Clay Lacy named one of LA500 Most Influential People – Los Angeles Business Journal

Article Published: LA500 Los Angeles Business Journal
June 11, 2020
Publisher: Josh Schimmels

The Business Journal’s fifth annual LA500 list honors the most influential leaders and executives in Los Angeles. This year’s collection of the leading figures from the city’s business community highlights the work that took place and the progress that was made in the months before Covid-19, but it also serves as a reminder that L.A. is peopled by some of the smartest, most innovative and staunchly resilient business talent anywhere in the world. In that context, this year’s LA500 shines a light on many of the figures who not only can help us navigate the crisis today but stand to help us find our way through to the other side of this situation.

Clay Lacy
Founder and Chairman
Clay Lacy Aviation Inc.

THE LATEST: Van Nuys-based Clay Lacy Aviation currently manages 120 business jets in 26 cities across the U.S. In January, the company opened an office at Fort Worth Meacham International Airport in Texas. Also in January, Lacy received the Wichita Aero Club Trophy. Lacy turned over majority ownership of the company in 2013 to his protege and chief executive, Brian Kirkdoffer.

BACKGROUND: Lacy grew up in Wichita, Kan. His career includes stints as a captain with United Airlines, a test pilot, air race champion and aerial cinematographer. He founded Clay Lacy Aviation in 1968 at Van Nuys Airport. It was the first executive jet charter service in the western U.S. He also helped develop the Astrovision camera system and has shot more than 2, 800 aerial film projects for the entertainment industry, the military and commercial airlines. His work appears in movies such as “Cliffhanger,” “Armageddon” and “Top Gun.”

YEARS ON THE LA500: 5

Read the 2020 edition of the LA500.