2019 Airport Business Top 40 Under 40: Juan F. Martinez

When Juan F. Martinez was growing up in San Juan, his dad would take him to a local airfield every weekend where they would watch planes fly away.

He took the love of aviation to college, where he began working on his private pilot license to become a professional pilot. However, he realized he could make more of an impact on the aviation industry working down on the ground than he would flying solo.

“It never stops and it’s so challenging. Every day is a different day and you just don’t know what you’re getting,” he said. “Even with the scheduled meetings, you never know what’s going to happen because there’s always some factor that influences your decision making skills, your critical thinking abilities, your projects throughout the timeline and the punch list that you need to meet.”   

Martinez worked for the Puerto Rico Department of Consumer Affairs, the Puerto Rico Ports Authority, and Aerostar Airport Holdings as the SMS Coordinator for the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (SJU).

Martinez lead the effort for SJU,  which was aside from the FAA pilot studies as a voluntary effort to develop all phases of an SMS manual and implementation.

He was responsible for the development and phased implementation of the airport SMS Program. He developed a safe and just culture; developed the confidential and hazard report; created the airport safety committee; started the first FOD walk; built SMS program development and implementation, gap analysis and risk assessments; while working with the entire airport community.

Martinez then joined the city of Chicago O'Hare (ORD) team as the SMS director continuing the implementation process inclusive of the development of a fully functional SMS database. Martinez is engaged on a daily basis to make safety improvements for ORD.

He is part of the Airport Council International (ACI) SMS task force and is a member of the planning team for the annual SMS workshop conferences inclusive of conference activity planning and speaking in support of SMS and helping to make improvements in the industry.

His experience currently helps those airports who want to also be early implementers and those who eventually may need to be compliant with future rule making. His involvement has and will help airport of all size and complexities improve their safety processes to make the entire aviation system safer.