Meet the new chairman, same as the old chairman.
At a Tuesday, March 26 meeting, the Piedmont Triad Airport Authority selected its next chairman: Koury Corp. President Steve Showfety, who currently serves as chairman and will now be entering his sixth straight year in that role.
The Airport Authority didn’t vote on the chairman – that will happen in the authority’s April meeting – however, at the March 26 meeting, the authority took nominations for the job and only one name was mentioned.
Technically, before the vote in the April meeting, some other authority member could throw his or her hat in the ring in a last-minute power grab, but the chance of that happening is next to zero and, even if that person did so, they would lose on a 6-to-1 vote.
All of the other authority members at the March 26 meeting said that they didn’t want the job and the only absent member had sent in an email that stated he supported Showfety.
The Airport Authority, which oversees and orchestrates airport operations, and has the final say over the roughly $30-million budget each year, is a high-profile board that many citizens want to serve on – and being chairman of that board is a real honor, especially if that’s done six times in a row.
In early 2018, there was some controversy as to whether or not the Guilford County Board of Commissioners would reappoint Showfety to the authority. He had already served on it for years, many others wanted a seat on the authority, and, at that time, the authority was planning on changing the name of Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA) – and some Guilford County commissioners were perturbed that the commissioners (or virtually anyone else for that matter) weren’t consulted on that decision. However, Showfety was placed back on the authority and it now appears, as though he may be chairman of that board for as long as he’s on it.
