and not try to
be as somebody who has the expertise, because that's also
(22:26):
a good way to lose trust. So I tell people
I trust you until you give me reasons not to
trust you. But at the same time, I encourage everybody.
I see myself as a I know that this sometimes
there's this corny word about servant leadership, but what does
that actually mean is that I ask people to tell
me what their weaknesses are, that when they need help,
they should write, because my job is to enable and
(22:49):
making sure that they have the resources to be successful.
And so if they have a weakness, that's fine, we
all do. We're not all perfect, so and so some
need more more assistant than others. And we work as
a team, and so creating that culture of teamwork that
everybody has their back regardless of your position. And so
(23:09):
sometimes even though I'm the CEO, sometimes I'm not the
lead on the project. So I tell people you're the
lead on the project, I follow, And so knowing when
the lead and want to follow has been pretty important.
It's something that I've still then I feel that through
our management ranks, I actually sleep well at night because
I know that everybody's doing the right thing, and when
(23:33):
they're not, they're raising their hand to say, hey, I
need help here, and we're going to help them to
make sure that they're successful, because if they're not, then
I'm not successful. So that's really been the culture that
I've been striving to develop, and I feel that we've
been successful so far. At the times you feel like
(23:54):
you need more, the emphasize and so I focus a
lot of on alignment and making sure that people under
stand where we need to go in that and if
there's friction, I address it immediately. This functionality has no
business in our culture. It's more Okay, you have an
issue with somebody, speak it up. If you have an
issue with what you're doing or with something that is
(24:16):
not working, like a process or procedure, please tell me,
because we're very pragmatic. If it's not working, we'll adjust it.
We're not just about just creating policies for policies or
some way to do it. Because so that's also created
a culture where people feel comfortable to tell you, hey,
this is where I see the issues and especially the frontlines.
They understand the risks and see where things the opportunities,
(24:41):
and so allowing them to express that and then creating
that environment for them to share that it has been
pretty very valuable for us outstanding.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Well, I really appreciate you sharing all of that. Let's
get some final thoughts from you. Really enjoyed our conversation,
but maybe just recapping everything for our listeners that are
tuning in and once again their introduction to airports for
the first time. The floor is your serve.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Yeah, So, as we said, we operate and manage airports.
We enable the airport owners, whether it's a city or
municipality or a state, to be able to accomplish their objectives,
and we can do that in many ways, through a
partnership or just management and operations contract in one M,
or a deeper partnership, a public private partnership, through investment
(25:27):
and transfer of risk. There's no shortage of capital. So
hopefully more airports and airport owners will embrace that and
be able to direct some of the public funds to
other better uses, and that we're company that's very nimble
and adaptable and can customize those solutions so that we
can do large airports as we do in at Lax
(25:49):
or Detroit, or the regional airports that we're doing is
Manassas or New Haven or Albany or Westchester County. So
those are the type of focus that we have and
we're just getting started, and so we know that we're
not going to be the only company, but at least
we establish that that framework that helps other airports to develop,
(26:12):
create more jobs, and become the economic engines and to
the communities they serve.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
So let's give the website to everybody.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Yes, airports dot com. So that's a alpha victor ports
dot com. And we're always hiring looking for talent. We
were expanding pretty quickly both at corporate, adding more people
in a lot of our finance and accounting functions as
we scale, but also in the Manassas project. If we're
(26:42):
going to bring commercial service later this year, we're going
to be hiring there. We're also hiring and us Vision
Islands in in other places that we're expanding our operations
in the Caribbean and the future as well. So I'm
very excited about the opportunities that both our current staff
but even people. And the last thing I was going
to say is whoever is interested in this industry, we
(27:04):
only need good attitude and a willingness to learn. We
can train anybody, and so that's something that we pride
ourselves as well.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Fantastic Corey. I can't tell you how much I appreciate
your valuable time. Give my best to your entire team,
continue success, and thank you so much for joining us
on CEOs you should know.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Thank you Donnis for the time.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
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Speaker 2 (00:05):
Let's meet Hora Roberts. He is the CEO for Aports,
a leader in United States third party airport management services
for small and medium sized airport owners. Before we talk
more about Jra's company, what they do and what they
offer their clients, I first asked him to talk a
little bit about himself, where he's from and his origin story.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Born originally in Mexico City, but my father was from
Texas and my mother was Mexican, so a real tex
mex grew up both in Mexico and the United States
and attended initially the National University of Mexico, studying law
in Chinese. By then I dropped out after a few
(00:46):
semesters and migrated to the United States, where my father
was living, and ended up going back to school at
the University of Washington and Seattle, where I got two degrees,
one in business one in economics, so minored in math.
