Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Little Rock airport executive director’s salary $230,000
The new boss at the state’s largest airport will draw a $230,000 salary, which is less than his predecessor but still makes him the highest-paid public official in Little Rock.
Bryan Malinowski, executive director at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field, will work under a rolling threeyear contract with annual reviews in which he would be eligible for raises, bonuses and additional contributions to his retirement plans, according to the employment agreement the Little Rock Municipal Airport Commission approved Tuesday.
The arrangement is similar to the one under which Ron Mathieu, Malinowski’s predecessor, worked. Mathieu drew an annual salary of almost $236,000 when he left in May to lead Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport in Alabama. His annual salary there is $300,000.
The agreement was negotiated by a team that included Jesse Mason, the commission chairman; Mark Williams, the airport’s personnel director; and Carolyn Witherspoon, the airport’s outside counsel.
Its approval comes a week after the commission selected Malinowski following a nationwide search by ADK Consulting and Executive Search of Atlantic Beach, Fla., that attracted 43 applicants.
Malinowski, who was Mathieu’s deputy and served as the airport’s acting executive director upon Mathieu’s departure, was one of three finalists the commission interviewed for the post.
The other finalists were Martha Hernandez, an assistant vice president at Dallas/Fort
Worth International Airport, and Craig Williams, former director at Bishop Airport in Flint, Mich.
The commission met privately Tuesday, as state law allows, for less than 30 minutes before the commission approved the compensation package without discussions in back-to-back unanimous 7-0 votes.
“I look forward to serving as your new executive director and I appreciate your confidence and appreciate your consideration of the contract terms,” Malinowski said after the votes.
When the commission named Malinowski as interim executive director on May 31, it boosted his annual salary 7%, to $216,215, while he served dual roles.
He is among a handful of Little Rock public officials with annual salaries exceeding $200,000. They include Tad Bohannon, chief executive officer of Central Arkansas Water, who was granted a 3% raise early this year for an annual salary of $202,135.
Jon Swanson, executive director of Metropolitan Emergency Medical Services, which provides ambulance service in central Arkansas but is governed by the Little Rock Ambulance Authority, and Greg Ramon, chief executive officer of the Little Rock Water Reclamation Authority, also draw annual salaries of more than $200,000.
Malinowski has been at Clinton National since 2008, when Mathieu hired him as the properties, planning and development director. He became deputy executive director a year later.
He was Mathieu’s top lieutenant as Mathieu engineered a turnaround of the airport’s finances that left hefty balance sheets and no debt while pushing through a series of projects totaling $90 million to modernize the airport’s passenger terminal.
Malinowski’s selection comes as passenger traffic continues to rebound at Clinton National after years of falling numbers. The airport had 2.1 million passengers in 2018, a 5.5% rise over the previous year.
The airport, which is an independently run city agency that uses no city general revenue, has a $34.9 million annual operating budget and employs more than 150 people.
Malinowski, 49, a Pennsylvania native, has more than 25 years of experience as an airport executive. He previously served in executive positions at Fort Lauderdale International Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; El Paso International Airport in El Paso, Texas; and Lehigh Valley International Airport in Allentown, Pa.