Ryan Smith
Ryan Smith is the Director of Communications and Government Relations for Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. He oversees marketing and community relations and all government relations duties for the airport. Ryan graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in Political Science, lives in Mesa with his wife and kids, and is a fifth-generation Arizonan.
Episode Transcription
This episode is sponsored by Gilbert Independent, Your Valley. net, dedicated to serving readers with good community journalism. The Gilbert Independent is a nonpartisan newspaper, an online site that covers your town's institutions, development, and events. Describe and follow your Valley. net daily to stay up to date with the latest local news. This podcast is brought to you by the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce and Modern Moments wedding and event venue and produced by Sleepy Time Studios. It's the holiday season. It actually isn't, but it was, and it was a beautiful holiday season.
And now it's time to do another recording. It is. Who do we have today? Well, today we have a guest whose roots run deep in Arizona. A 5th generation Arizonan. He grew up in Mesa. His grandfather served as superintendent of Mesa Public Schools and his father as mayor of Mesa. From a young age, he loved aviation. This passion eventually led him to his current role as a director of communications. and government relations at Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport. He is a proud sun devil, the father of 3, and stepdad to 3 more.
He lives by the mantra. Make it happen. Please welcome Ryan Smith. Welcome Ryan. Thank you very much. Let's make it happen that we will, at least for the next, uh, you know. hour or half an hour. Let's make it happen. Well, I think. Here we go. Would you rather travel to the past or future? OK. Like, uh, I, I like going back and, you know, in my age now, being able to look back on the things that I thought were really great and funny and then realized that I was just really dumb.
And somehow I survived those things, uh, but it would be great to go back and, and have, uh, have some of the memories and, and look at them as look at some of the teenage things that I did, uh, or early my early twenties and look at now with the wisdom of, uh, of being older and say, wow, I. I really actually did that. Well, I'm glad you gave us a specific timeline to talk about today. So we're gonna dig into that. Perhaps we'll find out what your hidden talent is.
I, I would say my hidden. Pretty much uh in the in the span of a second cover both sides of an argument. I can either I can either be with you or against you, whatever, whatever way it needs to suit the the moment. I think I, I think being a politician was was in my blood, and I learned early on how to kind of straddle that rope and try and walk through those sports? Yes, ASU wins the game. Yes, Chiefs win the Super Bowl. Yes, OK, we can be friends.
See, I did my research and I knew, I knew those answers in advance. OK. OK, I think I know this, but maybe not. Would you rather attend a hip hop concert or a rock concert? That's a tough one, but I. Yeah, I may be jumping ahead, but I've been to more rock concerts than I have hip hop. Guns N Roses. Let's go. Uh, have you ever lived abroad? I have Mexico City. Yeah, I lived there for 2 years. What is your go to snack? Go to snack is anything chocolate.
Well, then, uh, what makes you hopeful other than chocolate? Hopeful is the ability to kind of chart my own my own course, knowing that thick, thin, good or bad, I'll figure it out and and uh and end up golden in the end. Are you more of a thinker or a doer? I am definitely more of a thinker. I think I think about all of the things that I need to do and then and then I look at the clock and I'm like, well, I ran out of time to do all those things, although he does say, let's make it happen.
Let's make it happen. Yes. If someone were to play you in a movie, who would you want it to be? I would love to be Ryan Gosling if I came back because, I mean, obviously he's gorgeous, and, uh, you know, the fact that he's funny and good looking and and have everything going on. I could make that work. Yeah. All right. What is your favorite pastime or hobby hobby is mountain biking. Love mountain biking, um. I wish, I wish it was more of a pastime, mountain biking, but finding the time is a little hard but I love mountain biking, full or half empty.
I'm a guy. He's now you're gonna have to, you know, like I said, I'm a politician, whatever makes whatever floats his boat. OK. So. Every day at APS we're here to help you save energy and money. APS solutions for Business can help you make energy efficiency upgrades more affordable. Find rebates at APS. com/business rebates. Want to start your own podcast? Whether it's a business, personal, internal, or hobby podcast, Sleepy Time Studios can help you with everything you need to get your podcast recorded, edited, hosted, and shared with the world.
