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Issue link: http://airportbusiness.epubxp.com/i/604359
November 2015 airportbusiness 39 Eileen M. Vélez-Vega's love for aviation began with her mother, who in the 1960-70s wanted to be an airline flight attendant for Pan Am. Though her mother wasn't able to pursue her dream, she always told Vélez-Vega about her love for airports and travel. This fostered a love for aviation in Vélez-Vega. Today, she is the assistant vice president and one of the managing partners of Kimley-Horn Puerto Rico LLC and has contributed to the effort to establish this subsidiary, which is the first international office established by Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc. Previously, Vélez-Vega was an aviation project manager for Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc. in West Palm Beach. Her practice continues to be aviation and she is currently the consultant for the Puerto Rico Ports Authority and the Aerostar Airport Holdings LLC, which manages the recently privatized San Juan International Airport. In spring 2014, Vélez-Vega relocated to manage the Kimley-Horn Puerto Rico office where she is currently the office practice leader and oversees all the op- erations in the office. As an engineer at Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc., Vélez-Vega gained experience as a civil-aviation engineer in the design of airport infrastructure for commercial and general aviation airports. Prior to joining Kimley-Horn, Vélez-Vega was a research civil engineer in the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development. Vélez-Vega is a young member of several TRB pavement committees and leads the ASCE Transportation and Development Institute's Airfield Pavements Committee. Vélez-Vega had a stem cell transplant in 2012, and has been in remission for three years. She has done two half marathons with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and is part of their patient advocate program as well as on Board of Directors in Puerto Rico. Cory Bengtzen: Seeks Adventure Cory Bengtzen is a quick start and the faster the better. You may recog- nize him as the cowboy pilot on the reality TV show "Dangerous Flights." Or perhaps as the co-owner of the De Havilland Vampire Jet that just won 1st Place at the 2015 Reno Air Races. He bought his first plane, a Cessna Turbo 210, by age 21 and a year later was managing of one of the largest car dealerships in the state. By 25, he co-owned his own Ford dealership. Bengtzen dove full-time into aviation, his lifelong passion, when he boot- strapped the startup CB Aviation from a one-room office at the Ogden Airport in Utah (just north of Salt Lake City) at the age of 30. Today CB Aviation, an international aircraft broker, employs more than 30 people, spans three continents with a world-class maintenance facility housed in Bengtzen's other aviation venture, CB Jet Center, the highest rated and only CAA Certified FBO in Utah. DID YOU KNOW? VÉLEZ-VEGA attended Space Camp in NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. In 1994. DID YOU KNOW? BENGTZEN 's two kids are both learning to fly and expect to get their pilot's licenses on their first legal birthday. Assistant Vice-President Kimley-Horn Puerto Rico LLC Age: 35 Years in Aviation: 13 Memberships: SWE, ASCE, TRB, CIAPR, SHPE, AAAE, LLS President CB Aviation Age: 37 Years in Aviation: 7 Memberships: NBAA Eileen M. Vélez-Vega: Builds Aviation Internationally