Airport Experience® News - Leadership Issue 2024

championship, but a lot of things changed for the positive in our community.” In terms of TPA, maybe it’s because Lopano wouldn’t give up, instead bringing that “watch this” approach to a skeptical audience. One of the defining achievements of his 14-years at the helm of TPA was to “convince the whole community, convince the city, that we could do things that they never believed we could, and number one in that regard was getting international flights to come to Tampa,” Lopano says.

Left: Kevin Foley, executive director, Des Moines Airport Authority

In fact, Foley has been preparing for the transition for a few years. Mulcahy was chief financial officer until he was tapped to become assistant executive director nearly three years ago. “I made sure that he was involved in anything that was going on, so he knows the moving pieces that that are in play and should be able to just pick them up and move them on forward,” Foley says, noting that the ultimate selection of Mulcahy as the new executive director was “100% up to the board of directors” and came after a national search. Foley’s retirement plans are loose but he’s looking forward to a bit of travel, more time with family and the simple pleasure of not having a heavy workload every day. Joe Lopano, CEO, Tampa International Airport Joe Lopano, who has served as CEO of Tampa International Airport (TPA) since 2011, convinced his board and his community to believe in the power of TPA’s connectivity. “We used to be the city of ‘no we can’t’, and now we’re the city of ‘watch this’,” Lopano says. “Maybe that was because Tom Brady came and we won a Super Bowl, or maybe it’s because our Stanley Cup

Kevin Foley, Executive Director, Des Moines Airport Authority

Below: Joe Lopano, CEO, Tampa International Airport

For the past decade, Kevin Foley has been laying the groundwork for a new terminal at Des Moines International Airport (DSM). Just over a year ago, the airport finally broke ground. Foley, who has led DSM since 2014, says his key challenge – and ultimately his key achievement – has been about funding. “The high point of my time here [at DSM] is clearly the new terminal and funding that has become available for new terminals, not just in Des Moines but throughout the entire industry,” he says. DSM is Iowa’s largest airport. The need for a new terminal to accommodate unprecedented passenger growth and evolving passenger needs has been apparent for well over a decade, but until recently, funding was hard to come by. “I’ve been promoting this for 10 years at any club that you can think of, whether it’s just a local breakfast club, a Rotary Club, a Lions Club…,” he says. “I’ve been in front of city councils. I’ve certainly pitched our congressional delegation in Washington. So, to see this project under construction and know that the funding is now there to get at least the first phases completed is the high point of my career. Foley won’t be leading DSM when the project comes to fruition. He will retire on April 4, 2025 and Brian Mulcahy, who has been with the authority since 2011 and currently serves as assistant executive director, will step up to lead the transition to the new terminal. “I’ve just always known that I wouldn’t move into the new facility,” Foley says. With construction projected to be ongoing through late 2028, “I would have been at an age where probably should have left a few years earlier.”

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AX NEWS DECEMBER 2024 / JANUARY 2025