Jean-Christophe is a multi-disciplinary airport consultant with more than 17 years of experience in airport planning at medium- and large-hub airports across the United States. He has developed airport master plans including in depth airport layout plan updates, terminal planning and airfield geometry.
What is your favorite ESA moment/memory so far?
Along with other ESA colleagues from Aviation/Airports, we were at a noise conference in Palm Springs. Learning a lot about aviation noise during the day, but it was topped off with a tramway ride to the top of Chino Canyon for a group dinner. Fear of heights aside, it was great to meet with airport partners, hear their issues and see how we can help; as well as get to know my fellow ESA colleagues better.
What does it mean to you to be part of an employee-owned company?
Being in an employee-owned company has a different team dynamic than a traditional structured company. I’ve noticed how we all work closer together and we are all accountable to each other in addition to ourselves. There is a strong spirit of camaraderie where we are not just colleagues, but friends.
What keeps you coming to work here at ESA every day?
The people I work with. It is just a joy to get to work with them, call them up and see what’s going on and what the new day brings us.
What is your hidden or special talent(s)?
I’ve been a fine-art photographer for over a decade with a few awards and showings.
What’s your favorite thing to do when you are out of the office?
Go out and take some photos, try to capture something different or a different angle on a familiar thing. More recently, I’ve been trying to shoot more editorial photos, try to be at the right place at the right time. Here are some photos: www.jcd.photo
If you had one free hour each day, how would you use it?
I have a backlog of books that keeps on growing. I’m not going through the list fast enough.
What are three skills that you bring to the ESA team? In other words, what should colleagues know to reach out to you about?
- Aiport Master Planning
- Business development & relationship building
- Historical research on airports
In a nutshell, what kind of work does your team do?
The Aviation team helps airports with an array of services. Airports are like little cities with a strong impact on the communities they serve. Airports must deal with a myriad of issues and a strong regulatory environment at the local, state and federal levels that require specialized custom solutions to ensure that our airport clients continue to serve the flying public at large.
Describe your role at ESA and the type of work you do.
With the myriad of issues that airports face, there isn’t a standard day. One day you could be working on a white paper analyzing the effectiveness of sensors on a runway to detect dangerous debris and the next you could be looking at the history of the first terminal built at an airport. The best days are when you get to go out to an airport and see the heavy metal transition in to flight at full throttle, be in the middle of the action on the tarmac. The managed chaos of an airport airfield feels like home.
What’s been your favorite project to work on here at ESA and what impact did it have on the community and/or environment?
I’ve been really enjoying working on the Southwest Florida International Airport Master Plan Update. The latest update will help the airport focus its development over the next 20 plus years. The airport has a lot of unrealized growth potential and being part of a team that will see the airport grow faster than many of its peers here in the US is going to be fun.
It doesn’t hurt that the team at the airport is dynamic and eager to see their airport grow and meet the needs of their community.
Have you had the opportunity to work on any career-defining projects?
I would change the question a little on this one. ESA has been the first firm to really see the potential I had for Business Development which opened a new chapter in my career. In our consulting industry, the concept of the “seller/doer” is essential to being able to bring in work as well as perform. There has always been an aspect of that in the previous firms I worked at. ESA saw more potential continues to help me develop that aspect of my career from day one. In a certain way, without knowing it, the people I’ve worked with, grew our careers with, led to this.
