YOUR STORY MATTERS HERE: Mark Montesano

By Tim Wesley

Mark Montesano enjoyed his 40-year career in the airline industry. He liked the complexities of the job. The vital responsibilities and decision-making. The camaraderie derived from teamwork.

But it was a boat—not a plane—that set him on his current course, and he’s enjoying that glide path, too.

After joining Dutilh with his family in 2007, Mark participated in a men’s Sunday school class that was reading the book, If You Want to Walk on Water, You Have to Get Out of the Boat.

He had been involved in churches before, but reading the book with other men in the class convinced him to “get out of the boat” at Dutilh.

“That thought stayed in my mind and drove me to become more involved,” he says.

He joined the choir during its rebuilding phase a few years ago and is grateful to continue participating during its growth under Maureen Konopka, director of Music Ministries.

“I’m not particularly talented, but that’s what the church needed then and I enjoy it,” he says. “The traditional music speaks to me because I grew up with that, standing next to my dad singing in church.”

He’s also helped with the church flea market for many years, and when someone told him the kitchen ministry needed a hand, Mark raised his.

“You get to know our people, and it’s just a great network of folks,” he says. “They’re very faith-based and genuine, not there for the show. It’s really made an impression on me to see the depth of their faith. I’ve always believed you can either be part of the problem or part of the solution. Since that class, I’ve tried to go where I’m needed at Dutilh and it’s just snowballed as I’ve gotten to know people.”

Mark, who will be 67 in June, made a career of going where he was needed, too.

Born and raised in Utica, N.Y., he graduated from Syracuse University in 1979 with a degree in business administration. While still in school, he worked nights and weekends as a cook in an Italian restaurant and as an aircraft dispatcher with Empire Airlines; after graduation, he joined Empire full-time. Utica-based Empire grew into a regional star and was bought by Piedmont Airlines in 1986, so Mark transferred to its headquarters in Winston-Salem, N.C. USAir bought Piedmont in 1989, and Mark transferred to where he was needed, the company’s operations center in Pittsburgh.

Although he didn’t realize it at the time, his future wife, Shelley Williams, had also moved to Pittsburgh but they didn’t meet until 1994.

“Shelley had been living in Winston-Salem during the same time I was, but we never met there,” he says.  “Both of us used to run and take our dogs to the park, and I could’ve sworn I saw her walking her dog.  So there’s a high probability I actually saw my wife down there before I met her in Pittsburgh.”

They married in 1996, while Shelley was doing her residency in neurology at UPMC Children’s Hospital. After graduating, she took a position with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, so they moved there, with Mark commuting to his job in Pittsburgh each week. In 1999, they moved back to Pittsburgh when Shelley was recruited by UPMC Children’s.

They made another big move in 2004, but it had nothing to do with their careers: They adopted Max, an 11-month-old toddler from Guatemala. (Today, Max is a sophomore at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, majoring in business and minoring in information technology.)

After about 15 years of relative stability for Mark at USAir, the company merged with America West in 2005, leading to more moves for the Montesanos. As USAir was evaluating whether to move its operations center from Pittsburgh to Phoenix or Charlotte, Shelley accepted a job in Syracuse.

“We liked Pittsburgh, but I didn’t think it stood a chance of keeping the ops center,” Mark says. “I had family in Syracuse, and I figured I could find something else to do there. Well, about a year after we moved there, USAir decided to keep the ops center in Pittsburgh. By that time, I had started a small coffee distribution business, but I soon learned that if you don’t know anything about a business, you probably shouldn’t jump into it. Also, it turned out Shelley didn’t really like her job.”

So Mark called USAir and the company eagerly took him back. The family returned to Pittsburgh in 2007, bought a house in Adams Township and joined Dutilh. Shelley, meanwhile, went back to UPMC Children’s as a pediatric neurologist.

In 2013, with Mark settled in at USAir’s ops center in Moon Township, the company merged with Dallas-based American Airlines. Going where he was needed once again, Mark traveled back and forth from Pittsburgh to Dallas for weekly merger-related meetings. Two years later, after four mergers and many moves, he decided “enough was enough” and accepted a retirement package.

