april2024 - 17

Jacob Gonzales (left), northeast regional
manager at AES, congratulates Ryan Hall
on winning the Team Leader of the Year.
" It's really whoever is in need of
GSE maintenance, " Hall says. " If
you've got GSE, we're the people
that you go to. "
A significant portion of Hall's role
is allocating his team to whichever
station is in need. He manages personnel,
parts and other details to
ensure operations avoid disruption
as much as possible. Each business
partner AES works with has
their own set of key performance
indicators (KPIs), so Hall's focus is
split between short-term solutions
that keep operations running and
long-term solutions that help customers
hit the performance metrics
they're aiming for.
Hall credits his team members for
ensuring maintenance work is carried
out efficiently.
" These guys are the subject matter
experts, " Hall says. " Whatever their
specialty is, if we get a call, we get
them scheduled, we get them on a
plane and go.
" It's really, how can we come
in and help? "
Trust and Leadership
Hall is thankful for the tutelage
he's received throughout his career
in ground support. Hall recalls
receiving a lot of trust from Randy
McKinney when he first started out,
and learning from Joe Morris in
the GSE shop.
" When we were 19, 20, 21 years
old, people had the confidence in us
to do the job, " Hall says. " We were
out running the ramp and running
the operation, and you weren't even
old enough to go drink a beer yet. "
Hall's career has been further
supported from mentors like Don
Hitchens, Paul Remillard, Kimber
McKay, Shawn Griffin and Ray
Ames, among others. The lessons
Hall has learned from these
mentors has helped shape him
as a leader.
" We all have expectations, and we
all have the goals we need to meet, "
Hall says. " But you treat people like
you want to be treated. You treat
people like human beings. There is
life outside of what we do, and you
never know what people are dealing
with on that side.
" If you have care, if you have compassion,
if you have respect and you
communicate what those end goals
are, 99 times out of 100, you get
there, " he continues. " You're always
going to have your challenges. But
making sure people are on the same
page helps. "
Hall emphasizes the importance of
clear communication and transparency
to get the most of teammates.
" His leadership style is empathetic
and relatable as he has been in the
industry on both sides of the ramp, "
Quigley says, adding that Hall leads
by example utilizing his experience
as a ramp agent and a mechanic.
Jacob Gonzales, northeast regional
manager at AES, adds that Hall
allows his team members to make
their own decisions.
" If we are in the process of making
a decision, we can run something
by him, " Gonzales says. " But at the
end of the day, it's our decision. It
helps us grow.
" He empowers us to make our
decisions. He's always very supportive, "
he continues. " There's no other
person I'd really want to work for. I've
worked with Ryan for so long, and it
feels like he's part of our family. "
Challenges vs. Opportunities
Hall's leadership style allows him
and his team to overcome challenges,
and there are new challenges
every day. But Hall says he views
challenges as opportunities to get
better and chances to continue his
professional education.
" It's always learning, listening. It's
never being comfortable with what
we have because (the industry) is
always evolving and changing, " Hall
says. " Making sure you're ahead of
that game and making sure you're
available to learn and listen is what's
going to make us better. "
This philosophy has served
Hall and his team well with two
recent projects.
In late 2023, Hall and his team
with AES helped Unifi start a new
ground handling operation in Calgary
- a contract that required 750
pieces of equipment.
" It's a team effort, from getting in,
to setting up shops, to getting 750
pieces of equipment up there, to getting
it ready to go for the operation, "
Hall says. " We were up in Canada
week after week, getting this set up.
It was a whole team effort from an
AES perspective, a Unifi perspective.
It was a joint effort. It was very collaborative
and very rewarding. "
" Everyone did their part, and it
went pretty well, " Gonzales adds.
The Calgary operation is an
example of what a strong team can
do. Hall notes his team is able to
achieve great things daily because
of that cooperation.
" I can't overstate this, but the
team that AES has built - everybody
is good at their niche, " Hall
says. " Our goal with this is we
want to be the world-class, No. 1
organization. Everybody has that
shared goal and vision. "
Hall points out the work travel technicians
and local techs does specifically.
He adds the regional team members
are also instrumental to success.
All of these people have helped
Hall succeed in his own career.
" The whole journey has been
unbelievable. The industry has
been good to us. It's been good
to our families, " Hall says. " It's
been a good life to live. I'm very
grateful to the people who have
helped me. "
April 2024 || AviationPros.com || 17
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