Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato plans to overhaul Pittsburgh International Airport’s governing body with a trio of local public figures.
Innamorato has nominated State Sen. Devlin Robinson, Exus Renewables President and CEO Jim Spencer and Pittsburgh Cultural Trust President and CEO Kendra Whitlock Ingram to join the Allegheny County Airport Authority’s nine-member board.
The county executive nominates each board member, and the board is responsible for hiring the airport’s executive leadership and approving budget items.
Robinson, a Republican from Bridgeville, has represented the 37th District in the Pennsylvania Senate since 2020 and serves as vice chair of its transportation committee.
Spencer, whose company specializes in renewable energy and asset management, sits on several other local boards, including the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh and the Andy Warhol Museum.
Whitlock serves as a board member for Highmark, Duquesne University and the Broadway League, a collection of over 700 entertainment industry professionals based in New York City.
Allegheny County’s Committee on Appointment Review introduced the three nominees during Tuesday night’s county council meeting. If approved, each nominee would serve through Dec. 31, 2030.
But the nominees still have some legislative hurdles to clear.
The committee – which comprises all 15 county council members as a so-called “committee of the whole” – now has to schedule a vote to send the nominations to council itself, according to Jared Barker, Allegheny County’s Chief Clerk and Director of Legislative Services. The council’s 45-day clock to vote on the nominees began on Tuesday and expires on July 14.
Barker said the nominees would be automatically confirmed if the council failed to schedule a vote, but added members “will undertake great efforts to avoid having that happen.”
The nominees will need a simple majority of votes from committee members present at the meeting to proceed to council. They will then need at least 8 of the 15 council votes to be confirmed.
The Committee on Appointment Review is responsible for voting on a wide variety of county government nominees, including the Independent Police Review Board and Allegheny County Sanitary Authority.
Innamorato’s office did not respond to a request for comment regarding her rationale for her nominations.