Latin talent: the next generation of airline executives in Latin America has landed - Final Thoughts

Latin America has been blessed with its share of aviadon pioneers, both from within and outside the region -- Rubem Berm, Elmer Faucett, Juan Trippe and Lowell Yerex, to name a few These entrepreneurs took the first steps, decades ago, to establish commercial aviation in the region. Judging by the relatively lackluster growth and performance of the region until the last decade or so, it would appear that subsequent to this founding group, Latin America suffered a crisis of leadership.

Yet, based on a recent study on airline leadership in Latin America and the Caribbean jointly conducted by Spencer Stuart and Aviation Management Services (AvMan), Latin America has given birth to a new group of strong and dynamic leaders. A number of these executives -- already quasi-national heroes at home -- may soon outstrip their local markets and be ready to tackle leadership challenges abroad.

According to the study the No. 1 business issue facing airlines in Latin America today is global alliances. Following closely are domestic economic volatility global deregulation, and open skies agreements with the US. It's clear that carriers in the region have fully subscribed to the need to belong to a broader grouping, and to take full advantage of deregulation along the north-south Americas corridor. All are facing tumultuous change, including not just the above but airline and airport privatization, foreign equity injections and new levels of competition. With these changes comes the need for a "new breed" of leadership within the region.

Who best represents this new breed? As selected by their peers, four Latin American airline CEOs are considered best practice leaders in their region: Rolim Amaro/TAM Brazil, Federico Bloch/Grupo TACA, Enrique Cueto/LanChile, and Juan Emilo Posada/ACES Colombia. While these executives may be well-recognized at home for their achievements, their profiles abroad are only now taking shape. Perception lags reality, yet a quick examination of what these leaders have done reveals how strong their leadership skills truly are.

Take, for example, the landmark tripartite Airbus order placed by Grupo TACA, LanChile, and TAM Brazil. While all the participating CEOs are highly independent individuals, each was able to "put his ego in check" to cooperate in a highly attractive deal that suits all three carriers. What's more, LanChile is the first and only Latin American carrier to join the prominent oneworid alliance. Grupo TACA has undertaken a smooth roll-up of the fragmented Central American airline sector, capturing front- and back-office synergies so effectively it puts recent US airline mergers to shame. TAM Brazil, with its origins in the tertiary air service markets of its country, has parlayed a highly aggressive, business customer strategy at home into new international service.

Beyond these three, there are other excellent models of progressive airline leadership within the region. Juan Emillo Posada's focused drive for excellence at upstart Colombia carrier ACES and Copa CEO Pedro Heilbron's clever equity and alliance agreement with Continental should both be recognized as smart moves by smart leaders. Fernando Pinto, featured last month in LatinCEO, has made steady progress at evolving Varig into a regional powerhouse with commercial teeth, while simultaneously fighting a volatile economy and Brazilian airline over-capacity.

Of late, the dominant flow of aviation talent has been southward, from US carriers with deregulated market experience to Latin American carriers facing that challenge for the first time. This is clearly an attempt to "buy" experience with a deregulated market and to thereby leapfrog the pitfalls normally encountered by carriers going through such an evolution. David Cush's stint at the helm of Aerolineas Argentinas and Ben Baldanza's tenure as general manager at Grupo TACA are examples of this model at work.

Yet, both individuals have now returned to the US and local nationals appear to be moving in behind them. While all eyes continue to focus on the US airline executive talent pool for their highly prized market experience, someone should think hard about the high-quality talent being developed in Latin America. Whereas Star Alliance, oneworld, and the other carrier groups will undoubtedly provide great opportunities for developing airlines in Latin America to secure valuable US and European talent, serious thought should be given to ensuring that the talent flow is northbound as well. The time has come to start paying attention to the strong and emerging pool of executive talent in the Latin American airline industry.

Michael Bell is the Global Aviation Practice Leader of executive search consultancy Spencer Stuart

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