ST. LOUIS — Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge, the director of St. Louis Lambert International Airport since 2010, will continue in that key post, Mayor Tishaura O. Jones announced Friday.
Jones also said she has decided to keep six other holdover agency directors from the administration of Lyda Krewson, whom she succeeded as mayor.
They are Parks Director Greg Hayes, Board of Public Service president Richard Bradley, Public Utilities Director Curtis Skouby, Assessor Michael Dauphin, Planning and Urban Design Director Don Roe and April Ford Griffin, a former alderman who is executive director of the Affordable Housing Commission.
Hamm-Niebruegge, a former airline executive here, was originally appointed by Krewson’s predecessor as mayor, Francis Slay.
She has worked to improve Lambert and expand flights and presided over the airport during the pandemic-spurred slowdown in air travel last year.
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She also was in the odd position of managing Lambert while Krewson and other city officials considered and ultimately rejected leasing Lambert to private operators.
Some of the other directors retained Thursday by Jones have worked for the city in various capacities for decades. Bradley, for example, started with the city in 1988 and has headed the public service agency since 2009.
Jones, who took office on April 20, announced several other key hires previously. Among them were this week’s nomination of bank manager Neal Richardson to be executive director of the city’s top development agency, and the appointment of union official Nick Desideri as Jones’ communications director.
But the mayor still has numerous other personnel decisions to make.
Among jobs yet to be filled are the directors of health, human services, streets, community development, employment and training and civil rights enforcement.
The mayor also hasn’t said whom she will pick to be municipal court judges or supply commissioner.
A Jones spokesman, Nick Dunne, said Krewson administration holdovers still in those posts during the current transition can apply along with others for the jobs.
Jones also has yet to appoint a permanent city counselor, although she tapped ex-Krewson development official Matt Moak to hold that post on an interim basis.
The mayor has said she also intends to name a deputy mayor for racial equity and community engagement. Krewson had a similar position on her staff during part of her four-year tenure.
Two of Jones’ better-known appointments are interim Public Safety Director Dan Isom, a former St. Louis police chief, and his deputy, Heather Taylor, who formerly headed a minority police officers’ organization here.
Originally posted Friday at 4:30 p.m.
