2021 Airport Business Top 40 Under 40: Jill Mackenzie A. Geboy

Jill Geboy’s love of aviation started when she would make model airplanes with her dad while she was growing up. Her first flight took place in high school when she went to Japan as an exchange student and she came back with a bigger enjoyment for the industry.

“I loved the whole airport experience, I loved flying and that was the highlight of the trip,” she said. “All of that experience was even better than going to an international country and experiencing that.”

Geboy began making an impact in the aviation industry the moment she entered the industry. Fresh from graduating from Ohio State University in 2011, she embarked on a groundbreaking professional role as one of the youngest project managers at Jacobs Engineering, serving the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority (SDCRAA).

Geboy earned her Certificate in Project Management from UC San Diego, providing exceptional project management and contract administration, and developing the SDCRAA’s project management manual. As a result, she was named New Employee/Intern of the Year.

“Walking through the airport, you see families coming together and you see the businessman running to catch a flight for his next meeting,” she said. “Everyone has a story and we get to be a part of that.

In 2014, Geboy and her team won second place in the ACC Young Professionals Innovation Competition for “Augmented Reality – Airports in 3D.” This idea used geolocation services to enhance the real-world environment to visualize closed runways, runway slopes, weather and wind information, NOTAMs and critical airspace surfaces.

She became one of the youngest project managers at Burns & McDonnell. Geboy was the Corporate Citizenship Committee Leader for all offices in California, leading efforts to raise over $60,000 for United Way in 2019.

Geboy joined Woolpert’s Strategic Consulting Aviation Integration Team in 2019. She has presented at multiple aviation conferences while at the firm, including the AAAE/Northwest Chapter Conference on “BIM Post Construction” and at the ACI-NA 2017 Airports @ Work Conference on “Enterprise Facility and Asset Management.”

Geboy was elected the youngest full-time member of the Airport Council International (ACI) Operations, Planning, Safety, Infrastructure & Development Committee (OPSID). The group is committed to the education of future members, sharing lessons learned and best practices through industry-leading white papers, conferences and events.

She’s focused on fostering other young professionals to further help build and shape the future of the industry. Geboy led the development of an ACI-NA Young Professionals (YP) Program, which empowers young professionals to develop their own rich and impactful networks, while encouraging and emboldening innovation in the industry.