Indianapolis Airport Authority Board elects new president, welcomes new CEO
INDIANAPOLIS—Indianapolis Airport Authority Board President Randall L. Tobias, who has served as the board’s president since January 2008, announced today he was stepping down as president of the IAA board, effective immediately.
Upon Tobias’s recommendation, the board elected Michael B. Stayton, who was appointed to the board by Mayor Greg Ballard in 2008, as president.
Ambassador Tobias, who is building a new home in Hamilton County where he expects to move near the end of the year, will continue to serve as a board member. By the terms of the statute covering his appointment by the mayor, he must be a resident of Marion County throughout his tenure. He will resign from the board at the time of his move.
Tobias recommended the board act now to elect a new president so IAA’s new CEO, John D. Clark III, could begin from day one to work in tandem and in continuity with the board president, without a further change in that leadership relationship later in the year.
Stayton is president & CEO of the United States Infrastructure Corporation, a utility services company he helped form last year. The company employs 3,500 employees in 20 states throughout the U.S. Stayton was chief of staff at the United Nations World Food Programme from 2002 to 2007. Previously, he served as president of IWC Industries and director of public works for the city of Indianapolis, among other positions.
Stayton thanked the board for its confidence. He also expressed his appreciation to Tobias for his initiative to avoid the need for a second leadership transition later this year. “Ambassador Tobias has led this board through one of the most crucial period of its existence, completing and opening the new Indianapolis airport terminal and leading the search to find a new CEO,” Stayton said.
Three weeks ago, following a nationwide search, the board approved the hiring of Clark, the former CEO of the Jacksonville (Florida) Aviation Authority. He assumed his new role earlier this week. At today’s meeting, the board listened to Clark briefly describe his thoughts and vision for Indianapolis International Airport.
Clark brings a 25-year career in aviation to the Indianapolis Airport Authority. He was the chief executive for the Jacksonville airports since 1996. He currently serves as Chairman of
the Board of Airports Council International–North America (ACI-NA). Member airports of ACI-NA enplane more than 95 percent of the domestic and virtually all of the international passenger and cargo traffic in North America.
The Indianapolis Airport Authority operates Indianapolis International Airport, which serves 8 million passengers a year, and five general aviation airports in the Indianapolis metropolitan area.