Tampa airport board members to interview with four CEO finalists

The Hillsborough County Aviation Authority’s board has narrowed down its list of possible replacements for outgoing Tampa International Airport CEO Joe Lopano to four candidates and all five current board members will participate in the process moving forward.

Each of the four finalists has been a part of the airport’s executive team for at least a decade. According to a statement the four finalists are:

• Damian Brooke, executive vice president of finance, procurement and capital programs
• Michael Stephens, general counsel and executive vice president
• John Tiliacos, executive vice president of operations and customer service
•  Chris Minner, executive vice president of marketing and communications

The board says in a statement that it and the executive search firm Korn Ferry plan to interview the candidates one-on-one beginning the week of Sept. 30. Board members will then hold a special meeting Oct. 30 to discuss and vote on who the next CEO will be.

Additional meetings may be requested by board members during the process, according to the statement.

The new CEO will take over from Lopano “sometime after the new year.”

The roadmap to find the airport’s new CEO was laid out Sep. 5 at the board of directors’ monthly meeting. As part of that process, the board voted to include all five members in the decision making.

Until now the three members of the finance committee were charged with bringing recommendations to the entire board.

Whoever the new CEO is, he will have to contend with the high standards set by Lopano, the airport’s third CEO since 1965.

Lopano, whose contract runs through April, announced earlier this year that he was retiring after running TPA for 13 years.

He saw the airport through the pandemic and a large renovation that includes building the rental car center, the SkyConnect train system and a concessions redevelopment program.

This story has been updated to clarify the process.