Thought I was going to do a PC in economics.
Came to work in Washington, DC for the Federal Try
(01:06):
Commission to buer of economics. After three years, I decided
that I wanted something more applied, but still with policy
and government. And from the very beginning I was interested
in the intersection of business, public policy, and economic development,
and that led me to go back to school, went
to get my MBA at Harvard Business School, and I've
(01:29):
been pursuing in the last seventeen twenty years career in
public infrastructure with business, and so that's where I'm at
now and airport public private partnerships and fulfilling that interest
in that dream of contributing to the betterment of society.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
So, as you told our listeners, you have a very
robust education behind you, with a lot of different ways
you could have gone. I can see why I have
Ports was something that made you wanted to be a
part of six years ago, and I can see why
they were interested in you. Why were you interested in
joining them?
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yeah, I think what I've seen is recummulated accumulated enough
experience in the sector and seen learned a lot of
lessons from both abroad in the United States. And this
company had been around for over ninety years and had
the experience and the wherewithal in the breath in a
(02:30):
culture of good work, ethic of safety, but needed reboost,
a reboot of repositioning in the market with a commercial focus.
It also needed to build up the team and what
it wanted to be again, and so I took that culture,
(02:53):
enhanced it, and then repositioned it to I would argue
that we are the leaders and what we do by
far undisputed. I would say not many companies. There's a
lot of companies outside the United States that even want
to come in, but nobody has the experience that the
airports has. And so I've been able to reposition both
(03:17):
the company but also created a team that people were
proud of and expanded the portfolio and creating value for
our owners, but also for our clients and the community
the airports serve.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
So before we get into the weeds about what you do,
your programs, your capabilities of clients in different cities and
states that you work with, what's the mission statement of airports?
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Yeah, I would say to be the undisputed leader in
what we call manage airport services. And we wanted to
be on par with the global operators airport operators that
we see from pressure the Europeans, and we feel that
we're there and we've demonstrated that now and say we
(03:59):
operate in manage airports and help airport owners achieve their
objectives to the benefit of the community they serve.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
So all right, So if we have listeners that are
introduced to airports for the first time, and you would say,
this is what we do, giving that thirty thousand foot
view as a were, what would you tell them what
you do?
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Yeah? I do like to say that we follow the
We created this hashtag the Airport's Way, which means that
anything that's related to airports we are able to accomplish.
And so we manage and operate airports. And what I
tell airport owners, I said, okay, and airport owners or cities,
municipalities or states, and I said, what what do you
(04:42):
want to retain in terms of the scope within the airport.
We'll do the rest and so we can do the
soup to nuts. We keep the lights on, but we
make sure that the airport is compliant through safety and security.
But we can do everything from the part one thirty nine,
which is the comprehensive operations on the airfield and then
the termanal management through the facilities to the firefighting, to
(05:03):
the fuel farm management to the commercial which is the
food and beverage and the retail we can do it
all and so that's what an airport owner wants the
outsourcer and they also over the last few years, because
of our ownership, we have access to capital and so
we can invest our own capital take on the risk.