Get started on the podcast of your dreams at SleepytimeStudios.com. Mention guiding growth and get 223% off any podcasting package at SleepytimeStudios.com. Well, Sarah, let's dig into this, shall we? I can't wait. Well, I don't know if it's sweethearts, so they met in college. Um, my, uh, my mom, uh, got pregnant way too early. Um, she was, she was just a freshman or sophomore and in college. My dad was just about to graduate, so I thought you were gonna say high school because that would have been way too early.
That would have been awkward, um, at least, at least not the version that they told me. I haven't, I haven't investigated this thoroughly, but math might prove that one out, right? Yeah, that's true. So I born in Provo but quickly moved right back here to to Mesa, um. Uh, after my dad graduated, uh, graduated from BYU and came back here and grew up and, uh, went to Mesa schools and basically have lived, uh, lived within the same square mile or two for Except for a little break when I, uh, when I, when I was in my early 20s, but, uh, basically I'm back within, within a mile of where I grew up.
So what high school? Mountain View, Mountain View. OK. OK, talk about, I mean, this wasn't really that long ago, but I mean, how, how many, when was this? What did childhood look like in Mesa? Childhood in Mesa was, was awesome. It was, uh, we, we grew up, I grew up in like the Valvista and brown area, so it was nothing but orange groves and, and spread all out and it was, uh, it was great because you would, you just kind of would run. It was still, still a small big city, um.
You know, the, the starting with Fiesta Mall and then later Superstition Springs, spent a lot of Saturdays just getting dropped off there. Um, my parents, just like a lot of the kids from my generation would just let us go places. So we would rollerblade to the wedge, which is, uh, in South Scottsdale and. Somehow just find our way home, uh, you know, a little detour through through ASU and through Tempe, but the beauty thing is if you could find University Drive, I knew I could always get home just because it's just, it just kept on going.
So we would, we would spend a lot of time doing that. It was a lot of fun. Sports, you said you're a sports guy. Did you do any of that kind of stuff in high school in high school because I had a girl. I was not a great swimmer. I mean, I was decent, but, but really I went out for the swim because my girlfriend was on the swim team. OK, yeah, I didn't say I didn't ask. I just kind of fell into that and really enjoyed that.
It was a lot of fun. well, I, I did. OK, OK. OK, so I'm the born. I'm the oldest of 3. OK, so I have a younger brother and a younger sister lives in Gilbert, the other one lives in Mesa in my parents' house, which uh which they grew up in. So there's obviously. We've got that kind of. Uh, I'm pretty close in age, so, um, we're, we only get, we're only separated by 3 or 4 years. So. And was your grandfather superintendent while you were in school? He retired when I was in first grade, so every teacher, basically every teacher that I ever had, at least through high school, almost through high school, had been hired by him, that he was their superintendent.
So that helped a lot, um, and sometimes I, I would pull that up and say, And I'd say, well, you know, then they find out my grandpa was superintendent, and they would use that against me because they were saying, if your grandpa understood what a horrible student you're being right now, he would be, he would be mortified. So don't make me, don't make me reach out and tell him, uh, you know, how you're sloughing off in class. I don't think that's fair leverage. It really isn't. But when I was early on, like in in elementary school and junior high, it was great.
I was like, I love your grandpa. He's the greatest. He hired me. And uh it really worked, but then when you, when you have to have some accountability, it starts to work against you. Yeah. And did your parents work? What did that look like? My dad was, my mom was always a stay at home mom until my dad decided to go back to law school at 37, 38, um, and so then my mom went and became a nail tech and would kind of do nails out of, uh, out of a little salon that she set up in our garage, so.
I always would go down and sit down and, and kind of listen to the therapy sessions that my mom would have with all of her nail clients and, uh, um, but, but yeah, my, my dad was always, was always working, decided to go back to law school because he, he didn't like being a CPA anymore, so. Uh, a lot of my memories were my dad in school or my dad working a lot. Interesting. OK, so I'm not gonna leave high school just yet. Let's talk about mentors and people that inspired you during that time in your life, cause, you know, you're still figuring things out, you're doing a little swim, you're doing a little this or that.
