AIRPORT CHANGES INCLUDE A RELATIVELY NEW BOARD

Since its inception more than four decades ago, the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport has borne the transition from a tiny, undeveloped airstrip to a modern facility able to service aviation needs and spawn industrial development.

The most recent change is the imminent completion of a project to renovate the terminal building.

Correspondingly, the citizens' board that oversees airport operations has yielded to change ... with its most seasoned members appointed only three years ago.

One of those veterans, William Walker, is the new chairman of the Cape Girardeau Airport Advisory Board.

Walker and Allan Maki Jr. both were appointed to the board in July 1990 at a time when several board members were long-time Cape Girardeau aviators.

Today, the average tenure of the seven board members is about 18 months. Not only are the board members relatively new, a few have no aviation background.

Walker said he welcomes both traits. He said the new board won't be restricted to concerns for general aviation, but will concentrate on economic development.

"I don't think the direction of the board has changed so much," he said. "I think you've got, to some extent, a new group of volunteers. I think, at this point, the focus of the board and the city management needs to be on economic and industrial development."

With only one airline serving the airport, the board is unable to put all its aviation eggs in the basket of airline service. Instead, economic development and the linking of air transportation with interstate highway, rail and river transportation must take precedence.

"That expansion of airline service is not going to happen until there's some reason to do it," Walker said.

The airport board members are well qualified to work to that end, he added. The members include:

Maki, who previously worked as executive director of the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority in Scott City. In that position, he dealt with the "intermodal" transportation issues the airport shares.

A graduate of Yale University and Tulane University School of Law, Maki is a member of several associations and clubs that focus on transportation and development.

20Walker, an associate professor of finance at Southeast Missouri State University, is a former Marine Corps naval aviator. He also owned his own aerial application business and has been chairman of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce Air Transportation Committee.

Walker has a bachelor's degree in professional aviation with a minor in airport administration. He also has a master's degree and doctorate in business administration.

Steve Nesler, appointed to the board in December 1990, is a retail counselor for Malone and Hyde Co. He is a private pilot and past president of the Cape Girardeau Pilots Club.

20Daniel Overbey, appointed to the board in April 1992, is the current executive director of the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority. He previously worked as a real estate representative for Drury Development Corp.

His background primarily is in development and economic growth. He has a master's degree in business administration from the University of Texas and a bachelor's degree in business management from Southeast Missouri State University.

J. Fred Waltz, appointed in April 1992, is a local attorney whose background is less tied to aviation as it is to community development. Waltz received his law degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

20Steve Robertson, appointed in September 1992, owns and operates Robertson's Creative Photography. He's also an instrument-rated pilot and aircraft owner, and he has public affairs experience as a newspaper reporter and photographer and a public affairs officer for the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army.

Robertson received a bachelor's degree in photography with a minor in business administration from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

20Michael Wandrick, the newest board member appointed last month, is a broker for Century 21 Key Realty in Cape Girardeau. He has a long aviation background with 35 years experience in airport and airline operations with the Federal Aviation Administration.

Among the positions he held with the FAA are air traffic controller, supervisor, manager, air traffic specialist at FAA headquarters, and alternate air defense liaison officer at the North American Air Defense Command at Colorado Springs, Colo.

After retiring from the FAA, Wandrick worked with an aviation consulting firm in California, where his specialty was airport and air traffic activities. His work assignments ranged from building airports throughout the world to litigation involving aircraft accidents.

Walker said the board is committed to the airport and to devising ways to spur its development. And with a new airport manager, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Randy Holdman, starting work June 1, Walker said he's excited at the prospects for the municipal airport.

"I think we've got really a quality manager, and I'm excited about that asset," he said. "At this point, it's a matter of getting all the horses in harness."