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Thursday, January 3, 2008 Airport chief is a finalist
in Denver
Jacksonville's John Clark is on a list of four vying for the top airport
job in that city.
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John Clark is one of four
finalists for the job, said city spokeswoman Sue Cobb. She said Denver Mayor
John Hickenlooper's hiring decision likely will be made by the end of the
month.
Clark has managed Jacksonville's
airports since the mid-1990s and gained the title of executive director in 2001
when the airport and port authority were split into two separate entities.
Clark did not return a phone
call, but released a statement Wednesday:
"Aviation administration is
a close-knit profession and it is not uncommon for airport directors to be
approached by executive search firms. Since moving to Jacksonville 13 years
ago, I have been approached by many international executive search firms
regarding positions at airports across the country and Canada. Most recently, I
have met with the executive search firm Spencer Stuart, the Denver
International Airport selection committee and Denver Mayor John
Hickenlooper."
Jim McCollum, vice chairman of
JAA's board of directors, said Wednesday he was unaware of Clark's job search
and deferred comment to Chairman Cyrus Jollivette, who could not be reached.
Last year, Clark signed a new
contract securing his job in Jacksonville through 2012. The contract guarantees
Clark 5 percent annual raises on a base salary of $230,000. Also, he is
eligible to earn performance-based bonuses at the discretion of the board
equivalent of up to 30 percent of his salary, according to contract documents.
A recent Times-Union analysis
found Clark's salary to be higher than that of his counterparts in Miami,
Orlando, Tampa and West Palm Beach.
Cobb declined to discuss the
Denver position's salary, saying it will be subject to negotiation.
If hired, Clark would be in
charge of an airport known as the fifth-busiest in the nation and 10th-busiest
worldwide, according to passenger numbers recorded by Airports Council
International, a trade group.
Clark has been instrumental in
expanding Jacksonville International Airport, which is expecting to see its
annual passenger load rise roughly 33 percent to 8 million by 2015.
The Airports Council study says
47.3 million passengers used Denver International Airport in 2006. Flight data
released Wednesday by the Federal Aviation Administration ranked Denver
International the nation's sixth-busiest airport with nearly 610,000 takeoffs
and landings.
Jacksonville International, with
an estimated 157,000 annual flight operations, did not make the list, which
ranked 50 airports. But the four airports Clark oversees - including Craig,
Herlong and Cecil Field - combine as the sites of nearly 469,000 commercial and
general aviation takeoffs and landings, said authority spokesman Michael
Stewart.
david.hunt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
(904) 359-4025
New horizon?
Running Denver International
Airport would be a move upward for Jacksonville Aviation Authority Executive
Director John Clark, based on several comparative figures.
Denver
Jacksonville
Number of passengers 47.3 million
6.3 million
Takeoffs and landings 609,522
157,000
Economic impact $15.3 billion
$1.7 billion
