The concentration of economic activity in a few large companies over the past decades suggests a trend of growth within big business. However, small businesses are essential to the U.S. economy, making up nearly all business ventures nationwide and playing a crucial role in job creation.
For Dynise and William “Bill” Perry, their small business is all about growth. As co-founder of Airport Parking Associates, Inc., Bill oversaw a competitive parking management procurement process facilitated by the Miami International Airport in 1998.
“There is no [business] without good, dedicated employees. I’m a huge advocate for them. You cannot even measure their value.” -Dynise Perry
(Elisabeth Campbell for The Miami Times)
“I started my parking career at Bayside Marketplace. It then expanded to Jackson Memorial Hospital, the school board in Broward County, the Miami arena and several other surface lots around the county,” said Bill. “When the opportunity came up [at the Miami International Airport], we decided to bid on it.”
That bid was successful, and since then, APA has returned over $1 billion to the airport during its tenure.
“We’ve been through five or six procurements,” said Bill, “which speaks for itself in terms of our performance, our management credibility, and our team that we have in place.”
APA currently manages approximately 10,200 parking spaces at the airport as well as two valet operations in the Flamingo and Dolphin garages. They employ around 80 members of the Miami-Dade community, including lot checkers, valet attendants, and supervisors. The average tenure of an APA employee is 17 years.
“For me, it is all about the success of my staff, my employees,” said Dynise, who took over the helm of APA in 2022. “There is no [business] without good, dedicated employees. I’m a huge advocate for them. You cannot even measure their value.”
Dynise originally served as a tenured educator in the Miami-Dade Public Schools system for 30 years.
“I retired February 2022, and the next month, I was pulled into the aviation industry,” said Dynise. “I found that there was not a lot of difference. When I transitioned into parking management, it seemed like a natural fit.”
For Dynise, those first three months were vital. There were times when she would arrive at 7 a.m. and stay until 3:30 p.m. the next day.
“I could not ask my employees to do anything that I was not willing to do myself,” said Dynise.
After three months with APA, Dynise was asked to expand her relationship with the company, extending parking management services to West Palm Beach.
This month, she began a 10-year contract with APA, an agreement expected to bring in over $300 million of revenue within that time. As the company grows, Dynise hopes to hire more broadly, helping people find jobs and take care of their families.
“We believe in service,” she said.
For Bill, the Miami Airport isn’t just about transportation; it’s about the city itself.
“The airport is all about Miami,” he said. “When people transport here, they’re usually going two places: the beach or downtown. So, we look at how we can direct them to other neighborhoods that are just as viable, like Overtown and Little Haiti. We have had the opportunity to really become engaged in the fabric and the needs of the community.”
In addition to the APA being a corporate partner with the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, Bill and Dynise are active members of the Tourist Development Council, Orange Bowl Committee, The Association of the Developmentally Exceptional, Top Ladies of Distinction, and the MIA is Me Program.
“There were a lot of roadblocks [in forming APA], particularly as an African-American-owned business,” said Bill. “It caused me to look at this thing holistically and look at solutions… I’m learning that the reality is I got more time behind me than I have in front of me, so my mindset stays on the goal. I’m looking towards the future. Prayerfully, we’ll have [our granddaughter] Chloe ultimately come in and continue the legacy.”
Bill looks to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for a reminder of his purpose.
“Dr King said that the major contribution in your lifetime is to help others,” said Bill. “To whom much is given, much is required. Spiritual perspective is real with me, with us. I want to touch people in a way in which they won’t forget me.”
Dynise feels similarly. As a former educator, she takes the principles that she embodied in the Miami-Dade school system and extends them to her work in the aviation industry.
“I want to be remembered as a kind, humble, compassionate person that saw good in everyone,” said Dynise. “Maybe I saw in them what they didn’t see in themselves, and I helped to nurture that.”
In the future, APA hopes to introduce inductive robotic EV chargers, expansion of the parking loyalty program to an airport-wide program, dynamic pricing, parking reservations, pre-booking, and more.
Find out more about Airport Parking Associates, Inc. and their affiliated businesses at https://excelstrategiesinc.com.