TPA CEO Joe Lopano will be inducted into the 2024 Florida Transportation Hall of Fame
The University of South Florida’s Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) announced today that Tampa International Airport CEO Joe Lopano has been chosen as the 2024 Florida Transportation Hall of Fame inductee.
Lopano will accept the award during the CUTR Transportation Achievement Awards ceremony and dinner on October 29, 2024, at the Marshall Student Center. Florida’s Transportation Hall of Fame was established in 2003 as an annual award recognizing esteemed individuals who have made significant contributions to Florida’s transportation industry and infrastructure.
Each year, the CUTR Advisory Board, part of the University of South Florida’s College of Engineering, selects an inductee who has displayed significant leadership, character, insight and innovation throughout their distinguished career in Florida transportation. Past recipients include FDOT Secretary Ananth Prasad (2023), former Florida Transportation Commision Chair Ron Howse (2022) and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer (2016).
Lopano will be the Hall of Fame's first recipient to represent the aviation industry.
“It is truly an honor to be recognized as a new inductee among some of the brightest minds in Florida transportation,” Lopano said. “I’m proud of my team for the hard work and innovation we’ve poured into Tampa International Airport over the last 13 years together and the impact we have made in our region and state. This award belongs to all of us at TPA, and to those who have supported us along the way.”
Lopano was hired to lead TPA in January 2011. With more than 40 years of commercial aviation experience, including 14 years as Executive Vice President for Marketing and Terminal Management at the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, he arrived in Tampa at a crucial time of growth for TPA and the Tampa Bay area.
Under Lopano’s leadership, TPA and the Aviation Authority implemented a successful incentive program that attracted new international routes such as Edelweiss Air to Zurich, Copa Airlines to Panama City, Lufthansa (now Discover Airlines) to Frankfurt and Virgin Atlantic to London Heathrow. The Airport also completed several major expansion projects, including a new Rental Car Center and SkyConnect train system, the Blue Express Curbsides and a concessions redevelopment program that brought several local brands to TPA’s shops and restaurants. Lopano also helped the Airport navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused a more than 90 percent drop in business, followed by a rapid recovery and record passenger numbers by 2023. TPA is currently constructing the Red Express Curbsides and will break ground this year on a new fifth terminal, Airside D, to open in 2028.
Throughout the growth and changes, TPA has not only maintained its stellar reputation globally, but it has thrived. TPA was named America’s Favorite Airport by J.D. Power two years in a row (2022-2023).
Induction to the Florida Transportation Hall of FameTM will add to Lopano’s many past awards and honors. He received the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council’s 2022 Herman W. Goldner award for Regional Leadership and the Tampa Bay Chamber’s 2019 H.L. Culbreath Jr. Profile in Leadership award. The Florida Department of Transportation named Lopano the Airport Director of the Year in 2021 and the Aviation Professional of the Year in 2015.
Lopano is currently the Chair of the Tampa Bay Economic Development Council and serves on the board of Hillsborough County Transportation Planning Organization. He is also a member of the Tony Jannus Distinguished Aviation Society and a past Honorary Commander at MacDill Air Force Base.
