2019 Airport Business Top 40 Under 40: James W. Hess III, ACE

Growing up in Savannah, Ga., James W. Hess III was always around airplanes. Military aircraft would fly over their home and his dad would take him to air shows.

Hess wasn’t sure what he wanted to do in high school, but he took part in an airport operations job shadow program in Fort Myers, Florida He fell in love with it, but decided he wanted to be a pilot.

Hess changed his mind after one semester and decided he wanted to work in airport management instead.

“I really like the people,” he said. “The passion that everyone demonstrates in this industry is absolutely amazing. I love learning from others and taking what I learned and mentoring my team.”

Hess has been a representative for aviation and the Lee County Port Authority for 15 years. He started as an intern and after graduation went to South Bend, Indiana to learn more to include winter operations. He came back as an operations agent and began mentoring and training his peers while he was still new himself.

He overhauled the hiring and training program for his team to ensure operations agents are some of the most knowledgeable in the field. Hess manages the 139 program for LCPA and has worked to keep it discrepancy-free since 2016.

Hess also runs the airport wildlife program and before becoming the manager he was the bird dog handler for its dog, Sky, who was featured in USA Today. He helped train the subsequent dogs and dog handlers until the airport closed that portion of the wildlife program.

Hess has served on the LCPA ASPIRE committee, which identifies individuals within the organization that go above and beyond. He also sits as the vice-chair of the Florida Airports Council Operations Committee. As a result, he has been able to share topics and issues involving Florida airports which has helped  the airport develop as a team.