The governor's newly announced choice to head the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey delivered an address to 500 Hudson Valley leaders at the Pattern for Progress annual awards reception. Our John Wagner has the details.

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NEW WINDSOR, N.Y. -- The Port Authority will play a large part in the Hudson Valley's future. It has controlled the Stewart International Airport for four years, and its new boss is planning growth.

"I think Stewart Airport will be part of the infrastructure that will lead to increased employment, increased investment, and job creation here in the Hudson Valley," said Patrick Foye, future Port Authority executive director.

Foye has one final day as Governor Cuomo's deputy secretary of economic development, which he says is the best job he's ever had, before moving on to a new challenge on Monday.

"The combination of building on the region's transportation infrastructure, in this case Stewart Airport, and doing it with Hudson Valley companies will be a priority of mine going forward," said Foye.

The Port Authority has invested $50 million into Stewart over four years, and half of that has gone to local companies.

"We think if anyone can figure out how to put that airport to the best use for the region through job creation, through stimulating tourism, we think the Port Authority can do it," said Jonathan Drapkin, the president and CEO of Pattern for Progress.

Pattern for Progress is a non-profit working since 1965 to bolster the valley by using regional solutions, crossing city and county lines.

"They keep in mind the benefits to the environment, this bucolic setting that we live in here in the Hudson Valley as well as the economic realities, that people need jobs, people need employment," explained Richard Struck of Orange and Rockland Utilities, 2011's lifetime achievement award recipient.

And the more lines that Stewart flights cross, the more jobs coming to the area.

"We want to grow both passenger volume and cargo and I'm confident as the economy recovers, we can do both of those," said Foye.