{"id":22047,"date":"2022-05-10T13:25:40","date_gmt":"2022-05-10T13:25:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saj.pachecostudios.com?p=22047"},"modified":"2022-05-10T13:25:44","modified_gmt":"2022-05-10T13:25:44","slug":"james-stephens-to-take-the-reins-at-greenville-downtown-airport-in-october","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/state-news\/south-carolina\/james-stephens-to-take-the-reins-at-greenville-downtown-airport-in-october\/%20","title":{"rendered":"James Stephens to Take the Reins at Greenville Downtown Airport in October"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

James Stephens will be stepping down from his current role as\nExecutive Director of the South Carolina Aeronautics Commission to take the\nreins of the Greenville Downtown Airport (GMU) in October. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
James Stephens<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Stephens, who has directed the Commission for eight years,\nalso sits on the board of directors as Treasurer for the National Association\nof State Aviation Officials (NASAO). He will finish out his term for that\norganization in September, which coincides with NASAO\u2019s Annual Conference and\nTrade Show being held in Greenville on September 10-14.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen the opportunity came, I was originally asked about\nbeginning at GMU in August,\u201d said Stephens. \u201cThat is before the NASAO Annual\nConference, and I felt that I needed to maintain my commitment to host the\nannual conference. After discussing that with the airport, it was agreed that I\ncould start in October.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephens, who became the director of the South Carolina Aeronautics\nCommission on July 1, 2014, shared with the State Aviation Journal, that his years\nworking with other state aviation directors has been extremely valuable to him.  Before taking the position with the Commission,\nhe had experience as an airport manager along with other aviation related jobs,\nbut none fully prepared him for being a director of a state aviation agency. \u201cMy\ntime with other directors has given me an education, accountability, and\nresources that added to the ability to be successful as a director,\u201d said\nStephens. \u201cThese years have shaped me and provided me with a better\nunderstanding of how our industry is developed at the state and national level.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Stephens, left with NBAA’s Ed Bolen during the NASAO Washington Conference in 2017.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

During his tenure at the Commission, Stephens said he\u2019s been\nfortunate to have had the opportunity to work for a very stable\nCommission.  \u201cMy Chairman (Delphin Gantt,\nJr.) has been Chairman since before my time with the Commission, and he has\nbeen the most stabilizing factor on the Commission,\u201d said Stephens. \u201cThe terms\nof those that serve are staggered, and as such, can cause turmoil as\nindividuals come and go. Collectively, we\u2019ve worked to stabilize our State\nAviation Fund, extend Commissioner terms from only serving one to allowing for\ntwo, and we\u2019ve been successful in gathering support within the legislature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greenville Downtown Airport is the busiest and largest\ngeneral aviation airport in South Carolina, and Stephens states that he\u2019s\nlooking forward to working to maintain that status with the help of the FBO\u2019s,\ntenants, numerous flight schools and businesses that call GMU home.  \u201cThe potential for a runway extension and\nproperty development are in the near future and working with the airport\nleadership towards the accomplishment of these goals is one of the major things\nthat I look forward to being part of.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James Stephens will be stepping down from his current role as Executive Director of the South Carolina Aeronautics Commission to take the reins of the Greenville Downtown Airport (GMU) in October. Stephens, who has directed the Commission for eight years, also sits on the board of directors as Treasurer for the National Association of State […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-south-carolina"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22047"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22050,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22047\/revisions\/22050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}