Who comes to mind? Yeah, you know, I, we always had, we always had people around and there was, there was kind of professionals that were around, and I always kind of really appreciated that. There were business partners of my dad that, um, that I would look at and, and then obviously my father, uh, my father and my grandfather were always great, great mentors. My grandpa, uh, my grandpa spent more time, he actually spent more years retired than he ever did, uh, um, working, so. You know, but he always had side gigs and side businesses, and, and those were things that, uh, that I, I always really appreciated and enjoyed.
And then, you know, watching my dad and kind of juggling those things, um, you know, my pathways kind of followed that a little bit. So, OK, very cool. All right, so curious because you shared a little bit of insight into maybe you didn't make some of the best decisions. If you were to go back and tell yourself something that you know now that you didn't know then, what would it be? Uh, do them all and enjoy it a little bit more. OK, so, uh, realizing that that even when you make mistakes, it's not life altering and life ending, you know, luckily, luckily the mistakes I didn't do didn't produce any children or, or lifelong lifelong things.
I have a lot of lifelong scars. I got ran over by a boat when I was 18 and, uh, my own boat. My friend ran me over and then, um, skiing wake wakeboarding at Soro Lake. And then hit a tree snowboarding at at sunrise and broke my femur. So there's a I would probably would have said, hey, dodge that tree or or don't let, don't let your idiotic friend drive that boat. Uh probably were two things that I'd go back and tell myself. Yeah, so I tell my um high school children, don't take any lives out of the world or bring any lives into the world and we're good.
So that's good. That's parent and you're safe. All right, so what does this look like on a mission for Mexico City abroad, did that, um, learned Spanish, which was probably the greatest, uh, I don't know if the greatest accomplishment, but the fact that I was able to learn Spanish. And keep it up and, and, and remember, uh remember a second language is something I never thought I'd actually be able to do. Yeah, yeah, still, still I'm able to speak it and understand it and I listen to Spanish music just to keep it fresh, but, uh, luckily I have made a lot of lifelong friends, um, down in Mexico City and, and so I continue to talk with them, which, which kind of keeps a little fresh.
Certainly have, have, uh, forgotten a lot of words, but. Um, it's a, it's a great language to know. Big telenovela, you know, so so a little bit more when I was down there because I could understand and follow the storyline a little better, but now when you just drop in, it's a little harder to follow. Yeah, when you look back at that time, I'm curious what what thoughts you had and who was around you at that time. I, um, you know, we, we, when when you kind of go out and do that thing, you're just thrust into the world and a couple of the people that I was with.
Um, we're a little bit older and so, you know, I was, I was 19 and they were like 22, but they might as well have been 223 because they, they just seem so much, so much wiser. Um, and so that, that was a lot of fun because they, uh, uh, coming back, especially, they were a few years into college and a couple of them have gotten married and so, you know, to, to learn and to see kind of where they were going and and then ultimately know that my path was quickly going to follow.
Um, certainly helpful. So you came back, came back, OK? So I started studying finance and then I got a job. Um, I got a job doing mortgages at the time, um, and, uh, at that time you really didn't have a lot of flexibility. You didn't have online school and so the finance program had a, had a couple classes that Uh, you couldn't take during the day. Uh, you had or you had to take them during the day and I had a full-time job at that time. By the time I had built up a mortgage company and then, uh, a home builder's mortgage company had me kind of fold into there.
So I was, I was running a, uh, I was regional vice president of a, of a national home builders mortgage company, um, kind of working at that and going to school full time and they were great, paid for part of my tuition. Let me, let me go to, let me go to school, but, um. Uh, the ASU finance program was a little, a little inflexible on, uh, on a couple of classes, and so I literally had to change my major because I, I wasn't able to go at that time.
So I switched to political science because that happened to be the, the program that I could go and do night school and, uh, and then work full time. That was written in the stars. Yes, yeah, it, it worked out. It was great. It ended up being a great a great undergrad and kind of prepped it and It was the door that had opened that I didn't realize was opening. I was really upset at the time. I I obviously wanted to do a finance degree. I was 25. Never in my wildest dream could have imagined that, uh, that the, the real estate industry and the real estate market would completely come crashing down, um, and, and was a little naive at that.
