Melvin Cintron became the Director of the Western Hemisphere Office in March 2024. As the Director, Mr. Cintron works directly with the 48 States of the Western Hemisphere and their governments, international organizations, and Civil Aviation Authorities Directors General to promote aviation safety and efficiency for the worldwide alignment of technologies, policies, regulations, and standards. In collaboration with partners around the world, Director Cintron leads the FAA’s work in the region in addressing current challenges to global aviation and forging the future direction of the industry through partnerships and engagements with States and organizations to promote safe, secure, and environmentally sound and sustainable growth of aviation.

In his previous role as Deputy Director in the FAA’s Flight Standards Service Office of Foundational Business, Mr. Cintron provided specialized and technical assistance mentorship to the directors regarding overarching priorities, goals, and strategic plans of the FAA’s Aviation Safety Organization. He supervised a division of managers who provided executive level oversight on assigned program areas and a budget over 1-billion-dollars.

From 2015 until 2023, Mr. Cintron served as the United Nation’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Regional Director of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (NACC) region. In this capacity, he provided executive leadership to achieve ICAO’s mission in support of 41 countries (21 ICAO Contracting States and 19 Territories). He was the primary liaison between ICAO and Heads of State, Ministers, and Directors General, where he led the provision of ICAO’s strategic and technical advice to allow governments to attain sustainable socio-economic growth through aviation as a national development priority and its associated opportunities. He developed the “Sustainable Aviation Hub City, ” an initiative that allows small developing States a viable, affordable, and implementable strategy for their aviation development.

Prior to that, he represented the U.S. Secretary of Transportation as the Transportation Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan and led the rebuilding of the country´s transportation systems (road, rail, and aviation) infrastructure and plans. His leadership and his team’s efforts led to the establishment of the first independent civil aviation authority in Afghanistan as well as developing a strategy for transitioning from military to a civilian aviation system.

Mr. Cintron also served as the FAA’s Senior Executive in charge of the FAA Flight Standard Office’s General Aviation (GA) and Commercial Division from July 2009 to September 2012. He successfully implemented the FAA´s Five-Year GA strategic plan for safety transformation of the largest and most complex GA system in the world. The 10-year goal was achieved in five years. Prior to that, he led the FAA International Programs and Policy Division and the IASA (International Aviation Safety Assessment) program, as well as FAA oversight of the initial International Air Transport Association (IATA) Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) and Code Share program.

Mr. Cintron contributed to the transformation of the Flight Standards small staff office to a full fit-for-purpose Flight Standards Division. His transformation of the IASA Program process led to more than a 25% increase in the number of States meeting International Standards and obtaining IASA Category 1 status during his leadership tenure.

Mr. Cintron was awarded a Doctorate Degree, Honoris Causa – Science and Technology. He earned a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and completed specialized course work at Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He graduated with academic honors from the U.S. Army´s Warrant Officer Candidate School and is a Distinguished Honor Graduate of the U.S. Army’s Aviation School. He holds FAA Commercial Pilot ratings and Airframe and Powerplant certifications. He was awarded the U.S. Army Bronze Star Medal, and served as a combat medic in the Gulf War and later served in the Iraq war on terrorism as an Aviation Maintenance Officer. He received the U.S. Secretary of Transportation International Award and the Senior Executive Foreign Service Award from the American Chamber of Commerce.