Chicago-based Unison Consulting, Inc. is merging with Fort Worth-based Paslay Management Group, LLC, the latter announced Thursday, creating a stronger, more comprehensive aviation consultancy with a deeper bench of airport business advisory and development experts.
The Paslay Group-Unison merger brings together two leading aviation consulting firms in the United States. In its announcement, Paslay Group said the combined group will “offer aviation clients a more robust suite of enterprise-level services that closes the performance gap between a capital program’s financial strategy and its operational execution.”
Paslay Group specializes in Executive Program Management, a proprietary model for complex development programs, concessions business planning, performance evaluation, and organizational development and strategy. Unison is known for its financial, concessions, economics, market research, and data analytics services, Paslay Management noted.
“We have long respected Unison’s reputation for excellence in the airport consulting world and the firm the Drake family has built over the past 37 years,” Paslay Group founder and CEO R. Clay Paslay said.
“Today, our two firms are choosing collaboration over competition and evolving into a larger firm that provides a more comprehensive enterprise-level service offering for our clients,” Paslay continued. “Our combined team doubles down on our ability to develop custom solutions tailored to fit airport owners’ objectives, constraints, and capabilities.”
Yovette Drake, Unison president and sister of founder and senior executive vice president Anthony “Tony” Drake, said the partnership “reflects a strategic alignment of values, capabilities, and long-term vision.”
“By joining the Paslay Group team, we will immediately be able to integrate financial strategy, operational execution, and program leadership for clients across the nation. We are choosing to bring together our strengths to better serve airports and advance the industry.”
Unison Consulting was founded in 1989 and has served more than 100 airport clients across several hundred engagements. The firm has worked with 17 of the 25 busiest U.S. airports. Its 83 employees include airport, airline and FAA professionals who bring deep industry knowledge and an authentic understanding of airport owner challenges. The firm’s current clients include some of the nation’s busiest hubs, including Chicago O’Hare (ORD) and Los Angeles (LAX) international airports.
Paslay Group, which marks its 20th anniversary this month, has served 50 U.S. airports, managing $51.7 billion in programs since 2006. Paslay created the small-team Executive Program Management model for complex capital programs and introduced it to the airport industry in 2007. The firm added a dedicated business advisory practice in 2020 in response to client demand for concessions consulting and enterprise-level strategic advising services. In the past three years, the firm has assisted airport owners in opening billion-dollar-plus terminal development programs at Kansas City International Airport (MCI), Nashville International Airport (BNA), and Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT).
