Incoming Tampa airport CEO is cleared for approach

When Tampa International Airport CEO Joe Lopano announced his retirement in February, it kicked off the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority Board’s quest to find his replacement. Nine months later, the 4-1 vote to appoint general counsel and executive vice president Michael Stephens passed, and the future of leadership for the $381 million airport began to gel.

Stephens has been with the airport since 2015 and Lopano’s direct report his entire tenure, so he won’t exactly be flying blind into the next chapter. “There is a profound sense of excitement because I know what this community means to me. I know what this airport means to this community,” Stephens says, “I've been in this community before Joe and the team came here. I was in this community for 20 plus years. My kids [ages 16 and 14] were born here, and I'm just excited about where we can take this to the next level.”