Ray Adams is an economist and specialist in aviation and real estate finance. For twenty-three (23) years he has served Aviation Leasing Group, a Kansas City, London, and UAE based company with interests in commercial airlines, aircraft leasing, finance, and hotels.
Mr. Adams attended Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa, graduating with honors in 1969 with degrees in Economics and Business Administration.
Following graduation, Mr. Adams extended his love for and training in music into concert promotion and formed 777 Productions, a successful Kansas City based concert promotion company which he led until 1977 when he returned to his alma mater, Graceland University, as Controller and Director of Academic and Administrative Computing Services, a position he held until 1980 when he formed Resource Enrichment & Development, Inc. (RED, Inc.), a firm targeted at turning around distressed farms in Iowa, Missouri, and Illinois. During this period, Mr. Adams worked with many large banks and insurance companies and developed his growing interest and expertise in finance.
Mr. Adams returned to Kansas City in 1981 and joined the board of Capital Air, a major scheduled U.S. airline, in 1982. Following the sale of Capital Air, Mr. Adams joined the Aviation Leasing Group of Companies (ALG) as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in 1984. ALG is an international aviation enterprise that provides comprehensive financial, operational and maintenance support services to domestic and international airlines. ALG operations have spanned more than a dozen countries in Europe, Asia, the Pacific Rim, the Middle East, and Africa, and the firm has operated leasing and airline companies since its inception in 1980. Mr. Adams became President of ALG in 2003.
ALG's diverse business includes the leasing of aircraft, financing, airline operations and technical services both U.S. domestic and international.
Mr. Adams assisted his long-time friend and business associate, Farhad Azima, Owner and Chairman of ALG, in forming HeavyLift International Airlines in the fall of 2003, and in January of 2005, HeavyLift received its United Arab Emirates airline license and commenced operations that same month. HeavyLift provides cargo and freight services to airline clients in the Middle East, Europe, Asia, the Far East and Africa.
Mr. Adams was born in 1947 and was married in 1968 to Sidna Beck. They have two (2) sons, Shane (30) and Jacob (27). He continues to perform and enjoy music, playing his guitar when travel time permits. He also enjoys action novels, movies, and playing tennis.