Even in retirement, though, he has kept busy. First, he worked for a couple of years for an independent contractor that was transferring aircraft maintenance data into a new system for American. After that, he took a job with Fresh Thyme Market in the produce department, but it was a little too soon after he had rotator cuff surgery.

“It was probably not the best job choice,” he says, with a laugh. “I was lifting a box of oranges and felt a twinge in my shoulder.”

Today, Mark looks back fondly on his job choices in the airline industry. He served mostly as an aircraft dispatcher (or a manager of dispatchers), a position not as well-known as, say, a pilot, but one with similarly immense responsibilities.

“That job is one of the best-kept secrets in the industry,” he says. “Every time a flight takes off, there are two people who are legally responsible for it: The pilot, and the aircraft dispatcher.”

As Mark describes it, the dispatcher’s job requires teamwork and expertise in a complex mix of skills and disciplines, including aircraft maintenance, systems and performance; flight planning and air traffic procedures at all airports; and weather theory and mapping. Dispatchers take into account all safety rules and regulations, runway conditions, fuel loads, aircraft weights, and wind speeds. And according to federal aviation regulations, the only person authorized to cancel a flight in an airline operation is the aircraft dispatcher.

“Dispatchers, along with the captain of the flight, are responsible for the flight from the time the plane backs away from the gate until it arrives at its gate at the destination airport,” Mark says. “It’s one of the most valuable positions in the airline, and the airline could not run without it.”

While working within the constraints of so many variables, he and his teams always kept in mind the overall goal: To run a safe, on-time and reliable airline.

“It was a big challenge, but it was fun,” he says. “It was like a moving jigsaw puzzle, and you’re trying to keep the puzzle going all the time. You’re always looking for the best benefit for the most passengers.”

Mark remembers the blizzard of March 1993, which dumped a still-record two feet of snow on Pittsburgh in one day.

“When I got to the office, we had 400 airplanes that were not where they were supposed to be,” he says. “Everything just stopped, and I spent the night at the ops center.”

He remembers when a law firm called to say that one of its clients who had just boarded a flight might be suicidal.

“The plane had already taxied from the gate to the runway,” he says. “We called it back to the gate and took the guy off.”

And, of course, he remembers Sept. 11, 2001, when hijackers took over four planes and killed nearly 3,000 people.

“When the first plane hit the World Trade Center, we were under the assumption it was a private plane,” he says. “Then I was talking to a woman in the operations center at LaGuardia Airport in New York, and she told me another plane hit the second tower. She immediately hung up.”

The ensuing chaos—the Federal Aviation Administration grounded flights and closed U.S. airspace for the next two days—caused logistical nightmares for the airlines, while the country remained in shock from the day’s tragedy.

No matter the situation, throughout his career Mark strived to remain true to his Christian faith.

“If you want to live a Christian life, you have to demonstrate that, because people will notice and acknowledge it,” he says. “I tried to show patience. Tried to be as honest as I could possibly be. Tried to be humble and to support other people. When you get into management, that’s your job, to support, help and serve other people. They come to you with problems and you need to help them, and not be judgmental. We had a CEO who said the best way to be successful in business is to help other people be successful. I tried to remember that.”

With a successful career behind him—and while helping Dutilh where he’s needed—Mark now enjoys hobbies such as astronomy and fishing. (Even though he says Shelley always catches the biggest fish.) He also loves spending time at the family’s camp in the Adirondack Mountains.

“It’s a beautiful place on a lake, with boat-only access to our camp,” he says. “We spend a lot of time there in the summer. Shelley can work remotely because we have cable and Wi-Fi, and we bought a generator so if we lose power we can still function. And, of course, we watch Dutilh’s church service online.”

Yet another reason to “get out of the boat.”

-Published April 12, 2023

If you or someone you know in the Dutilh family has an interesting story or profession, send us your ideas! We would love to help tell the story. Email: communications@dutilhumc.org.