MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The board that governs Memphis International Airport was dissolved and replaced on July 1 under a state law that moves the majority of its appointments from Memphis and Shelby County to officials in Nashville.
The Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority announced its new nine-member Board of Commissioners on July 22. Under Public Chapter No. 978, the old seven-member board was vacated and reconstituted effective July 1.
The arithmetic is the story. Before the law, MSCAA had seven commissioners: five appointed by the Memphis mayor and two by the Shelby County mayor. Every seat was local. The new board has nine: two named by the speaker of the state House, two by the speaker of the state Senate, two by the governor, and three by the Memphis mayor.
Memphis went from naming five of seven to three of nine. Shelby County went from two seats to none.
The law began as House Bill 2507 and Senate Bill 2473, sponsored by House Speaker Cameron Sexton of Crossville and Senator Paul Bailey of Sparta. In committee, Bailey argued the state spends millions supporting Tennessee airports with minimal local funding, putting the figure at roughly $50 million across all of them. Senator Heidi Campbell of Nashville cast the only committee vote against, saying the bill takes away local control.
The new commissioners are Belinda Anderson, Pamela Clary, Captain Albert Glenn, Michael Keeney, David McKinney, Demar Roberts, Mayor Rhea "Skip" Taylor, Craig Weiss and Jack Sammons. Five served on the outgoing board: Keeney, Sammons, Glenn, Anderson and Clary. Among the new members are David McKinney, a vice president at AutoZone, and Demar Roberts, an executive at First Choice Sales and Marketing Group.
One new commissioner is Rhea "Skip" Taylor, the mayor of Fayette County. Under the previous structure, every seat on the board governing Memphis International was filled by an official accountable to Memphis or Shelby County voters. That is no longer the case.
Mayor Paul Young's three appointees are Roberts, Clary and Anderson. The Memphis City Council approved his selections at a committee meeting on July 21.
MSCAA President and CEO Terry Blue said in the announcement that the commissioners' combined expertise in aviation, law, business and finance would be instrumental, and that he looked forward to working with them to expand connectivity and drive economic growth. The authority said the new board is expected to hold its first meeting in August.
Memphis is the outlier in how it responded. Metropolitan Nashville sued the state over the same law. The Chattanooga airport board filed two lawsuits in June seeking to stop the takeover there. No comparable challenge has been filed in Memphis. The Daily Memphian, reporting on the change July 22, described the local reaction as largely a shrug.
Why It Matters for Memphis
MSCAA is not a small agency, and it is not funded the way most public boards are. It receives no local tax revenue. It is self-funded, and it owns and operates Memphis International along with General DeWitt Spain and Charles W. Baker airports. Memphis International is consistently among the ten busiest cargo airports in the world. It served 4.8 million passengers in 2025, and a 2025 economic impact study put its annual economic output at $10.7 billion across Tennessee.
The board sets the rates airlines pay, approves the capital program and hires the chief executive. For its fiscal 2027 budget, adopted before the changeover, terminal rates rose from an average of $129.25 per square foot to $163.55, and landing fees went from $2.63 to $2.84 per 1,000 pounds of landed weight. Those are decisions with real consequences for what it costs to fly and ship out of Memphis, and the majority of the people who will make them from now on are appointed by officials Memphis voters do not elect.
This is also the second state takeover of a Memphis institution this year, running in parallel with the schools. The schools fight has drawn lawsuits, a federal restraining order and sustained coverage. This one changed hands with a press release.
