The Little Rock Airport Commission today unanimously chose Interim Airport Director Bryan Malinowski as executive director of Clinton National Airport. He succeeds Ron Mathieu, who took a job in Birmingham in June.
Malinowski, 49, came to Little Rock in 2008 as director of properties, planning and development and was promoted to deputy executive director the following year.
The Commission also interviewed two other finalists chosen by a search firm: Martha Hernandez, an assistant vice president of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Craig Williams, former director of Bishop Airport in Flint, Michigan.
The Commission will negotiate terms of Malinowski’s new position. He currently makes $216,216. The airport director has long been the highest paid city employee, though he’s a city employee only by dint of appointment by the Airport Commission, which is in turn appointed by the mayor. No city revenue supports the airport. Mathieu was making $235,000 when he left, plus a $45,000 bonus in his last year.