Haley & Aldrich Expands Airport Consulting Practice

July 18, 2016

Haley & Aldrich on July 18, announced the significant expansion of its airport consulting expertise with the appointment of key staff, including industry veteran Darcy Zarubiak as senior Associate; industry experts Alice Richard and Neal Wolfe, as associates; David Fusco, as a senior technical specialist; and Jeffrey Covert, as a staff scientist. 

The newly expanded practice will offer consulting services to Haley & Aldrich’s growing roster of airport and aviation clients, addressing their sustainability challenges; Clean Air Act issues; National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews; implementation of alternative energy, solar site selection and glare analyses; and grant writing needs. The team, which brings extensive experience from engagements with more than 17 large-hub, 10 medium-hub and numerous smaller airports, will work collaboratively with the firm’s Lean, asset management and aerospace operations, and regulatory and compliance service areas to provide greater value to Haley & Aldrich clients. The new team brings a management perspective to its client projects and develops custom, creative solutions to address challenging environmental and regulatory issues.

“We are thrilled that Darcy, Alice, Neal, David and Jeffrey have joined our team, bringing years of invaluable experience in airport air quality and sustainability as well as strong relationships with the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration],” said Alec Smith, senior vice president and infrastructure market segment leader, Haley & Aldrich. “They all are industry innovators, continually developing new tools and approaches to solve problems in an evolving and complex environment. Equally important, they take a critical management approach to help airports make sustainability and air quality decisions within the context of larger business issues.”

“We are excited to be part of the collaborative Haley & Aldrich team,” said Zarubiak. “The strong synergy between the airport practice and the firm’s other areas of expertise in Lean, asset management, sustainability, aerospace operations and regulatory and compliance enable us to bring all of our resources, insights and best practices to bear to effectively and creatively solve our clients’ challenges and help move their businesses and the industry forward. This is particularly important now as airports—and the aviation industry in general—work to comply with the new EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] air quality standard.”

Zarubiak has led one of the nation’s most prominent airport environmental consulting practices. He brings over 20 years of experience in airport planning, air quality, airport environmental management and operational oversight of environmental sustainability at airports. Previously Zarubiak led an environmental practice at a global consulting firm, where he worked with the team to develop new solutions and approaches, such as applying FAA’s new Aviation Environmental Design Tool for environmental analysis. He also worked at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, managing some of the most challenging environmental issues. Zarubiak serves the FAA as a member of the Energy and Environment Research, Engineering and Development Advisory Committee (REDAC) and previously served as a technical resource for the Voluntary Airport Low Emission (VALE) program. He has supervised more than 70 percent of applications prepared since 2008. Zarubiak has a B. Eng in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan and an M.S.E. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University.

Richard has nine years of experience in airport environmental and sustainability planning. Her areas of specialty include the formulation, funding, and implementation of sustainable and low emissions projects; dispersion modeling of airport emissions sources; design and evaluation of airport environmental and sustainability management strategies; assessment of alternative fuel technologies and emission mitigation strategies; collection, management, and analysis of air monitoring data; planning, design, and analysis of landside ground transportation policies and operations; and environmental financial analyses. She has an M.S. in Transportation Planning and Analysis from Northwestern University and a B.A. in Applied Mathematics from Keene State College.

Wolfe specializes in airfield planning and environmental projects, including working with clients to secure grant funding from the FAA and EPA to implement low-emission projects, performing solar photovoltaic (PV) site selection and glare analyses, and performing NEPA reviews. In conjunction with his solar PV work, he also developed a novel modeling tool to estimate emissions associated with power grids. Wolfe has a law degree from the Salmon P. Chase College of Law, an M.S. in Microbiology and an M.S. in Organic Chemistry from University of Cincinnati, and a B.S. in Chemistry from Miami University.

Fusco specializes in the management and analysis of environmental, financial, operational and security projects at airports across the country, with extensive experience using FAA’s air quality modeling tools. Before joining the aviation industry, he worked with AIG, where he focused on financial analyses and managing various projects for AIG’s international operations. Fusco has an M.S. in International Management from the University of California San Diego, and a B.S. from Lehigh University.

Covert specializes in environmental planning, including assisting airport sponsors in the development and implementation of low-emission projects at airports nationwide. Prior to working in the aviation industry, Covert worked as an intern for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the White House Council on Environmental Quality. He holds an M.S. in Environmental Science and a Master of Public Affairs from the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs in Bloomington, Indiana.