(05:24):
And so it's a lot about transferring risk from the
airport owner from being an operator for them to becoming
an a regulator, which is you could argue that the public
is better suited for that and then us being the operator,
and so that creates that ideal public private partnership.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
So I don't want to assume that there's another company
that does exactly what you and your team do. But
with competition, how do you differentiate yourself to make sure
that you're selling to your clients and the states and
the cities and the municipalities to say we're the ones
you should work with.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Yeah, there is really no one that comes close to
the experience we have in the United States with the
regulatory framework and the regulatory processes that are different from
the rest of the world. And that's also a track
record that we always can show that we know how
to do this, but also we demonstrate that I think
(06:21):
what we also pride ourselves, and because I've had experience
with competitors, especially foreigner competitors that bring a lot to
the table from their side, but adapting it to the
United States or is very difficult because there are a
way to be doing that. So one of the things
that we pride ourselves is that we customize the solutions.
(06:44):
Because the company has been around for ninety eight years,
has gone through all the cycles of the airport aviation industry,
but also global economics, societal shifts, even in technology, so
the companies continuously had to adapt. So I inherited that culture,
have just amplified it, and it's very difficult for anybody
at this point to come and try to replicate that
(07:07):
anytime soon. So we continued to push ourselves to say, yeah,
we're the leaders, but we but but we all know
that in order to stay there, you need to keep innovating,
keep pushing yourself. And that's something that from a cultural standpoint,
we were very proud of.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
So when it comes to your clients and also casting
your net, how many states, how many airports, how many
different partners do you have currently?
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Yeah, we're at fifteen airports today. Mostly historically has been
mostly in the United States. A few years ago we
made the decision to start looking at the Caribbean. So
we we historically operated the majority of our continuous time
has been in the Northeast. For example, we've been operating
(08:01):
Teterborough Airport for the Port Authority of New York, New
Jersey for the last fifty two years, which is the
busiest corporate aviation airport in the world, has as money
operations as any of the larger airports. And then with
Westchester County and White Plans, which is one of the
most complex airports in the country because it is the
second third busiest corporate aviation but it has a very
(08:22):
large commercial with a very local community and engaged community,
and so we've been there almost for fifty years. So
that partnership that we have, we started translating that across
different states. So we're in California, in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut,
and then starting to expand more in the Midwest, and
(08:42):
we're down in Saint Louis and on the Caribbean. Last
year we started at South Bimini Airport and we're about
to transition three more airports in Bahamas. We're involved in
the newest public part partnership in the United States, which
is the US Virgin Islands of Saint Thomas, Saint Croix.
So bringing all those airports in to the standards. We
were awarded a contract to manage the regional airports in
(09:05):
Puerto Rico. I'm still waiting for the government there to
sign that contract. But again it's bringing that expertise of
safety and compliance and then eventually also capital if they
need that as well.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
I want to ask you a little bit about COVID
because we've talked to so many leaders that started their
companies and they were running them before COVID happened, and
then it pandemic happened, and then some had to pivot.
Some had the major league pivot, and some people didn't survive.
All well documented and no matter what industry. And I've
also found out talking to leaders that maybe while they
(09:39):
didn't have to do a major league pivot because they
were their own computers, or they've got people spread all
over the United States or even over the world, but
it also gave them an opportunity to maybe get a
little bit smarter at how they do business. As you
went through the pandemic, what happened with the company and
how did you pivot at all and how did you
get Martyer as a company?
Speaker 1 (10:02):
I think one aspect one is we were very fortunate
and probably one of the few, not the only one
that didn't lose any revenue. We had already contracted. Our
contracts are fixed, and so our clients were able to
they paid on time, so we're able to keep the
lights on. We focus a lot on the health and
(10:23):
safety of our workers, and so that really brought back
a refocus on what's our core mission. And our core
mission is if we treat our staff and our employees
and make sure that they're well being but also trained,
they'll do the right thing and so we don't have
to then spend too much time on the other stuff
because they're doing in the front line. So we also
(10:48):
realized that we were much more prepared than we thought
because we had gone through other pandemics like or smaller
like ABOLAF for example. So a lot of our procedures
and SOPs where standard operating procedures were already in place
and we just needed to re reactivate them, and so
that that was a good way to do that. And
(11:10):
then lastly it forced us to become much more virtual.