That was one of the things that I didn't learn at the before it happened, but, uh, um, my dad had started to Had announced that he was, he, he had sold this company and and had retired, um, and then decided to run for mayor of Mesa. And so I thought I'll just, I'm gonna go and run his campaign with him and, and, uh, that'll be great. And then, and then I can always go back to mortgages or we'll we'll find something else and, you know, the world completely crashed in uh in '0607 08 and uh he was elected in '08 and at that time I was like, well, great, it's a, I, I love politics and I'm gonna stick it, stick with this.
What did you love about it when you look back at that that first campaign? I loved, um, I loved talking with people who, who really had hope and, and, and wanted to see good things happen. Um, grew up in Mesa, loved Mesa, wanted what was best for Mesa, wanted to kind of help, help do that one, you know, love my community and, and so being able to be a part of that and kind of making some of those changes, um, I really liked. And I, I like, I like the service aspect of it, um, even back then, and it's gotten much worse now, you kind of have to be a little crazy to run for office.
And so the personalities that, uh, that I got to work with as I was running campaigns was were were great. Yeah, I'm curious, jumping ahead just a little bit, but I'm curious how the experience has changed over the years. Uh, wildly, and two things, um, you, you really have to be crazy to run for public office now, um, because the the the The questions and the, the purpose and, and really I think social media has changed things a lot. Um, people are involved and, and, you know, I think people believe the worst of things and so, um, a lot of the time you're spent when you're running campaigns is you're, you're, you're addressing negative questions and negative things instead of talking about your vision.
I think that's probably the, the, the hardest part about it. Um, you still have really good people that are running and people that just want to make a difference and give back and, and, um, but I think, I think when you look at the landscape of who runs for office. There's a lot more people that run these days that they're angry and they want to fix something or they want to change something. Yeah, and so that that that I think is probably the biggest thing that's changed.
OK, just because I'm fascinated by this, one more question. How do you see Candidates changed after the first term that they serve. Like how do you see an evolution in who who they were when they ran versus who they become in office and some of those lessons that they learn? Yeah, a lot of, a lot of times you go in and you're just like, I don't know what I'm expecting. I think I know what the job is and I think I know what it is, but when you get in there and then all of a sudden you realize that this is how the big machine works and this is what You spend hours and hours and hours in study sessions and council meetings and legislative meetings, and you, you, you're drinking from a fire hose and then when you're talking to a constituent, you have to barrel everything you've learned, um, over hours of meetings into a 32nd sound bite.
Uh, some people can do, can do it much better than others, um, and it, it, it takes when you, when you see somebody that's been there for 4 years. Uh, they kind of hone that a little better. Yeah, I was in my very limited observation, I think people are really humbled by the job and and what they learn what they think they're walking into and what they think they know versus what they actually have to wrap their head around. Very much so, yeah, very much so, especially, you know, especially on the local level when you kind of the You, you take the platitudes out and you take the feelings out and you're actually, you know, it's one thing to, it's one thing to, to, to talk about political things like, you know, hot button topic topics like school choice or school funding or abortion.
Um, it's another thing when you're saying I have to charge this to pick up your trash, uh, and to sell you water, um, and that, that, that a lot of times is very hard. But those are the things that affect you every day. OK, I was expecting. I think that humbles them too and that um and they have to deal with a lot of mistruths and a lot of things that um it's hard to to sit and take and not be able to defend yourself and um.
Yeah, I, I mean, not to say that some of them go quite the opposite, I think, but, um, you, I think you go one way or the other. You're either humbled or you, you put up some walls real quick. So probably the biggest change, um, in 2008, I would say maybe 5% of the people that were running were running because they wanted to do that job, um, and the rest of the people were doing it because they really wanted to serve and they wanted to give back. There's a lot more people now today they get into politics because it's a hobby and a passion and they want they they they want that to be their life and, and it's their religion and it's, it's everything and they, they go to serve less for less as I want to give back and more of I I really want the, you know, I want the power or I want, I want the ability to go do this and I kind of want the attention and I want to be the the mover and shaker and I want the job, you know, I do it because it pays me.
