Our Team
We love our people! J|D gathers elite professionals from varied disciplines and cultures to enrich our insights in the global aviation industry. Experience the wealth of knowledge and innovation that only diverse perspectives can offer.
Darryl Daniels
Managing Partner
Chief Executive Officer
Darryl Daniels is an architect with over 30 years of design, planning, project management, customer service and principle-in-charge experience at airports. In addition, he has extensive experience in historic preservation, cultural resource management and planning and heritage tourism development. His experience spans planning for clients such as the City of Cleveland to assisting a rural museum board in Louisiana develop a master plan which focused on facility and organizational development. He specializes in cultural resource management planning and in helping clients leverage their various assets to foster economic development.
With over two decades of experience and credentials required by the Secretary of the Interior under 36 CFR 61, Darryl is able to handle all types of delivery orders ranging from simple requests for surveys to multi-year, multi municipality projects requiring careful and methodical project planning efforts. He provides daily oversight on all cultural resource management projects undertaken by J|D and has participated in or supervised cultural resource investigations including projects in Louisiana, Texas, Missouri, Michigan and Minnesota. He has years of experience in writing, reviewing and editing cultural resource management and master planning reports. During completion of these numerous projects, he has undertaken consultations with clients, regulatory officials, local authorities, landowners, Native American tribes, and other parties interested in the cultural resource management compliance process.
Over his career he has provided these services for local, state and federal agencies, as well as for private sector clients. He specializes in creating high-quality experiences for clients and customers in the transportation industry with a focus on improving the journey from home to the final destination.
In Detroit, Darryl negotiated the transition and turnover of the airport valet concierge service from a poor performing operation to a Jacobsen|Daniels branded Fly Away Valet service. Since 2016, he has led Fly Away Valet to set new standards for concierge level valet services at airports. His goal for each parking operation is to make a lasting impression on customers and turn airport parking from a stressful activity for travelers to an enjoyable one.
Q & A with Darryl
What is the best part of your job?
I enjoy hiring people. I get a thrill out of hiring recent college graduates and getting them started with their careers. Giving them their first job is an important launch into their adult life and I that is special for me to be a part of that for them.
What advice would you give someone starting a business?
Don’t start a business without a business partner. Starting something out of nothing is hard. I know people who are successful entrepreneurs without a partner, and they freely admit how much more difficult it is alone when everything is your responsibility. Finding a good partner, like I did, makes the journey.
Where is your favorite place to be?
Without a doubt, my favorite place to be is my yard. I love gardening and creating beautiful spaces outdoors. Yard work is hard and I’m glad I don’t have to do it as a profession. But I get a lot of joy when tinkering in the garden and seeing plants do their thing.
Where is the best place you’ve traveled to and why?
I’ve traveled around the world and have seen many beautiful places and met wonderful people. However, my favorite country to visit is Australia.
What would you do (for a career) if you weren’t doing this?
I love what I do and being an architect is a profession I chose every early in life. I wanted to create exterior and interior spaces that would shape the lives of people in various communities. However, over the years I’ve found myself attracted to comforting people during their grief with the loss of a loved one – thus I think I would be an undertaker.
Tell us something that might surprise us about you:
As a boy, my parents took me to the college football games of the college team in my hometown. I got to experience the traditions, flair, and musicianship of many great HBCU bands. I always wanted to get to the stadium early enough to watch the band march into the stadium and just witness their joy throughout the game and afterwards. That started a long love affair with watching marching bands, parades, and the pageantry that surrounds college football.
What or who has been your biggest influence?
I grew up in Pine Bluff, Arkansas and had a wonderful childhood with loving parents, siblings and relatives surrounding me in my neighborhood, school, and church. However, my church, St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church played the biggest influence in my life. It laid the foundation for everything and I’m forever grateful for that experience.
