When Joe Lopano looked over the main terminal at Tampa International Airport in January 2011, the newly appointed CEO was not impressed.

“Should I use the word I’m thinking of?” he said, pausing thoughtfully in a recent interview with the Tampa Bay Times. “It sucked.”

But the shortcomings were a welcome template for Lopano, who longed for his own airport after 14 years as No. 2 at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. He convinced his interviewers that, despite having no experience as a CEO, he could lead the region’s travel hub to success.

“I was the only one who applied for the job who had never been a CEO before,” Lopano said. “I said, ‘Someone has to make you CEO. You are not born a CEO.'”

Thirteen years later, Lopano has ushered in changes that local politicians are raving about. A new rental car center. The start of an international terminal, scheduled to open in 2028. Coveted flights from South America, Europe and the West Coast. A revitalized main terminal adorned with a towering statue of a pink flamingo (named Phoebe) and a new wave of local vendors in the airport area like Columbia Restaurant, Buddy Brew Coffee and Mise en Place.

Now Lopano leaves the airport behind.

In February, he announced that he would retire in April 2025 when his contract expires. Since then, he has experienced no shortage of rewards and praise: this year he received over $1.1 million in salary, more than ever before.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever met anyone who is a better leader,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said in August.

It wasn’t always like this. Lopano remembers that in the beginning there were more doubters than cheerleaders.

He took over at a sensitive time. His predecessor, Louis Miller, had abruptly resigned the year before when his decisions for the airport drew pressure from his superiors, the board members of the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority. Lopano remembers encountering the same skepticism.

“Here’s a new guy who just came in and thinks he can do X, Y, Z. (I was) red meat,” he said.

Miller had been annoyed by a federal aviation board member’s plan to expand Tampa International’s meager international flight offerings, enabling Tampa to compete with much larger airports in Orlando and Miami. But what got Lopano the job, in his view, was his confident answer to the question, “Can you offer international flights?”

“Yes,” he said.

And Lopano wasted no time. He wooed airline executives with a new message: Tampa was not a sleepy town of just over 300,000, he told them. It was the “gateway to Florida’s west coast,” a booming region with millions of residents and dozens of opportunities within an hour’s drive. Orlando, Sarasota and Naples were all destinations that Tampa International could offer tourists, businesspeople and residents.

The The advertising raised doubts, said Janet Scherberger, Lopano’s communications director from the beginning of his tenure until her retirement in 2020. Some wondered what Lopano would have to show for all his fancy dinners with airline executives.

International flights

The first reward came after six months in office. Lopano secured a non-stop flight with Edelweiss Air to Zurich with the help of his deputy Chris Minner, whom he had brought with him from Dallas. Lopano remembers hugging Minner with joy.

“People saw this big, old, wide (airplane) body on the ground and thought, ‘Maybe, right? Maybe this could work,'” he said. “And then another one came along, and another one, and the doubters went under the bed.”

The first few years of Lopano’s tenure saw a flood of new flights. For him, it was all a numbers game, Scherberger said. Where were people flying to and from Tampa? Where were there no nonstop flights? Who could he convince?

In December 2013, Copa Airlines began offering flights to Panama City—“the gateway to South America,” according to Tampa International. In June 2014, Alaska Airlines launched a flight to Seattle.

In 2015, Lopano achieved his greatest success: Lufthansa flew for the first time from Tampa to Frankfurt, the gateway to Europe. Two years later, United Airlines opened a direct connection to San Francisco.

More victories followed later. Portland, Oregon was added to Alaska’s schedule in 2021. That year, Aeromexico began daily direct flights to Mexico City.

Redesign of the airport

Lopano didn’t just want flights. He wanted an airport that looked “modern and cool” — and Tampa International in 2011 wasn’t that, he said. The main terminal was crowded with boxy storefronts. Car rentals were split between an on-site facility that crowded the main terminal and an off-site garage.

This is how the masterstroke began that has characterized Lopano’s tenure. The first groundbreaking for the three-part plan took place a decade ago.

In 2018, the first phase opened with an expansion and redesign of the main terminal, 69 restaurants and shops, and a rental car center. The SkyConnect train, built by Mitsubishi, could take customers to the new center in less than five minutes, where they would find 16 companies and up to 5,300 vehicles.

With 5,000 square meters more space, the main terminal appeared open, airy and bright. Everything Lopano wanted.

But the changes didn’t end there. One thing Lopano is personally proud of is the 25,000-square-foot SkyCenter One office building where he works, with a prime view of planes taking off over the sparkling Tampa Bay. Before SkyCenter, which opened in 2021, the site served as Storage for accident vehicles.

“They were parked here in such a morbid way. Every now and then I would drive by and say, ‘Oh, that was a bad car,'” Lopano said.

Lopano has put another vision into action. Now, a pair of binoculars sits on a table in his office, ready to capture a particularly beautiful jet gliding through the sky.

Handing over the reins

Lopano, 69, has big plans for his retirement. He will split his time between Indian Rocks Beach and Dallas, with a few months in Italy and Hawaii in between. He hopes to rediscover his Italian roots. Spend time with his six grandchildren. Hide out in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with a black-and-white film camera and rekindle his passion for photography.

But before that happens, Lopano has to finish a year-long farewell tour.

“The way you walk counts,” he said.

Lopano will hand the pinnacle of his plan for the airport – the Airside D international terminal – over to the hands of a successor. A battle is already underway among four of Lopano’s executive vice presidents, including Minner. Fortunately, Lopano says, it’s not his decision.

He said the next CEO should embody a motto he often repeats: “Enabling greatness in others.”

Scherberger, a former reporter for the Tampa Bay Times, scoffed at the phrase when Lopano first uttered it in a 2011 interview.

“I just thought, ‘Really? Is that the truth?'” Scherberger said. “But he really does.”

Lopano made employee-focused changes as soon as he took office. He allowed his employees to give presentations at aviation authority meetings. He had all employees set goals for the year. Scherberger thanks Lopano for helping him achieve a personal goal: quitting smoking.

Ken Atwater, president of Hillsborough Community College, said that in addition to Lopano’s New York accent, he will miss Lopano’s dedication to mutual success. When the airport needed staff for SkyConnect, Lopano hired Atwater’s students.

“I want to see a different Joe,” Atwater said.

Last Wednesday, Lopano stopped by his old office in the airport’s main terminal, where the operation is now located. He went from room to room, greeting each employee and asking how he could help.

“Are you hot?” he asked. The staff nodded in agreement. “We need air conditioning here.”

He dialed a number as he walked out. “Hey, do you have a minute?”

Minutes later, pleasant, cool air flowed over the employees’ backs.