Yeah, right, so you, um, you're in the mortgage business, you got your pitchfork, you graduated, now what? So then I, uh, I had got married, had 3 kids. I was young. It was, oh, that happens, yes, yes, 20003 under 3 will definitely change your life quite a bit. So working full-times had the opportunity to, to run some really cool, uh, campaigns and, and, um. Uh, national, local, uh, congressional campaigns. So a little bit of everything and, um, driving from the East Valley into downtown Phoenix every day is, is a grind, and it, yeah, it's you, was this your own firm or were you working with a different group?
I worked for a firm for a public affairs firm in downtown called High Ground. OK. And um so and and then, you know, traveling the state running statewide campaigns. Uh, had the opportunity to work for, for Governor Jan Brewer when she was running for re-election, and I got to, I got to really work with her hand on hand when she was trying to cut the budget. She was cutting a billion dollars out of the budget. She had taken a billion dollars in Obama stimulus and then she was going to raise taxes by a billion dollars for education.
So much different campaign than the uh than the immigration side of the campaign that came a little later, but, uh, it was great. It was, it was an awesome experience, you know, you get to. You get to be in, um, you start the morning in Flagstaff and then head to, uh, to Kingman and, and the night in, uh, in Yo or Lake Havasu City and you realize that Arizona is a very big and diverse, uh, place. And, um, while we're all Arizonans, we, you know, there are, there are segments of the state that are completely different than others.
And so that was a lot of fun. Yeah, lessons learned during that time. Oh, listen, listen a lot, um, listen to people and, uh, again, a lot of, a lot of diverse opinions of, of things, you know, the, the people that the things that people were struggling with in Kingman actually were different than what they were struggling with in Yuma, um, and different than than here in Mesa. So, uh, just listening and, and talking at that time that was 2010, so it's right in the middle of the, you know, we're still in the Great Recession.
Um, the economy still sucks. we haven't really come back and You know, people are just trying to figure it out and um to see them and and to listen to their ideas. A lot of people had great ideas. Uh, they're just looking for people to, to listen to their ideas and how things we can, how, how we can make things things different. And then, and then obviously you had at that time you had the people that were like, you're never going to raise taxes and you and and and and uh Obama stimulus should never happen.
And so, you know, it's having those those conversations and saying, OK, here is, here's where we're at. We've got $3 billion that we have to cut out of a $10 billion budget. This is, this is hard. That those were interesting conversations because you're trying to be upfront and honest with people and sometimes some, some people just didn't want to listen to that again from uh. Well, I would assume from a politician's standpoint, it's also very difficult when people think they have the solution, but they just don't get the full picture.
And, and how do you argue with that? Yeah, that's got to be frustrating. It's like Ben he doesn't get the full picture. What I tell you. I've been lost. OK, so then what? What happens? Got burned out, got divorced, um, that'll that'll be a life changer. Uh, and, and being a single dad, raising three kids in the East Valley and commuting an hour to an hour and a half into downtown Phoenix every day is, uh, is a grind and, and, um, had always loved Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport.
Uh, my dad was, um, it had, it allegiant had just started, um, doing service right when my dad became mayor. And so I'd kind of grown up seeing it and I, I remember even before it was a commercial airport I'd take my kids out there and we, we'd do it growing up, uh, when I was a young kid, go out to Willie Days and go out to the, the air shows out there. So from a little kid, I remembered it and so the opportunity to work there.
Work a couple miles from my house, not have to commute and still do somewhat political things, uh, and communications. I jumped on it. It was great. It was a great opportunity to, to, to hop there. So I did that around 2014, um, and made that transition and, and, uh, I've been there ever since. What is, um, what are some of the highlights of the job so far? So far, so I, I, um, you know, part of the make it happen mantra, um. We, uh, I got, I got hired because um they needed some political guidance and some, some help and um we we're kind of a unique airport in, in, in terms of being an old Air Force base.
We had a lot of infrastructure on there that needed to be changed, but there was, there was laws that needed to be changed. There were laws that were holding them back. They had tried for years and years to get a new air traffic control tower and so I kind of went in there and said, right, well, we're we're just gonna change the law. They said, Oh, that's, that's fun, Ryan we've already tried that. Oh no, we're gonna, we're gonna do that. This is what we're gonna do.
