American DBE Magazine Airports Update: McKissack Administers Inclusion Programs on JFK Airport's New Terminal One

McKissack Administers Inclusion Programs on JFK Airport’s New Terminal One

McKissack & McKissack has been in business for more than 118 years and is the oldest, minority professional design and construction firm in the United States. The company was founded in Nashville, Tennessee by current President & CEO Cheryl McKissack Daniel’s great, great grandfather and was headquartered in Nashville until McKissack moved the headquarters to New York City in the 1980s. Since the move, the company has created its own legacy in New York City, which includes planning, design and construction of more than 6,000 projects. Among them are the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center; Harlem Hospital Center Major Modernization Program Phases 1, 2 and 4; multiple projects at Columbia University; the Studio Museum of Harlem; the New York City Economic Development Corporation Rockaway Boardwalk Reconstruction; and PANYNJ (Port Authority of New York and New Jersey) LaGuardia Airport Central Terminal Building Replacement.

As the company expanded to assume larger roles on projects in the New York City region, it has also been called upon to create opportunities for smaller minorityand women-owned companies along the way. Today, the firm often secures the role of managing inclusion efforts to create opportunities for diverse firms on major projects. Recently, McKissack was a lead construction manager on the Coney Island Hospital Project, which had a focus on local participation as well as on Minority and Women Business Enterprises. McKissack led the participation efforts and exceeded all diversity targets on the project.

McKissack & McKissack President & CEO Cheryl McKissack Daniel

McKissack is now part of the program management team for one of the largest infrastructure projects in New York City history, the $9.5 billion, 2.4-million square feet New Terminal One being constructed at JFK International Airport. The terminal is slated to anchor the south side of JFK and create at least 10,000 jobs, including 6,000 union construction jobs. New Terminal One will be the largest terminal at JFK and represents an integral part of the $18 billion Transformation Project that is well underway. The project will double the number of gates that currently accommodate wide-body aircraft, with 22 of the 23 new gates designed for larger aircraft that are key to international travel.

PANYNJ selected Ferrovial, a global airport operator with experience building airport terminals, as the project’s lead investor. Ferrovial also leads the Capital Project Delivery team responsible for bringing the terminal to completion. A press release from PANYNJ said Ferrovial and its partners at the New Terminal One “are also committed to the Port Authority goal of 30 percent participation by Minority- and Women-Owned Businesses (MWBEs) and a strong focus on developing local businesses.” McKissack is a member of the Capital Project Delivery team’s Project Management Office and will play a key role in completing the project successfully. One of the roles is to administer inclusion efforts for minority- and women-owned firms aimed at meeting or exceeding PANYNJ’s project goal.

Kimberly D. Hardy, Esq., senior vice president of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Compliance believes McKissack’s work on the New Terminal One is significant on many levels. “Our work for the New Terminal One at JFK is providing McKissack a lead role in the project management office that goes beyond diversity,” Hardy said. “In my role as the diversity and community engagement director, we have the opportunity to assist the New Terminal One with having meaningful impact in the community surrounding JFK Airport and also nationwide, as we seek to help hire companies needed to support not only a construction project but eventually the operation of an airport terminal.”

An architect’s rendering of the interior of the New Terminal One at John F. Kennedy International Airport

McKissack will support the project by engaging and developing initiatives that will benefit the broader community through education, workforce development, business development and environmental stewardship. These efforts fall in line with the overall JFK Airport Redevelopment Program and are fully embraced by the Ferrovial development team.

Hardy said it is rewarding to work for a Black-woman owned company with a 100year history. “McKissack is a perfect example of the power of perseverance, in terms of having a multi-generational, family-owned business that has thrived in New York City.” She believes McKissack’s work is significant because it’s important for people and the business community to recognize that there are diverse firms, Black-owned companies that can thrive in all industries in professional services, particularly in construction.

McKissack’s formula for having a successful diversity program means being very intentional in the way it conducts outreach and in the way it monitors and tracks the progress of participation by MWBEs with whom they contract. For example, through their work on the New Terminal One Project, for which a groundbreaking ceremony was held in September 2022, McKissack has assisted the MPO (metropolitan planning organization) with engaging more than 200 MWBE firms. “That type of impact is meaningful and impactful and helps build the capacity of minority-owned firms,” Hardy said. While many companies and organizations have placed more emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion following the pandemic and the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers, McKissack has long made diversity a core component of the company’s business model. In 30 years of performing contracts in the New York City region, the company has built its reputation with public and private client on completing work on time, within budget, having a diverse group of companies working on projects.

McKissack & McKissack Senior Vice President Kimberly Hardy, Esq.

“McKissack, promotes diversity not only for construction trades but also for professional services to ensure the projects they’re working on are engaging diverse firms, and might I add certainly Black firms,” Hardy said, who supervises about 10 people at McKissack. “As a Black company, it’s very important to us to promote other emerging Black businesses. I would say, in the last two years, we have seen a number of clients more focused on ensuring not only that there is diversity, particularly in the Minority and Women Business Enterprise community, but that there’s very much a focus on ensuring Black businesses are a focus on the overall MWBE presence on projects.”

McKissack works with clients to help them develop strategic plans on how to achieve diversity, whether it’s in their workforce or with regards to their suppliers and other professionals. The firm also works on projects – most notably construction projects – to help recruit MWBE businesses, to track their participation, to ensure payments are made to those businesses and to achieve additional diversity business objectives they have. For instance, although there is a strong focus on MWBEs, other targeted efforts for inclusion are disabled veterans, veterans’ businesses and local businesses.

The New Terminal One is expected to open in 2026 and become the new gateway for international travelers entering New York City. McKissack that all segments of the New York City demographic profile play a significant role in building the gateway and participating in the economic growth the gateway will bring.

Aerial rendering of the New Terminal One at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York