Our team. Corporate was already I had already set it
up that way, but with our staff and creating a
lot more means of engagement, so technology such as video conferencing,
we started town halls, and having a broader reach that
(11:31):
we just didn't have that involved more physical presence that
we're able to leverage that technology. So for me, it
was more about creating more engagement and brought us together
as a company and focused us, but also emerged stronger
and we put together the New Haven project in Connecticut,
the public prior partnership with City of New Hamen doing
(11:52):
the COVID and the pandemic, so we were able to
go through that. And so when we look back and say,
and now there's always challenges, but it's easier a little
bit to operate versus when we were COVID. It gives
us that confidence that, hey, we went through some of
the worst times and we came out stronger. So that
(12:14):
that creates that sense of not just pride, but also
confidence that there is really nothing that we cannot do.
And that's been translated into new projects, not taking the
company from just operating regional airports, but we have a
major presence at LAX airport, for example, not Detroit, so
we operate on behalf of the airlines that Detroit North Terminal.
(12:36):
At LAX, we're operating the International terminal broadly with the
West gates in Terminal five, and now we want a
new contract to do the coming use so we're doing
at the large hubs as well. So bringing in that expertise.
So when we talk about confidence, is that we feel
that we can help any size client and any community
(13:00):
because we've gone through some of the most difficult challenges. Right.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Well, I'm glad you talked about that, and I think
this is an excellent segue. Is I asked my next question.
I realize your journey as CEO is very specific to
you and your company. But between sustainability to making sure
that you're a healthy company, but also growth, which I'm
sure excites you, let's talk about that. What's the future
look like over the next five ten years for your
business but specifically your company.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Yeah, I would say that what we had identified as
opportunities in the sector are trends that will continue to
hold and one of them is the emergence of the
ultra low cost carriers. So that's a shift that because
of the consolidation of the airline industry, it's created new
(13:48):
opportunities for regional airports and underserved, which is combined with
what Jesus talked about Bennis in terms of the shift
demographic shift that was accelerated through COVID where people don't
need to be in the large cities anymore. They can
go to secondary cities UH and still be engaged in
workd uh and and has created also opportunities for suburbs
(14:12):
or New York towns near large cities in urban areas.
So the same as what has happened in New Haven
as well as in the project that we're looking in
d C and Manassas UH to bring in the commercial
service is that those shifts and that's where that's not
going to change. The population growth is continues to explode.
(14:34):
You can just see what happening in Prince William County
as well as in southern Connecticut. People are looking for
more affordable places but also still be connected, and so
an airport creates that connectivity not just for business, but
also with their families, secondary homes, tourism uh and and
UH and that's something that a company like ours, which
(14:56):
has the experience and the expertise, but then we combine
it airports that are regional airports that don't have the money,
we can bring in that financing, they don't have the expertise,
so we bring that and create that partnership to unlock
that economic potential such as what we've shown in new
Haven and we hope to do that later this year
(15:18):
in Manassas.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
When it comes to challenges in the industry, what are
they currently for you and your team?
Speaker 1 (15:27):
I would say that the biggest challenges is being able
to seize the opportunity in the market. So I talked
about the conditions that are happening. Can we scale fast enough,
can we convince our capital providers to give us enough capital?
(15:48):
And so what we're doing is we've invested a lot
over the last few years and making sure that our
product and our service was robust and our company was
able to scale. I think we're there, and then the
the couple of projects like New Haven making sure we're
executing those and Manassas, and once those are complete, I
think I believe that other regional airports are going to say, hey,
(16:10):
we we like to engage and take advantage of that
economic potential, and so we want to partner with you.
