Congratulations Maggie, an EXCELLENT CHOICE!
Michael A. Giardino
Work experience: Brockport manager/treasurer, October 2011-present; executive officer/deputy commander U.S. Naval Air Station, Key West, Fla., 2007-11; section head/Special Air Operations, Ramstein, Germany, and director of air operations and leader planner, Afghanistan, 2004-07; operations analyst section head/Chief of Naval Operations, Pentagon, Washington, D.C., 2001-04; U.S. Navy officer, 26 years.
Education: Master’s degree, U.S. Naval War College; bachelor’s, The College at Brockport; graduate of Charlotte High School.
Family: Wife, Janice; and two sons.
Retired Navy pilot named airport director
Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks said Michael Giardino was chosen from among more than 100 applicants.
- Feb. 21, 2012
Michael Giardino supervised NATO allied command air operations in Afghanistan. He was a Pentagon research analyst and, before his retirement from the Navy in September, the former helicopter pilot was second in command of the sprawling naval air station in Key West, Fla.
In other words, he is nothing like his two predecessors at the Greater Rochester International Airport, which he was appointed to lead on Tuesday by Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks.
Citing his extensive experience in aviation and financial and emergency management, and referring to him by his rank of commander, Brooks said Giardino is both “eminently qualified and tremendously prepared” for the job of director.
“Commander Giardino’s breadth of knowledge and expertise, accumulated over a decorated career of service in the Navy, certainly make him a tailor-made candidate to lead our airport,” Brooks said during a morning news conference inside the terminal.
Giardino, 49, a Rochester native who returned to the city upon retiring from the Navy last year and is currently the village of Brockport manager and treasurer, said of the airport, “This is the place where I first fell in love with aviation.”
He is expected to assume his new role within 30 days, and he said he has submitted a letter of resignation to Brockport. His appointment will be considered for confirmation by the Monroe County Legislature in April, according to a county spokesman.
Giardino replaces Susan Walsh, who resigned under pressure seven weeks ago following her arrest on a charge of drunken driving while behind the wheel of a county-owned vehicle.
Walsh, who had been the county’s budget director prior to leading the airport, stepped down a year to the day she was appointed to replace David Damelio, a former Republican leader from Penfield, who also resigned under pressure amid revelations that he spent thousands of airport dollars on tobacco, alcohol and adult entertainment.
Neither Walsh nor Damelio had any aviation experience prior to their appointments by Brooks, who had been criticized for not casting beyond her administration and party faithful to fill the job. The criticism intensified in the wake of their unceremonious departures.
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