And we just made it happen. So we were, we were able to change laws and get a brand new air traffic control tower, which looks great, which looks great. It's a $30 million tower paid nearly 100% by the federal government. So, um, uh, there, the law that we changed actually said that the airports of our type couldn't spend more than $2 million on air traffic control tower construction, so. We went in there, worked, uh, worked tirelessly for a couple of years, got the law changed, and then, um, and then once it was changed, we kind of kept lobbying and kind of worked for it and FAA paid for pretty much the entire thing.
And then, so yeah, that's probably the first one. And then, um, you know, when you're done, you don't want to work yourself out of a job. So you find some other big hill that seems insurmountable and, uh, we had this basically when, when the airport was growing in 2008, 303, um, that everybody kind of just scrambled to make, make it work. And so what they had done is essentially taken, uh, You know, the old portable buildings that you that you had in elementary school, they've taken 3 of those and duct taped them together, and that was gates 1 through 4.
And so, um, so we said, and then during COVID, we found out that you, you actually can't have 4 flights out of there. You can basically have 1 because it was a super spreader and, uh, and it was starting to fall apart. The floor was literally like cracking and we have to replace the plywood and so we said, OK, we're, we're gonna work, uh, we're gonna work to get a new terminal. And new terminals basically never happen, um, unless you pay for them yourselves. Uh, and so at that time there was conversations about the bipartisan infrastructure law and Senator Cinema was, was poking around and we just kept being a squeaky wheel and said, you know, airports really need infrastructure help and, and, and, and we have all these old terminals across the country that, you know, third world countries, some of them are so bad.
So it would be really great if, if, um, you know, and they said, hey, we're working on these, this terminal idea. Well, here's the problem, here's the 7 problems we have with our terminal and lo and behold, uh, thanks to Senator Cinema, those 7 things were the criteria to, to, uh, qualify for funding and in the bipartisan infrastructure law. And so we, we met all those and in the first year there was $15 billion of applications for $1 billion refund of $103 billion of funding and Good old Arizona, good old Gateway Airport was, uh, was first in line, so we, we got the funding for a new terminal, uh, complex, uh, um, and so that was 5 gates we're able to expand and, um, and then again, uh, we were able to cobble together some money, get some state money in the state budget and some other things, and, and what we thought we were gonna have to spend $28 million on, we, uh, essentially the the airport got it for a couple million dollars that we put in, but, uh, the feds and the state paid for the rest.
So what I'm learning is I want to stay on your good side because you can make someone really good or really bad. Where does the tenacity come from? Um, just, just giving up. You try hard things and sometimes you fail, you mess up. I mean there's your siblings this way? Like, is this a family dynamic? Is this something that just is intrinsically in a different way. My brother, he's the artist, he's a photographer, he's got, he's got more creative talent as Pinky than I have in my body.
Um, he can, he can take a photo and, and I mean, we could be standing next to each other, taking a picture of the same exact thing, and I look at him on his phone. I'm like, what did you do with like we've got the same phone and everything, but he just has a different eye and then my, uh, my, my sister is a lot like me. She's, she's a full-time hairdresser. She's got, uh, 4 kids, set of twins. So she's working full time. She's momming full time and she, you know, managing, managing a life.
So I think we, we get a little bit of that the same. So it's a little bit in our in our DNA. Yeah, that's. When you think about the airport, I'm curious, what is it that you think may are best kept secrets that the public doesn't know and you wish they did. Um, you know, and this is, this is one of those things where it's a challenge because I, I've been director of communications now for 243 or 218 years and so my job is to communicate that we have 222 nonstop destinations and serve, you know, and have 222 million people that pass through there and, and still today the number of people I'll be like, yeah, we fly to 22000 destinations.
They're like, What? I thought you flew to Provo and, and Fargo like that, that was it. 230 destinations and so then, you know, it's. I think probably that's the biggest surprise is that, uh, we're growing airport, um, there are, it's not, it's not for everybody, you know, it's not, uh, it's not, it's an airport you can go just like on a, on an American flight and basically get to every part of the country, um, but if they're flying to a place that you want to go or you want to have grandma fly home, we certainly serve that, uh, that, that service and it's super easy.
