O’Hare Flyer LLC is an Illinois series limited liability company organized January 26, 2024. Its managers of record are David S. Lundy and Mark Walbrun; its registered agent is David Lundy. Kristi Lafleur, described publicly as a co-founder, is not a manager of record.1 The company has said the project has been “in exploratory development” for three years; the entity itself is about two and a half years old.
The principals
| Person | Role | Background, as publicly stated |
|---|---|---|
| David (Dave) S. Lundy | Founder, CEO, manager | Owner of Aileron Communications, a public-affairs firm serving clean-energy developers in about 28 states; describes himself as “a lobbyist in Springfield.”2 Former Better Government Association board chair; J.D., DePaul.3 |
| Mark Walbrun, PE | Founder, Chief Engineering Officer, manager | About 50 years in the rail industry: Amtrak, then consulting; led the 1990s Union Station redesign; board member of the International Air Rail Organisation.32 |
| Kristi Lafleur | Co-founder | CEO of Ascend Infrastructure; former CEO of the Chicago Skyway; former executive director of the Illinois Tollway.3 |
| Kevin Johnson | Finance lead | Energy project finance; formerly with the U.S. Department of Energy Loan Programs Office.2 |
| Em Hall, PhD | Project manager | Chicago planning consultant; runs Transport Chicago.2 |
A second company: “Great Western Railroad”
On September 4, 2026 the CEO said the project “is being done in partnership with our Class 3 railroad that we’ve created called the Great Western Railroad,” which would deliver a few remaining freight customers’ cars overnight on “the line that we have leased.”2 A freight-carrying railroad is a “rail carrier” under federal law — which means federal law, not village or city rules, governs it. That is the point of the structure. As of September 6, 2026 no filing by that name had been located at the Surface Transportation Board.
Partners and supporters
The sponsor’s website lists Herzog (rail operations), Mackay Civil Engineering, Quandel Consultants (railroad engineering), Mayer Brown and Winston Taylor (legal), Stinson (rail and regulatory counsel), UrbanWorks (architecture), PAX Group (safety), ProxIT, Murphy Business Consulting, a5 Branding, and Aileron — the CEO’s own firm.32 The “two Big Four accounting firms” the sponsor says are supporting the project have not been named. World Business Chicago, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, and the Chicago & Cook County Building Trades have offered support. Mayor Johnson has said he will take a closer look.4
Political relationships
A 2023 Illinois Answers Project investigation, published in the Sun-Times, reported that Mr. Lundy and Governor Pritzker have been friends for about thirty years; that Aileron worked for eight Pritzker-related entities over seventeen years, with the Pritzker Family Foundation reporting $338,610 in payments; and that Aileron was paid $146,880 from a $40 million state grant for the Cairo port after years of private advocacy for the project.5
The Governor’s office said the two severed business ties before he took office and that he does not accept lobbying from Mr. Lundy. Nothing here suggests unlawful conduct. It is relevant because the sponsor promises “no public money,” and because the project needs discretionary approvals from the City and cooperation from state agencies.
- Illinois Secretary of State, Business Entity Search, File No. 14268618 ↩
- High Speed Rail Alliance webinar with Dave Lundy and Mark Walbrun, Sept. 4, 2026 (transcript on file) ↩
- ohareflyer.com (team page and FAQ) ↩
- Chicago Sun-Times, Aug. 25, 2026 ↩
- Illinois Answers Project / Chicago Sun-Times, Mar. 31, 2023 ↩