Juan Garcia met Billups Cofounder, Benjamin Billups, while working with Aeromexico as the VP of International Marketing. This was before Billups even began when Ben was working for another company (not owned by Ben) called Big Ben’s Travel. Juan would trade airline tickets with Ben for Billboards.
Shortly after, Ben started his own company, Billups and Lewis, later changing the name to Billups Worldwide. Juan continued to work with him as a client.
“Ben always had it in his mind to have a global company. I’m glad he did because he had that good vision early on, and now it’s gone in that direction,” Juan said.
By this time, he was working with Ben on some Co-op campaigns with Mexico Tourism. Working for the airline, Juan knew them well and helped to plan joint campaigns through Aeromexico and Mexican Tourism.
Post 9/11, the airline industry was rough; in 2006, Juan was laid off. He had received a job offer from Continental - now United Airlines but Ben, who had offered him a job before - reiterated there was a position open when he heard of the layoff.
“Ben said, ‘Dude, I told you to come work with me,” Juan said. “I wasn’t even sure I wanted to do that. I had a really good relationship with Continental, and they also offered me a job in Houston where I was living.”
Garcia said it was a tough decision to decide between working with Ben at a small company where he would be one of less than a handful of employees versus taking a job with the airline, which had over 10,000 employees. It seemed risky.
However, Ben was going to Mexico City to meet with Tourism officials and invited Juan to go with him to meet the client.
“That made me think if I go with him to Mexico City representing Billups, then I can’t do that in good conscience not being employed with the company,” Juan said. “At that point, I accepted the offer to come work with him.”
From then on, Juan spent seven years with Billups doing Business Development, evangelizing Out-of-Home to every agency. Ben and Juan took many trips together, and at night in the hotel room, he would watch Ben craft plans, typing so quickly that Juan commented, “You’re going to burn the keyboard.”
After seven years of working from home in Houston, Juan received a message from Ben asking, “Random question, would you like to live in Lake Oswego?”
Juan wondered what this was about. He and Ben had become more than coworkers and were family friends. Ben had offered Garcia’s son a job as a designer, and Juan’s son was already working from the Portland office.
Ben’s wanted to transition Juan from his role in Business Development to being the negotiator for every media plan - which could be best done at HQ.
When Juan told his wife (Sue) the news, she replied, “How soon can we get there?” A month later, Juan moved to Oregon.
Juan loved working at the office, seeing the people he knew, and emailed daily. Far from the three-person company it had been when he began, there were now dozens of employees. He also took great pride in getting to work side-by-side with his son (Victor) in the Portland office.
“Walking into that office, I would see my son there with the biggest smile, and he would see me walk into my office,” Juan said. “I think every parent wishes to have that.”
Juan’s son was a designer for the company who worked with Billups for seven years, mapping media plans before Google Maps.
Juan continued working as the company’s Buying Director for several years until just before the pandemic.
At this point, Ben decided to decentralize negotiations to the media planners and develop a new area, and his excellent vision guided him to develop the commercial agreements area. Juan’s latest role has been creating and negotiating partnership agreements with media owners, which brings important value to the company today.
Juan has been passionate about providing super service for external and internal clients in all his roles at Billups. He sees Billups has more structure now that it has grown to 170+ employees.
“It’s a blessing to be with the company working in different roles with different people and seeing company growth. Ben has a great vision for both the individuals he brings into the company and for the direction of the company itself,” Juan said. He’s always going in different directions and thinking differently to bring amazing results for our clients.”
Juan thinks his most significant accomplishment at Billups is that he’s always been a great producer and negotiator, fulfilling that in his roles. He says Ben has told him he may not realize it, but he’s constantly negotiating. His skills can be seen in the results. He has contributed to the bottom line since the beginning when they were working with Mexico Tourism.
"I enjoyed working with Juan as one of our very first clients. I feel blessed that our relationship transitioned to him being part of the Billups team,” Benjamin Billups, Billups Co-Founder, said. “He has been working with and for Billups for most of our existence. I deeply appreciate that he continues to share his expertise and knowledge of the OOH industry to support Billups' goals and continued growth.”
Juan is passionate about contributing and helping others succeed but admits he’s more passionate about Billups than the OOH industry.
“I love OOH because it's a way to get brands and clients out there to sell their products. If a campaign doesn’t sell a product by branding or direct sale, it’s not good advertising,” Juan said. “OOH, to me, is the best way to do it because you cannot get away from it. You can fast forward the TV, turn down the radio volume, not read a magazine or paper, ignore banners, and skip internet ads, but OOH is going to be there in the streets, airports, markets - everywhere you go.”
Throughout his time here, Juan has many fond memories. One of his favorite times was playing on the Billups team in an indoor soccer league with Ben and Heather Billups. His passion for soccer is just one of many hobbies. Over the years, Juan has pursued many interests in his free time, including Motocross racing, mountain biking, hiking, skiing, and camping. He is a devout Christian who loves sharing his faith in Jesus Christ with others. He enjoys spending time with his family and friends and finds one of the most rewarding things at this time in his life is to spend time with his grandchildren.