The Santa Maria Public Airport has finally found its new chief administrative officer.

Chris Hastert, most recently deputy director of Ventura County Airports, was named general manager of the Santa Maria Public Airport Tuesday after a long search that began early this year.

Hastert, who will begin his new role Oct. 14, has worked the past 11 years at Ventura County Airports which includes the Camarillo and Oxnard airports.

His duties included the development and management of over 75 commercial leases, 192 county hangar license agreements, 251 private hangar license agreements, 184 aircraft tie down license agreements, and several properties planned for development.

He was manager of the Oxnard Airport at the time of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

A California native, Hastert was born in Granada Hills and grew up in Simi Valley. Hastert and his wife of nine years, Katherine, have two sons ages 4 and 1. They moved to Santa Maria this past weekend.

“My family and I feel incredibly fortunate to have this opportunity to work and live in such a nice community. I am eager to get settled in and start working,” Hastert said in a statement.

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Hastert served in the U.S. Army from 1991 to 1996 at several Army airfields in the U.S. and overseas.

He holds a private pilot's license and is an active member of several professional organizations, including the American Association of Airport Executives, Southwest Chapter of the American Association of Airport Executives, Association of California Airports, Western Region Airport Property Managers, and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

He is completing his degree in aviation management from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University.

One of the challenges in hiring a general manager was finding a candidate willing to move to California at a time when the housing market is problematic, according to board President Don Lahr.

“Nobody wanted to move,” Lahr said Tuesday.

Lahr said the nine-month search process was sometimes “amazingly frustrating.” Shortly after former General Manager Gary Rice retired earlier this year, airport officials said that after four months they had narrowed the field to one candidate, who later accepted a job that pays more money at a bigger airport.

“We didn't think it was going to be nearly as challenging as it was,” Lahr said.

Veroneka Reade, the airport's manager of finance and administration, served as interim manager during the search.

Hastert's experience in Ventura, military and pilot background, and most importantly his relationship with local Federal Aviation Administration put him at the top of their list

“He seems to fit our airport to a ‘T,'” Lahr said.

Hastert joins the airport at a time when longtime plans call for developing airport land south of the airfield, with plans for a business park and golf course.

The project, named the Santa Maria Airport Business Park, has raised concerns from mobile-home park residents located within the planning area about how and when their park would be closed.

”I hope to develop a plan that addresses the actual needs of the residents, the FAA and the SM Airport within a reasonable timeline,” Hastert said in statement.

In recent years, the airport has struggled to increase its passenger flights while expanding the terminal to handle bigger groups of people and larger planes.

Santa Maria's airport is somewhat rare because it is operated by a special district, not a city or county. It is governed by a five-member board of directors who are elected to four-year terms.

Julian J. Ramos can be reached at 739-2219 or at jramos@santamariatimes.com.

October 8, 2008