So our challenge is going to be, well, can we
partner with everybody uh and uh and help them and
and be able to scale. And I said, the other
challenge the industry, and I see an opportunity as the
(16:32):
economic as the is the energy transition. So everything is
being electrified, not just the cars and the landside, but
also the ground service equipment, aircraft, and so there is
not enough from the grid and so this is an
opportunity for airports to transition, create micro grids, some becoming
(16:55):
energy hubs. So last year we we are one of
our so Newhaman was selected as part of the NASA
National Renewable Energy Laboratory to create these energy nodes where
aircraft will be able to charge the aircraft and then
fly to other airports that might not have enough energy
(17:16):
or power. And so that's going to be the next
frontier and the next immediate challenge. If we are going
to electrify the big part of our industry that moves
us to a more sustainable future environmentally but also socidal.
So these producing energy and power could be something that
(17:38):
they could be part of the community. So airport's becoming
much more not just economic engines, but part of the
fabric of the econ of the community where people benefit
from not just flying, but in other ways as well.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Or if I could put a pin in work just
for a second and talk to you about philanthropic and
charity work. I'm sure you're very busy, but when you
have an opportunity, whether it's through work or personally with
you and your family, what do you like to be
a part of.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Yeah, I've benefitted a lot from people providing programs of
new opportunities that I didn't have being a first generation
student in the academic world. But also I became low income,
(18:28):
I was an immigrant, so through different programs that were
outreach and so that's something that I continue to be
involved in giving back, empowering as well, inspiring but for
disadvantage students. So these could be from underrepresented groups but
also low income. My father was a veteran a war.
(18:51):
My mother was a single mom, working mom. So just
trying to see how can I give back. And I'm
involved with two main organizations is one is Management Leadership
for Tomorrow, which is actually based in Betasta. They create
better representation in corporate America and I would say that
they've been very successful in terms of that. But then
(19:13):
also at the University of Washington, I'm on the board
of the Friends of the Educational Opportunity Program, which we
get scholarships to disadvantaged students which include minorities and women.
But also we're an advisor to the vice president of
Diversity Affairs, and so that's something that very passionate and
(19:36):
very involved and just creating just more opportunities inclusivity and
not just say it, but walk to talk, and hopefully
that inspires others in the company. I encourage everybody in
the company to be involved. So if people tell me, hey,
I need to take time off because I'm involved in
this community. I encourage that. Same with wellness and other
(19:58):
places because I feel if you don't allow that to happen,
a doing a disservice. But also people need that in
their life. And I think we talked about more being
community leaders, and so I encourage people to walk the talk.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Well, thank you for doing that, and I appreciate you
sharing and you're paying it forward, which a lot of
people don't do, and you're doing it. It sounds very important.
Before I get some final thoughts from you, Hore, you
mentioned the word culture quite a few times in our conversation,
and it always strikes me because I'm a sports guy
and I know that in the sports world and the
business world, the one thing that really collides is a
(20:39):
sense of culture. It can be a horrific one or
it can be a great one. Tell me to our
future leaders that are listening to this program and all
the CEOs and entrepreneurs that tune into this series about
your specific journey and why you think culture is so
important at Atports.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Well, I think it's essential because in a company where
we're going to be by the end of the year,
we're seven hundred employees, I I'm not able to spend
time with most of them. And so culture is really
when people do the right thing when you're not there.
And so I work very hard to make sure that
(21:18):
our leaders and our managers understand that it starts all
with trust. And I do follow the pillars from one
of the most memorabile professors at our business school, Francis Fry,
which talks about these three pillars of trust, which is
one is authenticity, and so people, I think historically we
(21:40):
were there's a lot of corporate speak, but people get
through that you know, people know that where you're not
being authentic. I think humans doesn't matter your educational level
or their smartness. Every human has that instinctual So if
you're not authentic, it's very hard for somebody to trust you.
The second piece is the empathy and understanding of people
lives and that people that are happier outside of work
(22:04):
and inside of work are better and more productive workers.
And then the other is and that you care for
them because then they'll pull for you. And the last
is to make sure that you have enough logic to understand, hey,
this is where my knowledge is, and not try to
be as somebody who has the expertise, because that's also
(22:26):
a good way to lose trust. So I tell people
I trust you until you give me reasons not to
trust you. But at the same time, I encourage everybody.
