Firelli is a Managing Director with Unison Consulting with over 20 years of experience in airport concessions planning, development, implementation, and market research. She leads Unison’s market research practice, having completed more than 60 specialized airport research studies to identify innovative strategies to enhance customer satisfaction, revenues, and operations. Her studies have been instrumental in the development of concession plans, customer service improvements, organizational strategies, terminal operation plans, and ground transportation initiatives.

Firelli is also involved in several Airport Cooperative Research Program projects. She was one of the Principal Investigators for the ACRP Report – The Cost of Doing Business at Airports; served as a Panel member regarding the Guidebook for Conducting Airport User Surveys; and is currently working with the AMAC team on Project 01-51: Improving Airport Organizational Practices to Enhance ACDBE/DBE Participation. An interesting project she completed was for the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) Second Chance and Priority Careers Program, which provides training and opportunities for Chicago citizens who are returning to the job market such as ex-felons, homeless, and domestic violence survivors.

She is a proud University of California Berkeley alumna and is an almost native Californian. Firelli is a 1.75 generation immigrant, having moved to Los Angeles when she was 2 years old.