New SRQ airport CEO reflects on first month on the job

As a visit to Sarasota after becoming the new president and CEO of Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport came to an end, Paul Hoback and his wife, Amy, were at the gate awaiting a return flight to Pittsburgh. That's when an epiphany offered confirmation of their career move choice.

“I’m a big fan of yacht rock,” says Hoback, ironically, the genre often heard from the airport’s audio system.

That’s when the song Almost Paradise from the movie Footloose broadcast over the terminal’s speakers.

“Almost” is descriptive of Hoback’s philosophical approach to his profession. No endeavor is ever complete. There is always room for improvement. And after an entire life and career spent in the Pittsburgh area, moving to the Gulf Coast is surely paradise.

“I'll never say we're perfect because I think we’ve got to continue to fight, continue to elevate and continue to think differently, do differently and act differently to continuously improve,” Hoback says. “That’s why it’s almost paradise, because that's exactly the way I think.”

As for the area served by the airport, “This place is truly paradise,” he says.

Hoback’s first official day at SRQ came on Oct. 19, four months after being named as the successor to Rick Piccolo, the CEO of the airport for the past three decades.

Right man

So far, Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority Chairman Jesse Biter says Hoback has validated the board’s choice.

“He is a thinker, and that's what I love about him. He’s not afraid to do things,” Biter says. “He's jumped in and has already gotten right to work doing what he said he would do. He's still drinking from the fire hose, but I'm impressed.”

Hoback's hiring came after an extensive process.

Executive search firm Korn Ferry had produced some 20 candidates screened by the SMAA board. That field was narrowed to 10, each coming with an hour-long video interview by the firm. The six-member board then each selected their top three, Hoback among those named by each.

The three finalists then met with each board member.

“What stood out is he had a plan,” says Biter. “He came in with a lot of authority. He sees the future. He's got a great vision. He's got a plan. He spoke confidently. One thing I love is he reads a lot of books. We spent the first part of his interview just talking about a lot of the books we have in common that we love and refer to as leaders, so we kind of spoke the same language.

“Some of the other guys were good, but didn't strike me as CEO material. Paul just screams it.”

Top gun

A 25-year veteran of the aviation industry, Hoback had spent his entire career at Pittsburgh International Airport, most recently overseeing the completion of a $1.7 billion overhaul of its passenger terminal and other capital improvements. It’s that experience that attracted the attention of the Sarasota-Manatee Airport Authority as the airport's governing body considers a future expansion of its parking and rental car facilities.

“I pinch myself every day that I actually get to do this as a job,” Hoback says. “I’m in the field that I love. Aviation runs through my blood. It's in my DNA. It has been that way since I watched that movie Top Gun in the 1980s. 

“Every day is challenging and exciting. You're out there fighting to try to make a better experience for our passengers, and for me as a leader trying to make a better experience for our team members because they're ultimately the ones out there dealing with our customers on the front lines.”

Hoback spent about two weeks in transition with Piccolo, learning the staff, studying all facets of the airport’s operations and assessing the remaining challenges presented by four years of unprecedented growth. 

“There's a saying in our industry that if you've seen one airport, you've seen one airport, because every airport and every team is very different,” Hoback says. “I'm still learning the team, learning the airport and learning this community, but the first three weeks couldn't have been better.”

Photo by Andrew Warfield

All welcomed him with open arms, he says, especially his predecessor, who worked several months longer than planned while awaiting Hoback’s arrival. He walks to the desk formerly occupied by Piccolo and removes a letter from the top drawer, the words on the paper remaining only between the two.

“I opened this desk drawer on day one and Rick left me a letter,” Hoback says. “I’m an emotional person and that just that hit home and it meant a lot. This position is not about individuals. It’s not about us. This position is about the position and how important it is to this airport, to this team, to this community, and I have a responsibility to take what Rick has done and continue to elevate it.”

A gateway

Hoback has connections to the region: His grandmother had lived in Zephyrhills, close friends live in Wesley Chapel, family members have lived in St. Petersburg, they have often vacationed in the area and the Pittsburgh Pirates hold spring training in Bradenton, drawing many fellow Pittsburghers as seasonal and even full-time residents.

“I didn't know much about SRQ at the time, but as soon as I started looking into this airport and I saw where they've been, where they're heading, the growth that they've had and that of this entire region, who they're looking for as a servant leader — they were really describing Rick,” Hoback says. “I thought, ‘They're looking for me.’ It was just a slap in the face that said, ‘Paul, this is meant to be...This is your moment.’”

Hoback’s moment now includes two primary challenges to the passenger experience. To nobody’s fault, he is quick to state, SRQ has grown faster over the last half-decade than its capacity to keep up. Passenger count has more than doubled since 2020, anticipating more than 4.5 million this year. With the opening of the new Concourse A in January, there are plenty of gates for now, and with the recent enhancements to Concourse B, there are now adequate options there for food and beverage.

Now it’s time to turn attention to outside the passenger terminal.

“We've got a parking problem here, and we've got a rental car problem,” Hoback says. “There are times during peak travel that our rental car partners turn away potential customers, and that's an issue. Our rental car partners do not have enough space here and we don't have enough parking on site during peak travel times.”

The solution to both is in a parking master plan to replace the short-term and rental car parking with a parking structure that includes rental car operations. To address a shortage in carousels, the master plan also calls for moving baggage claim to the first level of the parking deck.

“The team has done a brilliant job ensuring that our facilities are growing, but you can only focus on one thing, and the ground boarding facility in the new Allegiant concourse was the focus at that time," Hoback says. "Next up is baggage claim, parking and a rental car center.”

SRQ is, after all, a gateway to paradise.

A version of this article originally appeared on sister site YourObserver.com.