I see myself as a I know that this sometimes
there's this corny word about servant leadership, but what does
that actually mean is that I ask people to tell
me what their weaknesses are, that when they need help,
they should write, because my job is to enable and
(22:49):
making sure that they have the resources to be successful.
And so if they have a weakness, that's fine, we
all do. We're not all perfect, so and so some
need more more assistant than others. And we work as
a team, and so creating that culture of teamwork that
everybody has their back regardless of your position. And so
(23:09):
sometimes even though I'm the CEO, sometimes I'm not the
lead on the project. So I tell people you're the
lead on the project, I follow, And so knowing when
the lead and want to follow has been pretty important.
It's something that I've still then I feel that through
our management ranks, I actually sleep well at night because
I know that everybody's doing the right thing, and when
(23:33):
they're not, they're raising their hand to say, hey, I
need help here, and we're going to help them to
make sure that they're successful, because if they're not, then
I'm not successful. So that's really been the culture that
I've been striving to develop, and I feel that we've
been successful so far. At the times you feel like
(23:54):
you need more, the emphasize and so I focus a
lot of on alignment and making sure that people under
stand where we need to go in that and if
there's friction, I address it immediately. This functionality has no
business in our culture. It's more Okay, you have an
issue with somebody, speak it up. If you have an
issue with what you're doing or with something that is
(24:16):
not working, like a process or procedure, please tell me,
because we're very pragmatic. If it's not working, we'll adjust it.
We're not just about just creating policies for policies or
some way to do it. Because so that's also created
a culture where people feel comfortable to tell you, hey,
this is where I see the issues and especially the frontlines.
They understand the risks and see where things the opportunities,
(24:41):
and so allowing them to express that and then creating
that environment for them to share that it has been
pretty very valuable for us outstanding.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Well, I really appreciate you sharing all of that. Let's
get some final thoughts from you. Really enjoyed our conversation,
but maybe just recapping everything for our listeners that are
tuning in and once again their introduction to airports for
the first time. The floor is your serve.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Yeah, So, as we said, we operate and manage airports.
We enable the airport owners, whether it's a city or
municipality or a state, to be able to accomplish their objectives,
and we can do that in many ways, through a
partnership or just management and operations contract in one M,
or a deeper partnership, a public private partnership, through investment
(25:27):
and transfer of risk. There's no shortage of capital. So
hopefully more airports and airport owners will embrace that and
be able to direct some of the public funds to
other better uses, and that we're company that's very nimble
and adaptable and can customize those solutions so that we
can do large airports as we do in at Lax
(25:49):
or Detroit, or the regional airports that we're doing is
Manassas or New Haven or Albany or Westchester County. So
those are the type of focus that we have and
we're just getting started, and so we know that we're
not going to be the only company, but at least
we establish that that framework that helps other airports to develop,
(26:12):
create more jobs, and become the economic engines and to
the communities they serve.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
So let's give the website to everybody.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Yes, airports dot com. So that's a alpha victor ports
dot com. And we're always hiring looking for talent. We
were expanding pretty quickly both at corporate, adding more people
in a lot of our finance and accounting functions as
we scale, but also in the Manassas project. If we're
(26:42):
going to bring commercial service later this year, we're going
to be hiring there. We're also hiring and us Vision
Islands in in other places that we're expanding our operations
in the Caribbean and the future as well. So I'm
very excited about the opportunities that both our current staff
but even people. And the last thing I was going
to say is whoever is interested in this industry, we
(27:04):
only need good attitude and a willingness to learn. We
can train anybody, and so that's something that we pride
ourselves as well.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Fantastic Corey. I can't tell you how much I appreciate
your valuable time. Give my best to your entire team,
continue success, and thank you so much for joining us
on CEOs you should know.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Thank you Donnis for the time.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Our community partner, M and T Bank supports CEOs you
should know. Is part of their ongoing commitment to building
strong communities, and that starts by backing the businesses within them.
As a bank for communities, M and T believes in
dedicating time, talent, and resources to help local businesses thrive
because when businesses succeed, our communities succeed.
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