COLUMBIA, S.C. - Gov. Mark Sanford has named a retired aircraft company executive to the State Ports Authority board after the Senate refused to act on a previous nominee.

Sanford said Monday he has tapped David J. Posek as an interim board member. Posek retired as president of a Lockheed Martin operation in Greenville earlier this year and will replace Mark Kent, a Greenville textile executive, on the port board.

In May, a state Senate committee refused to move Kent's nomination forward after he questioned plans to sell potential port expansion land on Daniel Island near Charleston. The Legislature previously had passed a bill requiring a sale of the authority's 1,300 acres there.

During his confirmation hearings, Kent, who was serving as an interim appointee, told senators it would be shortsighted to sell the land. That position stalled his appointment and Kent later resigned, saying he did not want to be a distraction.