Paulina Todd, 2021 AMT 40 Under 40 Award Winner

Oct. 7, 2021
Vice President of Commercial, Certified Aviation Services, Glendora, CA, 27 years old.

Paulina Todd says that a career in aviation was unintentional, but it was definitely fate. After completing her degree in Business Administration, she sought after a career that would provide growth and challenge her along the way. She started at CAS as an intern and fell in love with aviation, never looking back.

After interning, she was promoted to marketing coordinator. Throughout those years, Todd has been exposed to serval different sectors of the business and even managed to work at CAS’ Component Facility, located in Fairhope, Alabama. She is now the  vice present of commercial. This role consists of driving continued success to CAS through execution of existing plans and continuing updating of new strategies. 

Todd was responsible for obtaining CAS’ aftermarket partnership with Boeing BGS and Airbus TSP and had an integral role in growing the company’s Line Maintenance and Recovery/Repair division revenue by 30 percent from 2016-19. Previously, she was responsible for process improvements at CAS’ Component repair business unit. Using LeanSigma and other business practices to resolve the company’s constraints, these applications reduced turnaround time while increasing throughput. "These findings and implementations resulted a move in net profit by 15 percentage points and a 7 percent increase in on time performance," commented Paul Oliver, COO, CAS.

Throughout her journey she says she has been fortunate enough to have many mentors. However, the most influential was Mark Lee, chairman of  Aero-Mark, LLC . "Despite his busy schedule, he always managed to make the time to educate and challenge me. I truly learned a lot from him throughout the five years. He taught me and reinforced the importance of not being complacent. Very quickly did I get comfortable with being uncomfortable. I am grateful to have had such a positive role model."    

It’s not every day that someone gets the opportunity to do what they love, says Todd. "Since starting with CAS, I have been able to both love what I do and share my passion with others around me. I have been blessed to be surrounded by talented and kind leaders who have helped me not only develop as an employee, but also grow as a woman. As the world continues to adjust to the new ways of life, Aviation continues to evolve. I know that sustainability is going to be important to our industry, and I’m excited to face these challenges head on. As for the future, I’m not entirely sure what it has in store for me. I do know that we as an industry need to continue to challenge ourselves to stay innovative and stay effective. This way, we can make the changes necessary to ensure the success of the industry and continue to serve the people efficiently."