Top exec chosen for Albany International Airport

PHOTOGRAPHER: Marc Schultz

The inside of the Albany Internal Airport is pictured in June.

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COLONIE — The Albany County Airport Authority board has chosen the authority’s new CEO.

Philip Calderone, the deputy Albany County executive, will take over before the end of November. John O’Donnell, a member of airport management since 1996 and CEO since 2003, announced in July that he would retire to spend more time with his family.

Calderone is an Albany native who graduated from Siena College in 1977 and Albany Law School in 1981. He has held various roles in the region’s public and private sectors, including a 17-year stint as deputy mayor of Albany, and also has extensive experience serving on civic boards.

The authority board received more than 50 applications for the CEO post after a nationwide recruiting push and narrowed the field down to seven finalists whom it interviewed. It announced its selection of Calderone on Thursday.

His annual salary will be $185,000.

Albany International Airport averages more than 50 commercial arrivals and 50 departures a day, and roughly 1.5 million people are projected to board planes there in 2019.

It has been the scene of heavy construction this year, with a new 1,000-space garage under construction, significant terminal improvements and reconfiguration of perennially congested area where Wolf Road, Albany-Shaker Road and the Northway come together southeast of the airport.

This last project will culminate in quicker access between the airport and the Northway via the long-awaited Exit 3.