By
Debra Solomon Baker
ANGELO FIATARUOLO
general manager,
Kansas City Aviation Center
Why drive when you can fly? Why fly on a commercial airplane
when you can hop onto your company’s very own? More and more
St. Louisans may begin asking themselves these very questions
now that Kansas City Aviation Center has moved into town.
This February, KCAC opened a 42,000-square-foot facility at
the Spirit of Saint Louis Airport, which marked the first expansion
effort outside of Kansas City, where the company is based. Several
other locations, including one in Oklahoma and Chicago, will
soon follow.
“This is a wonderful second location for us,” says General Manager
Angelo Fiataruolo. “Because of its location and because the
airport is designed so well, there is not the anti-business
bias that exists at some other airports. Here, there is a very
good partnership.”
Aircraft sales, about $30 million worth each year, comprise
about sixty percent of KCAC’s business. KCAC’s planes are typically
purchased for business purposes, rather than to hobbyists. The
company is the exclusive distributor of the New Piper aircraft
for a four-state Midwest area and of the Pilatus PC12 for a
nine-state territory.
Fiataruolo, served as the CEO for Pilatus until 2002.
KCAC’s other main pillar consists of aircraft maintenance, including
the installation of state-of-the-art avionics.
In addition, KCAC arranges charter flights to more than 14,000
destinations worldwide, including remote destinations. A charter
flight can be the ideal solution to the hassles inherent in
commercial air travel. Gone are the delays. The layovers. The
lengthy security lines.
Also, charter flights can be highly productive arenas. A three-hour
flight often means a three-hour business meeting.
If KCAC’s current success is any indicator, the St. Louis facility
should soon be bustling. In Kansas City, the company has doubled
its overall revenues over the past three years.
As one would likely expect, given the company’s success, Fiataruolo
is happiest when he has his head in a deal. He describes himself
as competitive and as a strategic thinker.
More than anything, though, he believes in the importance of
a team effort.
“One person does not make a company work,” he says. “One person
provides the structure and the palette for putting together
a successful plan.”
“It’s been a good ride so far,” says Fiataruolo. “This shows
the need and the demand for a company that provides first-class
maintenance and first-class charter.
“In St. Louis, I want us to be the place where customers want
to come and where employees want to work.”
LEADERSHIP CIRCLE INSIGHTS
what do you see as the most important aspect of your business
philosophy?
“My business philosophy has the team concept at its core. It
boils down to building and maintaining the best possible team
I can; helping that team identify the highest priority organizational
objectives; providing the resources the team needs to do its
job and knocking down obstacles to peak team performance and
success; and finally, demanding, recognizing, and building on
peak team performance and excellence. Key to providing the team
the resources it needs, and reducing obstacles to team success,
is building and maintaining the best possible relationship with
our community partners.”
THOMAS
G. CORNWALL
president,
Sustainment Systems Segment DRS Technologies Inc.
“We are focused on serving only one client at Edward Jones:
the serious, long term individual investor. Decisions are made
based on what will meet their needs and be in their best interest.
Our compensation and development programs, along with our ownership
opportunity attracts and retains the best people to our firm.”
JAMES WEDDLE
managing partner,
Edward Jones
“I
believe that to be truly successful in business, one must take
what he or she does very seriously, but not take oneself too
seriously. It is getting the best thinking on the table that
is important, not who’s idea it is or who said it.”
DOUG YEAGER
chairman, president & CEO,
The Laclede Group Inc.
