The final details on Jensen's contract have yet to be negotiated. His salary will be between $94,000 and $128,000 per year, he said.
Missoula airport board member Janet Stevens Donahue had little to say about Jensen.
But Missoula airport officials and board members are eager for his arrival and hope the straight-arrow director will close the door on a rocky period in the airport's administration.
Last November, John Seymour, the previous airport director, was caught embezzling about $645,000 in airport funds. He was also charged with accepting a bribe related to a land deal. Seymour has returned all of the missing money.
Last March, Seymour pleaded guilty to four felony theft charges and one misdemeanor theft charge. He will be sentenced in Missoula District Court on Monday.
Also in March, the board of the Missoula airport hired a Los Angeles firm to find a new director. Three recent directors at the airport have left under unhappy or criminal circumstances. The board didn't want to repeat any of the recent debacles.
In March, Donahue said, "We specifically want to find someone who has the right ethical background and knowledge. ... We want someone who understands we expect the best out of him, and no tomfoolery."
Glen Guttry, a city councilman in Elko and the person who hired Jensen there nearly eight years ago, characterized him as "honest" with "so much integrity."
In Elko, Guttry said, a lot of people lack respect for the government. People commonly hate the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, he said.
Not so for Jensen and the airport. Under his leadership the Elko Regional Airport gained public trust and flourished, Guttry said.
Eight years ago when Guttry began a search for the airport's first director, he found what he was looking for in the young operations director at the Reno/Tahoe International Airport with a bachelor's degree in aeronautical studies from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's Prescott, Ariz., campus.
Jensen has known he wanted to work in and around airports since was a sophomore in high school, he said.
Guttry pushed for Jensen on the advice of a longtime official in the San Francisco Bay Area office of the Federal Aviation Administration.
"I knew that if we could get him from the Reno airport, we'd be doing well," Guttry said.
The job wasn't a hard sell for Jensen, who grew up in Elko and graduated from high school there in 1983, the same year he earned his pilot's license.
It turns out the FAA official's advice was sound.
"He's taken us to the next level," Guttry said.
During Jensen's tenure, the construction of a new terminal was smoothly completed, as well as a number of other major construction projects. He also oversaw the installation of a state-of-the-art security system that employs facial recognition and hand-geometry recognition technology.
"He knows how to do things right. He knows how the system operates and how to go according to the rules," Guttry said.
Jensen is also a hands-on director in Elko. With only five employees, including janitors, he's hard to reach on his office phone. He can be found out changing lightbulbs on the runway and plowing snow in the winter, Guttry said.
"I did everything I could to keep him, but we can't afford him," Guttry said. Jensen earns about $70,000 in his current job.
For his part, Jensen is excited about the challenges he'll face in Missoula.
For one thing, Missoula's airport is much larger and lacks the cash-flow problems of Elko Regional.
And then there is Seymour's legacy.
"Obviously, I am aware of the situation in the recent past. My goal is to operate in a way as to regain the public trust and confidence. It needs to be a transparent operation. And maintaining incredible air service for the community, that's always the goal," Jensen said in a telephone interview from Elko.
A major issue in Elko has been the diversification of the local economy, and the airport was an important part of that effort. The same could be said for Missoula, and that's exciting, Jensen said.
In the end, he said, it's important to remember that the airport belongs to the taxpayers.
Jensen's first day on the job will be Aug. 8, he said.
Reporter Robert Struckman can be reached at 523-5262 or rstruckman@missoulian.com
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