7 Questions With...

Joe Marana, Director of Operations and Facilities, Fort Wayne-Allen County Airport Authority
Jan 2, 2025
Jeffrey Crane
7 Questions With...

As Director of Operations and Facilities at Fort Wayne-Allen County Airport Authority, Joe Marana has his hands full. Originally from Duluth, Minnesota, Marana has been with the Airport since 2011 and has moved up the ranks to his current role. We caught up with him and talked about the successes and challenges he’s experienced through Project Gateway, what he loves most about working for FWA, and learned a bit about his family, hobbies and interests, too. 

Q1: Can you tell us what your role as Director of Operations and Facilities entails? What does a normal day for you look like?
I have the pleasure of overseeing the maintenance, operations and public safety departments at the Fort Wayne-Allen County Airport Authority. Beyond the responsibilities within these departments, I’m also responsible for capital planning and being the liaison for most of our federal partners. Every day at the airport is different and keeps our team very busy. Besides monitoring all the new federal regulations that seem to be consistently growing, we have on average over 2,000 people a day coming in and out of FWA. Our team is always trying to better serve our customers and that can be challenging since we are not in complete control of the passenger’s journey. Each day I try to walk through the terminal and identify a change I can make. Most days those changes are little corrections, but the terminal expansion has allowed us to transform the experience in an amazing way.

Q2: The West Terminal Expansion and Rehabilitation project is complete and the East Terminal Expansion and Renovation Project is well underway. What have been some of the most challenging parts of these projects? The most rewarding?
The most challenging part of the terminal program was trying to figure out how to build a terminal building northeast Indiana deserves while balancing an uncertain financial plan. When we started the planning process eight years ago, we did not know how we were going to fund a $100 million terminal and thought it wouldn’t be complete until 2028. Now, here we are in 2024 building a fully funded $140 million terminal and completing it in 2025. The pandemic obviously had a profound impact on daily operating revenues. To make matters worse, historically the aviation industry doesn’t recover quickly after the previous disruptions such as 9/11 and the 2008 recession. However, we were optimistic that this time would be different and kept working. One of the most rewarding parts of my career has been our success with federal funding for the terminal program. Seeking competitive grants through the FAA is a marathon, not a sprint. At the end of the project, roughly 45% of the project will be funded by the federal government instead of the local taxpayer. To put this in perspective, in 2016 we had anticipated maybe 20% of the terminal would receive federal funding. 

Q3: What do you enjoy most about working for FWA?
The people. I’m a social person and I enjoy the atmosphere of our team and airport partners working together to make travel safe for our region. I also enjoy interacting with our customers and doing what I can to make their trip enjoyable. We interact daily with the TSA, FAA, airlines, Air National Guard, local agencies and many others. These deep relationships of course strengthen our resiliency when it comes to common operational issues or in any emergency situations. All jobs at the airport are essential to making the travel experience possible. We all have our bad days, but our work provides us with a very relatable mission of connecting people. 

Q4: Tell us about yourself. What are your interests and hobbies, and what can you be found doing in your free time?
I was born and raised in Duluth, Minnesota. After high school I attended the University of North Dakota (UND) to become a commercial pilot. Two years into the flight program the recession hit. At the time, the amount of debt I was in and the potential pilot pay was a bit of a mismatch. Airport management was a business administration degree, and I figured if aviation didn’t work out I could go into the private sector. I met my wife at UND and she moved to Fort Wayne shortly after I did. We have two sons (ages 6 and 3) and identical twin girls (age 1). 

I’m a member of the Fort Wayne Sports Club and try to play pickup soccer there once a week. I also enjoying running and canoeing/kayaking. When I’m not playing sports, I’m usually watching my boys play sports. Our new activity recently is pickleball and my six-year-old is pretty good! I am one of Fort Wayne’s biggest fans. You can often find me and my boys at TinCaps and Komets games. I’m excited for the new Fort Wayne FC stadium and always look forward to their matches. Almost weekly I’m bringing the kids to the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo in my soccer-dad minivan with my Zoo license plates.  

Q5: How long have you been with FWA and what drew you to this position?
This February will mark my 14th year at FWA. To be honest, 14 years ago I was a 22-year-old recent college graduate that was struggling to find full-time employment after the recession. I knew I wanted to work in airport management, but the aviation industry was still in recovery mode and the job market was oversaturated. When I applied for an operations specialist role in Fort Wayne, I knew that FWA had a good reputation in the airport industry but didn’t know anything about the city. While I was conducting my research, I was surprised to find out that my cost of living would decrease from my time in Fargo, North Dakota. My favorite part of my story in Fort Wayne is what has kept me here. The first reason is my co-workers. We have an excellent team at the airport and I am very proud of the work we have accomplished. The second reason is our community. This is the fourth city I’ve lived in and by far the best. We are a community that is on the move and I’m excited to be part of it.

Q6: What is one thing you would like to accomplish or work toward this new year?
Professionally I want to spend more time planning. We have recently embarked on a strategic plan and airport layout plan. In 2012 we completed our FAA Master Plan at the airport. Spending that time upfront and executing it well resulted in the success we have had to date. Now that we have accomplished so much it’s time to focus on what our strategic priorities are and to map out the next few years. 

I have started listening to more audiobooks and podcasts when I don’t have kids in the car. Most of what I’m listening to are industry podcasts or books on developing teams. This has helped me think more critically about how we are doing things instead of just getting the work done and, hopefully, has made me a better leader. This next year will be busy with new leaders of the Department of Transportation and Department of Homeland Security. We will likely have a record number of passengers, cars, and aircraft, and all the challenges that accompany those changes. I’m excited for the next few years and our team is ready to go.

Q7: Do you enjoy traveling? If you could visit any place in the world, where would it be and why?
It might not be a prerequisite to enjoy traveling to be a director at an airport, but I sure find it a little odd if you don’t! I love traveling. My wife and I were fortunate enough to put a few new pins in the map before we had kids. We still travel with the kids, but options are a bit limited given their ages. I haven’t been to South America yet and would enjoy going to Machu Picchu. My wife’s wish list of destinations ahead of Machu Picchu is quite long. Last Christmas she bought me a puzzle of Machu Picchu — I’ll take the hint that’s as close as I’m going to get to it for a while. 


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