Great Team with Great Experience

The management team has a wide variety of experience and expertise, including airline domain knowledge, private aviation experience, and financial and technical experience in serving start-up companies.

Ira Gershkoff

Ira Gershkoff is the Founder and CEO of SlipStream Aviation Software which was a merger of his firm, JIT Airline Resources, LLC with the Baltimore-based SlipStream Group. He has more than 25 years focused on strategic and operational information systems in the transportation industry. His proven track record analyzing complex business processes, together with experience as a line manager has given special insight into the people, process, and systems issues that must be in place to have a successful corporate transformation—at any level from saving a few percent on office supplies to radically restructuring operations.  At SlipStream Software he has applied these skills to architecting the ScheduFlex process for airlines, which offers the capability of tailoring capacity to demand on a day-to-day and market-to-market basis.

Prior to founding SlipStream Aviation Software and JIT Airline Resources LLC, Ira served as Managing Partner for Phoenix2000 Group.  His work there focused on strategic IT solutions for mid-sized to large companies, matching clients’ technology resources with their principal business initiatives.  He helped both airlines and non-airlines to align their systems and processes to improve operations and reduce costs.  

He also worked in several capacities directly within the airline industry over a 20-year period.  As Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Polar Air Cargo, a $350 million company, he led the successful transition of the company to a new Enterprise Resource Planning system (JD Edwards).  At Sabre Inc. in the 1990s, Ira was Vice President in the Product Development, Research, and Consulting areas. He managed the development of the company's flight operations applications, as well as directed a number of high-level consulting projects for airlines around the world, focusing on operational issues that could quickly add bottom-line value.  At American Airlines and United Airlines, he worked in both the business and systems areas of airline management, working on business process optimization from both those perspectives.

In addition to his executive responsibilities, Ira has written more than 20 technical papers and trade magazine articles over the years.  Most recently, "Cutover—Out with the Old, In with the New" explores challenges involved in replacing one set of systems or procedures with another. His most popular work, however, is non-technical: The Boston Driver's Handbook describes every known technique for taking advantage of clueless fellow motorists in order to get one car ahead in the traffic stream. This seminal work has sold more than 65,000 copies in 14 printings.

Ira’s areas of in-depth expertise include transportation management, logistics, operations research, statistical analysis, and optimization techniques. His professional affiliations include the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). He is a frequent speaker at both information technology and transportation industry conferences.  

Peter Pappas

President/CEO, Aviation Services Management (ASM).   Miami, FL
- Aviation Services company providing above and below the wing services to 52 airlines at 13 locations within the US.
- Largest service provider to American Airlines including its Miami Hub

President, Americas Division. Gate Gourmet.   Reston, VA.
- Americas Division consisted of 12,000 employees providing $600M of catering services to domestic and international airlines.

President/CEO, Renaissance Aviation LLC.   Dallas, Tx
- Management and operational consulting services provided to airline and related service companies

Chairman/CEO, New World Air Holdings d/b/a Indigo Airlines   Chicago,IL
- Private jet startup providing service between Chicago and New York using customized Embraer 145 jet aircraft.
- New concept in scheduled charter/private jet sector.

Chairman/CEO, AirSphere,   New York, NY
- Israeli technology company attempting to provide customized operational and financial software for the aviation services/ground handling industry.

Chairman/CEO, Worldwide Flight Services,   Dallas,TX
- Major ground handling company with services provided to domestic and international carriers on a global basis.

President/CEO,AMR Services.   Dallas, TX
- Ground handling subsidiary of AMR providing multi-services to American and other airlines.
- Sold to private equity group to become Worldwide Flight Services

Thomas M. Cook

Thomas M. Cook is currently CEO of TCI a small analytical consulting firm specializing in applying operations research to significant business problems. Prior to TCI, Dr. Cook was Chairman and CEO of CALEB Technologies, an airline decision support software firm. Before joining CALEB, Dr. Cook served as Senior Counselor to McKinsey & Company, Inc., focusing on the transportation sector. Early in his career, he developed large-scale information systems for Ling Temco Vought, Inc., taught operations research, statistics, and computer science at both graduate and undergraduate levels for The University of Tulsa, The University of Texas at Austin, and Boston University, and consulted for Arthur Young and Company. The majority of Dr. Cook's career was spent with AMR, starting in the capacity of Director of Operations Research for American Airlines. He founded and was President of American Airlines Decision Technologies, the world's largest airline software and analytical consulting firm. He concluded his career at AMR as President of Sabre Technology Solutions, a $1 billion IT services division of Sabre Holdings Inc.

He holds a Ph.D in operations research from The University of Texas at Austin, an MBA from Southern Methodist University, and a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Grinnell College.

He has co-authored two books, published numerous papers in scholarly journals, and lectured at many universities, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, UCLA, Stanford, The Georgia Institute of Technology, The University of Texas, Rice, Duke and Wharton.

Dr. Cook was inducted into The National Academy of Engineering and cited for his "leadership in advancing operations research and decision-support technologies within the transportation industry." He is the past president of The Institute of Management Sciences, the Airline Group of the International Federation of Operations Research Societies (AGIFORS) and The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). He is an INFORMS fellow and has served as associate editor of Operations Research, Transportation Science, and Interfaces.