I think our average TSA precheck wait time is less than a minute. Um, and it, it never averages more than like 15203 minutes. Uh, our, our TSA or our, uh our regular security non TSA PreCheck rarely goes over 21520 minutes, but it averages like 224, uh, even on a airport? I wish. You been to Detroit airport? Yes, I have, I have a story about that. I, I was staying there with my parents and the fire alarm went off. It's a good story. Why? I need some jewels. I don't know, maybe one of these hotels, hotels in the Southeast Valley, if you're if you're a hotel developer and you can build one, there's a lot of demand for hotels.
So I think we have quite a few. There was a time where I thought maybe somebody just forgot to edit, um, your newsletter because every month was um record-breaking passenger counts. Is that still the case? It's still the case. We're gonna, we'll have our busiest year ever this year. Um, we're excited about that. They, uh, they, they give us a schedule of the flights. They don't tell us how many passengers on it, but you can, you can kind of do the math. So March and April both will have 27% more flights this year than they than they did last year and last year was a record, so.
We expect it to continue and, and we're gonna keep doing our job to, to sell things and then we, we go and talk to to airlines all the time. Um, but, but we'll, we'll keep pushing that and, and, uh, making our case of why, why it would be great for a new airline to come to Gateway Airport. Well, now we have to get back to the Brady Bunch family because now you have your three kids and your, your stepdad to 3 as well. So what did that journey look like for you?
So I, we have a very unique journey and I tell people this, and they, they, I love the reaction because sometimes it's like you're crazy that would never work out. And then other, more than half the time people look at it like How can I make that my life? So I got married, but I did not, we did not move in together for the 1st 4 years of marriage. I'm sold. Yes, it's fantastic. I would be divorced today again for the second time had we moved in together because, uh, it just wouldn't have worked out.
So we, we, um, we got married and kept our own houses. I kept living in Gilbert. She would live in Mesa and we, we were 10 miles away from each other, which was the perfect time because when I would get on her nerves, she just said, OK, it's time for you to go home. And, uh, my kids kept going to their school. Her kids kept going to theirs. There was no, you know, combing, we'd obviously hang out a lot and and have family dinners when we could, but, uh, everybody kind of kept their schedule.
Our kids were really young still. So, so to be able to kind of have that say that, that part of the drama, um, certainly was helpful. And then we decided to build a house together, um, after 4 years, we built the house and then we all kind of moved in and everybody had their own little space. Everybody was giving up a little bit, but Everybody kept going to the same schools and by then we I had some drivers so they could drive to their schools in Gilbert and it made it work but it was, uh, it was definitely unorthodox, um, it, it, it added a little bit of the, the pressure because now you're like, OK, I'm married actually I have to go have dinner with my wife tonight and, and, uh find date time and and do those things.
Um, it wasn't, it wasn't as easy as just heading home. Um, but it worked out actually, do you think when you look back that maybe the time is more purposeful? Yes, yeah, yeah, absolutely, because I, because I knew I had a, I knew I had an ending point and uh, so you make, you know, we didn't, we to this day, we, a lot of people talk about, oh, what shows are you watching? Um, we don't, we didn't, we never binge watched anything because we were always just busy doing things, so we didn't have shows to watch because we didn't have time and your time together was intentional, and the mountain biking thing comes from her, uh, and she liked to mountain bike.
