By Kim Stevens
Photo above – Kinexis Consulting LLC, a New Jersey-based firm, established in 2016 performed well and met its goals in 2024.
For three very diverse aviation businesses, 2024 had one thing in common – each performed well. “2024 has been a great year for us with a very strong 4th quarter,” said Tim Cowsert with BrightPortal Resources, a manufacturer of innovative solar-powered LED lighting products. “We are so grateful for our business and were rewarded with a very good year with a 25% increase over 2023.”
Steven Baldwin Associates (SBA) has performed strong in 2024, exceeding revenue targets and maintaining healthy profit margins thanks to a combination of increased market penetration and the addition of new clients. “Our disciplines including Airport Governance, Human Resource Support, including Executive Recruitment, and Airport Policy Research and Analysis all grew in 2024,” said Steve Baldwin, President and CEO.
The newest of the three businesses, Kinexis Consulting, established in 2016, performed well and met its goals in 2024. “We set our objectives for 2024-2025 as (1) increasing Kinexis’ market presence by expanding on our current services and adding new value-added airport services, (2) attracting and retaining top talent, (3) strengthening industry engagement through corporate social initiatives and (4) launching a successful social media campaign,” said Saurabh Pethe (shown at left), Principal. “Significant progress has been made on all 4 objectives in 2024.
Baldwin said their customer base has grown in 2024 to include additional retained clients and as the preeminent leader in the industry on Airport Governance, they are working with another new client to transition them from a city/council government model to a newly created independent, special purpose airport authority.
From Tim Cowsert’s perspective the company gained a lot of ground by simply meeting face to face with folks at aviation conferences across the US. “We dug in and made more conferences this year and gained a lot of new ground,” said Cowsert. “In addition, in Texas we saw a state match funding allowing airports to set up their taxiways with BrightPortal fixtures.”
Although seeing positive results, the year was not without challenges for each of the three companies. As a small business, Kinexis faced challenges in 2024, that included increased interest rates, employee pay demands and extended contract award timelines. “However, through strategic planning, Kinexis successfully onboarded new customers, strengthened relationships with existing clients and partners, and achieved our annual objectives,” said Pethe.
For SBA it was procurement. “Procurement is sometimes slow and cumbersome when an airport is structured in a municipal, city or county model – without an airport authority, or at least a strong commission. It slows down the rate of business and the ability to respond in a timely manner to both the client’s needs as well as the needs of the airlines and other tenants at an airport,” said Baldwin. “Aviation is dynamic and rapidly changing, often faster than an organization under a sub-optimal model can respond to airline and tenant needs, as well as those of the community.”
For Bright Portal, the beginning of the year was sluggish. “Fortunately, we saw the needle moving mid-year and business really picked up in the 3rd and 4th quarters.”
Looking ahead to 2025, the SBA team anticipates continued positive momentum with a focus on further expanding their reach both geographically and with service offerings. “We expect moderate growth in core product lines such as Governance while aiming for significant gains in our newer offerings related to HR support,” said Baldwin.
SBA is projecting modest revenue growth from their core services plus adding one or two new service lines currently under review. “Our key goal however is to continue to serve our existing clients with the highest quality of service we can provide. We value this deeply which is why SBA has such a strong client retention rate,” said Baldwin.
The Kinexis team feels they are positioned well for continued growth and success in 2025 and remain deeply committed to their core values of “Purpose, People, Process and Progress.”
At BrightPortal, Tim and Patti Cowsert will continue to attend state aviation conferences and expect to gain more ground from all the seeds they were able to plant the last three years. “We expect to far exceed our 2019 [pre-Covid] numbers,” said Cowsert. “Of course, we really look forward to the new pro-business administration and anticipate great progress in 2025 and beyond.
