March 2024
Elevate PHX – Gregory Torrez
Gregory Torrez is someone that has been around Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport for a while, around 25 years if you’re counting. In fact, he remembers when he was a little boy and his father would take him to the then Terminal 1 where you could see the tarmac and watch the planes take off and land. “It’s been a fun adventure,” said Torrez, who is JV Partner in Paradies Lagardère at Phoenix Sky Harbor.
Torrez and his family have a rich history of operating at Phoenix Sky Harbor going back to the 90s when his company had newsstands, gift shops, bookstores and even a PGA store in Terminals 2 and 3. Getting into businesses at the airport came from his love of people, Torrez said. “I enjoyed people first and foremost, I enjoyed the people that came in,” he said, citing his early days at his family’s longstanding Phoenix business, Azteca Wedding Plaza, the family-owned enterprise that operated in the heart of downtown Phoenix for more than 50 years.
Torrez credits his late mother and father for teaching him many of the life lessons that helped make him the successful business owner he is today. “My mother believed to do nothing is irresponsible. It was those little things that made a big difference,” said Torrez. “You have to take the resources you have earned, as well as the ones given to you and implement them in a way that gives back to businesses and people around you.”
It’s no mistake that his family drives Torrez and his leadership to his business at the airport. He says his work at the airport has been honorable and “a great experience,” and after more than two decades he’s not slowing down, continuing to look ahead at more shops and opportunities in the airport but also spending more time with his family that has brought him so far.
“I’ve been blessed. All of my family live within five minutes of my wife and I,” he said. After a recent 52nd wedding anniversary, Torrez said he’d like to spend some more time with his four children, 10 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Looking back on all of his time at Phoenix Sky Harbor, Torrez says a moment that stands out for him is when Phoenix Sky Harbor coined the phrase America’s Friendliest Airport®, noting how proud he was to hear that as it truly resonated with him. “It speaks to the entire airport team, working to make it a friendly experience.”