So, you know, when I was trying to impress her, I was like, I love mountain biking too. Let's, let's go. And she knew pretty immediately that I sucked at mountain biking. Um, but I've, I've grown into it and luckily, luckily she, she keeps up to me now. So that's awesome. Yeah, yeah. And kids are older now. Kids are older. We go from 26 to 30 and, and, uh, everyone kind of has their own little lives. So, so I'll be 46.5 and be an empty nester, um, which is, I'm assuming won't be too bad of a thing, but Ben is.
curls in the corner. I'm gonna be. He's gonna be an empty nester? How will you be? 70. Yeah, my one of my best friends got remarried and then, um, really wanted to have kids and so he had uh he had a set of twins at 44, 43. So he's his life is, is set for at least the next 18 years. Wow. Luckily I did not take that path. My life is busy and hectic. I couldn't even imagine that yeah it is and we have different parenting styles. Hs are probably a little more successful than mine, but definitely different parenting styles, which is also a reason why we didn't immediately move in together because You know, I don't, I don't think her patience, I don't think anybody's patience could have held up to to how I was raising kids, but, um, they've all so far, knock on wood, have, have turned out OK and I'm not a grandpa yet, so that's a, that's a good thing.
Good for you. All right, what's next? What's on the horizon? You know, just finding new opportunities. Um, when I was, when I was building, uh, when we were building the house and I had a house to sell, and she had a house to sell, and then we were buying one. So I said, Well, why, why pay all this commission? I, I've, I've known real estate all my life. I'm gonna go get my real estate license. And so I, I, uh, I, I do a little real estate on the side, um, just in my, on my off time and my weekends, mainly for friends and family, which, um, my wife calls a hobby because I typically don't charge what I, what I should because, you know, it's friends and family and, um, but, uh, again, it, it keeps me active and I, I love it.
It's a, it's a fun, fun experience, um. You know, when I did mortgages, a a vast majority of my clients were first time home buyers, and there's nothing, there's nothing more fun than than helping somebody navigate the crazy process of buying a home when it's the first time you've done it, um, and, and ironically I, I was, I was helping some friends out. And they've lived in their house for 22 years. So it's been 22 years since they've bought or sold the home, and I'm explaining it to them like they're like they're a newlywed couple that that have never gone through this process before.
And so, so that that's fun to see people light up and kind of go through that experience. It's stressful, uh, but it's still a lot of fun. And you're still in the circuit in the political circuit as much as much as possible. I like it, um. I, I like to be involved, uh, with that because, you know, I think it's, it's really important to have good leaders. Uh, we see, you know, across the board and, and it's not necessarily a partisan one way or another, um, because both parties are, are, um, are guilty of it, uh, of having good leaders and, and some not so good leaders and so.
You know, I think when you, when you have good leadership and when you have people that are willing to give their time and do the right thing and explain and take the time to say, here's here's why we're doing this, and here's why we're voting and here's how it really does affect you. Um, I think it's really important and um You know, I look at, I look at my kids and, you know, their ability to buy a house and their ability to find a good job. When I was doing mortgages in in the early 2000s, over 30% of my clients worked in the real estate industry.
So you were, you were selling a house to a mortgage guy, uh, who, who may have been, you know, buying a house or or or or working in construction. And so, um, the fact that our economy here in Arizona and here in the valley has diversified so much that I think that number is down, you know, closer to the 10% range, um, you know, I think that provides more opportunity for our kids. I think that's important and and part of that's good leadership. We've had good leaders that that have gone out and said, hey, it's important that that we're preparing our students and we're we're changing our economy so that you know 1520 years from now there's jobs available and.
Uh, you know, the worst thing I, I, when, when early on when, when my dad was running for, um, for mayor, one of the things he would talk about, he, he ran on a mantra of build a better Mesa and change the way Mason does business. And one of the big things is you saw how many people were, were graduating high school and maybe went to ASU but then went away, moved to moved to Utah, moved to Colorado, went to Denver and, and because that was where the jobs were and, and so.
So the effort and the ability to stay here and find a good paying job and be able to buy a house and and and do all those things I think is really important and I think that all goes back to leadership. Totally agree. And and now more than ever, it's so important because if our, if they can find a job that can't afford a house, we're going to lose them again. So yeah, absolutely. Well, I have a question for you, and then, and then we'll wrap it up.
If you, what would you want your kids to look back and um say was your legacy? Who Legacy, I think just just never giving up and just always making things happen and uh whatever it took just to just to make it make it make it successful. Well, I am sure glad that didn't you. Well, thank you. Yeah, thanks. And if you enjoyed this, which I know you did, join our tribe, subscribe, you'll get these in your inbox as soon as we launch our next great episode like this one.
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