Cleared for Takeoff

Craig Simon

As the Director of Aviation at the Port of Oakland, Craig Simon is the steady invisible hand that keeps things moving at Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport. Simon took the helm in 2023, and since then, he’s been focused on a brighter future for OAK. Simon has over 22 years of experience at airports including 11 at OAK where he previously served as Deputy Director 

“We’re really upping our game when it comes to that passenger experience,” Simon says, noting renovated seating, restrooms, carpeting, and ticket counters. He’s also been working to get local restaurants and businesses represented: Cancun, District & Forge, and Oaklandish Coffee Collective all came onboard during his tenure. “If you go in for coffee there, you may be supporting six local businesses,” says Simon of Oaklandish, which features beans from a wide range of local coffee makers.  

Simon is also responsible for overseeing a massive air cargo operation – the biggest in the Bay Area. OAK is home to FedEx’s West Coast hub as well as major UPS’s operations, with more than a billion pounds of air cargo moving through the airport every year. “It’s a huge operation and a major contributor to the local economy,” but it’s something most travelers will never see,” says Simon. 

The airport’s south field has 104 acres dedicated to cargo, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for expansion. 

“We’ve got proper space here—we’re not hedged in,” Simon says. The airport’s North Field is currently underused, but Simon is working on changing that. “Finding the right people to invest in expansion – to invest in Oakland itself – is really what takes up the majority of my time,” Simon says.  

And though he spends a lot of time on big picture, long-term planning across the 2,600 acres of airport property he manages, Simon’s lights up most when he talks about working with his team. 

“They’ll say, ‘This is insane, we could never do this,’ and later they’ll turn around and say, ‘Oh, I see what you’re after,’” he laughs. For Simon, it’s the people, the projects, and the future that make his work rewarding. “I’ve always been adamant about leaving it better than I found it,” he says. 

Alma Peña

For Alma Peña, the airport was never part of the plan — until it became her calling.

“I was a college intern in landside operations,” Peña says. “One thing led to another, and before I knew it, I had found a home here.”

Now serving as Parking Operations Superintendent at Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport, Peña has spent the past 30 years overseeing the systems that keep the airport moving every day. Her team supports parking and ground transportation operations, including employee and public parking lots, shuttle buses, curbside activity, and permits for taxis, hotel shuttles, limousines, Uber, and Lyft operations.

One moment early in Peña’s career continues to shape the way she approaches her work. On September 11, 2001, flights stopped and the airport fell silent. “I remember walking the curb and hearing birds singing,” she says. During that time, Peña noticed an older man sitting alone who only spoke Spanish and did not understand what was happening. She helped him find food and a hotel and stayed in contact with him until flights resumed. Later, she received a thank-you card from his family. “It was just me paying attention,” she says.

That attention to both people and operations continues to define Peña’s leadership style. “My job is making sure everything runs efficiently,” she says. “From parking revenue systems to shuttle buses to curbside management — it all has to work together.”

One of Peña’s proudest accomplishments has been helping oversee multiple generations of airport shuttle bus fleets. Early in her career, she helped procure 20 low-floor diesel buses. “I got to see them go from a concept on paper to coming down the assembly line,” she says. “By the end, I sounded like a mechanic.”

More recently, Peña helped lead the airport’s transition to electric buses. “It was new, and there was some early range anxiety,” she says. “Drivers had to learn how to operate them differently.” Today, five electric buses serve the economy and employee parking lots. “They stay on the road, require less maintenance, and both the drivers and customers love them,” Peña says. And whenever a new fleet arrives, she likes to personally test them out. “In the parking lot — supervised,” she adds with a smile.

Peña is proud of both the airport’s future and its connection to the East Bay community. “I live in Oakland,” Peña says. “I make my money here and spend it here. This airport belongs to our community.” 

Denise Huynh

Denise Huynh is the driving force behind the thriving Oakland Vietnamese restaurant Tay Ho. When she took over from her aunt in 2010, Huynh could never have anticipated it would blossom into the community gathering place it has become today – or that she’d be serving up banh mi and pho at her own Tay Ho location in the Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport.   

“I really wanted to recreate the dinner parties my parents would throw when I was a kid,” says Huynh with a laugh. “Fun, noisy, and with the most delicious home-cooked food.” 

For Huynh, food is culture, and sharing the rich, pungent recipes she grew up eating is her way of keeping that culture alive on the Oakland neighborhood she’s called home since her family came over from Vietnam in the 1980s. 

“I can still remember sitting in an outdoor kitchen, watching my grandmother cooking turmeric rice cakes on an open fire,” says Huynh, of her childhood in Vietnam. 

With no culinary background, Huynh says the early years of Tay Ho were challenging. But with her mom at her side in the kitchen and a growing cast of local regulars, word began to spread about the inviting vibes and mouthwatering menu at the cozy Vietnamese spot at 12th and Webster. 

Expanding to Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport has given Huynh a chance to bring those same rich flavors to people on the move. The airport location is just past the TSA area in Terminal 2. The menu is slightly condensed, but it’s the same nourishing food she cooks downtown. 

“I’m very hands on,” says Huynh of the airport location. “I’m heading there to deliver the bread for the banh mi right now!” 

For Huynh, food is how she shares her culture with her East Bay community. Now, at OAK, she can share that food and culture with the world.

Guillermo Tejada

When he’s stationed at a gate, Guillermo Tejada fills many roles — trainer, problem-solver, team leader. In fact, he’s become such a fixture on the terminal floor, many simply call him “The Mayor of Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport.” 

Tejada has worked in the airline industry since the ‘90s, and joined Southwest Airlines in 2007 as a customer service agent. Nearly two decades later, he’s still happy to be helping customers at the gates. 

“I love the energy,” he says. “My motto is one customer at a time – I just want to be sure everyone is taken care of.” 

On any given day, Tejada is managing departures, coordinating with ground operations, and ensuring flights leave on time. When weather disrupts schedules in Denver or Houston, he helps passengers rebook and regroup, calmly and kindly. Shortly after joining Southwest, Tejada became a station trainer, mentoring new hires. His advice is simple: lead with empathy. 

“Have a heart,” he tells them. “That could be your grandma in that wheelchair.” 

That mindset earned him the company’s highest honor, the President’s Award, after he helped a stranded passenger reach New Zealand during the chaos of the 2006 Southern California wildfires. “It was like getting an Oscar,” he says of receiving the award. 

Tejada is also a steady presence for Oakland’s multicultural community. “People come up to me scared, asking if I speak Spanish. Of course,” he says. “I guide them however they need.” 

For Tejada, OAK is personal. Just 15 minutes from his home, he’s proud to work at the East Bay’s gateway to the world. 

“It’s like your backyard airport,” he says. “I wouldn’t work anywhere else.”