Transparency lacking in spaceport search

There may be no more important hire in southern New Mexico this year than the next person who is selected to lead Spaceport America. Sadly, we have lost all faith that the process will be comprehensive or transparent.

It was decided early on that, instead of hiring a search firm to lead the effort, the Spaceport Authority would rely on social media to get the word out.

A subcommittee of four members of the Spaceport Authority board of directors was selected to review applications with former CEO Christine Anderson and send the best ones to Santa Fe for Gov. Susana Martinez.

But before that subcommittee could hold its first meeting, the decision was made to call off the search and ship the applications to the governor’s office.

The Sun-News filed an open records request on Aug. 16 seeking copies of the applications being turned over to the governor’s office. The response from the Spaceport Authority was that they would be unable to comply with the requirement that documents be produced within three business days, and would need until the end of the month instead.

That’s troubling, given that Spaceport Authority board Chairman Rick Holdridge has said that it is his intention to have a new CEO named well before then if possible.

Holdridge and others involved with the search assure us that they received strong feedback from their social media campaign, and have a strong pool of candidates to choose from. We certainly hope that’s the case. But there is no way of knowing that without being able to review the applicants.

And, if a new CEO is selected before the applications are made public, there will be no way to know how that person’s experience and credentials stacked up against others who were not selected.

This will be the fifth leadership change in the short life of the spaceport. Whoever is selected will be coming on board at a time when the facility has lost the confidence and support of a large percentage of the Legislature. Virgin Galactic, the anchor tenant and the company for whom the spaceport was built, is still recovering from a fatal 2014 crash during a test flight for its spaceship. As a result, the spaceport has transitioned to a new business model as it works to diversify its revenue sources. But it is still not bringing in enough revenue to cover operating expenses.

The challenges for whoever is selected will be immense, but so will the opportunity. We still believe in the unlimited potential of the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport.

And, we were encouraged by the high level of expectations the Spaceport Authority established for the next CEO: at least 15 years of experience in the aerospace industry, with at least five in the space industry and a college degree in a technical field with a preference for those who also have a master’s in business administration, among others.

But we are concerned by what appears to be a rush to complete the process and a lack of transparency.

We understand that, ultimately, this was always going to be the governor’s decision. It was the governor who decided not to bring in a search firm, and it was the governor who decided to pull the job posting for the spaceport’s website and close the active search.

And, it will be the governor who will decide who replaces Anderson and leads Spaceport America into what is still a very uncertain future.