OUTSTANDING PEOPLE AND CAPABILITES
The series continues, with posts featuring the longest-term employees of AerSale®. In celebrating the company’s 10-year anniversary, we are highlighting what each of them remembers looking back and what they see for the company going forward.
Talk to Maria about the sequence of events that led her to AerSale and you’ll begin to sense a pattern. Her adventure takes off at AeroTurbine, the first startup of Nick Finazzo and Bob Nichols. Times were fast and furious, and the company was growing so fast it moved three times in its early days. The lean staff did whatever was necessary to handle the work and earn more. It was here that Maria first encountered Ron Wolf, a—seemingly—intimidating, tough guy and strict boss. Soon after coming to AeroTurbine, Ron was put in charge of all departments.
“I want you to work for me,” he stated one day.
It wasn't meant to be. Yet.
Fast forward to her next career stop and coincidentally they both worked at Volvo. Ron was on the quality side and Maria started in inspection before moving to repairs. A few short years later Maria received a familiar call.
“I want you to work for me,” said Ron, now on the other end of the phone at a startup named AerSale. He proceeded to pitch her on the new company, also launched by Nick and Bob, and asked her to join them. Same cast members, new setting.
“We laugh about it today,” Maria says. “I agreed and the whirlwind began. Ron's a hard worker, very dedicated, and I definitely learned a lot from him. It was a good move.”
On December 7, 2010, Maria jumped into the nearly bewildering pace. There were no systems. No real crew. She and her tiny team of colleagues juggled multiple roles. From handling international shipments to helping the accounting team pay invoices, all hands were always on deck. Everything was built from scratch. In typical Nick-and-Bob fashion, AerSale started small, but quickly mushroomed.
“It was exciting and I learned a lot,” says Maria. “I was thrilled when new people came on board because then a new department was created to handle specific tasks. I could then focus on repairs.”
As a Repair Administrator, Maria sends parts out for repair, which are then released to the sales team. Starting as an aircraft mechanic, she earned her AP license, and continues her love of working in aviation.
In her opinion, AerSale is nothing short of amazing. Maria used to know everyone. Now there are people everywhere and at more locations. The growth continues with more companies joining the family, but so does the supportive culture. Maria reiterates that she enjoys working with the people around her. She attests they always try to make the best of any situation and work together among different departments. She promises it’s not always serious and that the employees laugh a lot. It’s all about helping each other in any way they can.
Can she pinpoint what really drives the company’s success? What makes it so special? She describes AerSale’s leadership team as risk takers, with a variety of talent and proven experience. They study the market, tirelessly search for information, research options, and develop solutions. It’s familiar territory with a proven roadmap to ongoing success.
“When I think about it, time just flew,” Maria recalls. “I’ve been very blessed. AerSale has given me opportunities to move up, but I like what I do, am a mother of three kids, and value my time at home with them after work. During the work day though, this is my family. AerSale has tried very hard to include people. They’ve truly made this a great place to work.”
