- December 4, 2025
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If airports are all about making connections, Paul Hoback has a head start prior to assuming the title of president and CEO of Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport in October.
As a youngster, his grandmother lived in Zephyrhills. He had an uncle who lived in St. Petersburg. Many summers and vacations were spent in the area, including Siesta Key. Later, his sister lived in Fort Myers for a decade.
Starting Oct. 20, Hoback will follow in the footsteps of Rick Piccolo, who for three decades led SRQ first through a transition of governance, then out of a debt of tens of millions of dollars and finally through a half-decade of necessary facilities expansion to keep pace with a mid-and post-pandemic explosion in passenger growth from fewer than 2 million to more than 4 million and climbing.
Meanwhile, Hoback spent his entire 25-year career in aviation helping guide Pittsburgh International Airport through the loss of its USAirways midsize hub status, serving some 21 million passengers in 2000 to just more than 7 million in the years following.
Today, PIT serves nearly 10 million flyers as — like SRQ — an origin and destination airport. As executive vice president and chief development officer, Hoback has led a $1.7 billion transformation of its passenger terminal, baggage handling system, structured parking addition and more.
While Hoback was overseeing the renaissance of PIT, Piccolo spearheaded the growth of SRQ. In partnership with the Sarasota-Manatee Airport Authority, since 2020 the airport added hundreds of surface parking spaces, guided the construction of the new Concourse A that opened in January 2025, the installation of a new and more efficient baggage handling system and planning for a parking reformation that will eventually include a multi-level deck for passenger parking and rental car operations.
In other words, the two airports are on a somewhat parallel track and, if it needs to happen at SRQ, Hoback has probably already done it at PIT.
“We started a master plan process to really reimagine our facilities, because we were not that hub anymore. And that was okay. We are going to be the best origin and destination airport we can be,” Hoback said of PIT’s de-hubbing and reimagining. “We knew we needed to have facilities that would enable us to have a great customer experience, have that ease of use and because we had aging infrastructure that wasn't maintained for many years.”
To achieve that objective, Hoback led the terminal modernization program, a $155 million airside renovations effort, and strategic direction for all other capital development projects at both PIT and the Allegheny County Airport in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania.
The similarities between PIT and SRQ, he said, are many.
“I see a growing facility. I heard from the board, from Rick and from team members I talked to that it is so important for that region to make sure that you continue to have that family feel, that boutique feel, that small airport feel but have facilities that are going to be able to match the growth and be able to still provide that that exceptional customer experience. That's what I've been living the last 12 years up here in Pittsburgh. I believe I can bring what I've learned here into that role and leading the airport.”
As a lifelong Pennsylvanian, Hoback’s move is more than a professional one. It also represents a significant change in latitude, from a city with three major professional sports franchises to one with none. From a view of the Allegheny Mountains to one of the Sarasota Bay.
“The next logical step, especially after this project, was I'd love to run my own airport. I'd love to be part of something special,” Hoback said. “As soon as the headhunter approached me about this job, I just saw so much opportunity. What an act to follow and to be able to help cement the legacy that (Piccolo) helped create and the board there has helped create and the incredible region that is is really growing. It’s so special.”
Synergies between Pittsburgh and Sarasota extend beyond growing and thriving origin and destination airports. They also include the Pittsburgh Pirates spring training in Bradenton — “Half of Pittsburgh typically travels down there, especially that time of the year,” Hoback said — plus the Pirates’ Bradenton Marauders Class-A Advanced minor league baseball team.
Hoback said he has heard multiple stories of connections between the Steel City and the Suncoast area.
In addition to familiarity, Sarasota’s thriving arts and cultural community were attractive to the 50-year-old Hoback and his wife, Amy, who have been together since age 15. Their 19-year-old son, Cannon, is a sophomore at Arizona State University.
“My family is everything to me,” he said. “That’s why I do what I do.”
As he researched his prospective new home during the interview process, the area’s superlatives became more apparent.
“The best place to live, the best places to work, the best place to do business, the best place to visit and everything kept speaking to me about paradise,” Hoback said. “It was a no-brainer. I wanted it.”
Hoback will officially start here 17 days after the scheduled gala to celebrate the finishing touches of terminal and other facilities improvements at PIT. Meanwhile at SRQ, passenger experience enhancements in Concourse B and in the passenger terminal are nearing completion, including upgraded food and beverage options.
“They have an excellent master plan with triggers that that need to be implemented and executed when growth hits certain numbers," Hoback said. “I’d love to get down there, roll up my sleeves, get into that master plan and figure out how we continue to elevate year after year. It is so important to have a front door to that region that they truly deserve and that reflects the community. I see that in SRQ.”
Piccolo will remain for an additional six weeks in a consulting role to help facilitate the leadership transition. Hoback will inherit a master plan that would ultimately include further expansion of Concourse A, an overhead connector between concourses A and B, construction of a Concourse C and a four-level parking structure at the current location of short-term and rental car parking, similar to one recently built at PIT.
“I can't wait to get down there and learn everything I can and be that sponge working closely with Rick,” Hoback said. “The transition is so important … and we’ve already started. We're in constant communication with each other now and making sure that he's helping prepare me. I'm really looking forward to learning everything I can from him. I couldn't be more fortunate to have been given the opportunity to lead the airport after all the amazing work that Rick has done.
“It's such an honor.”
