In Hyannis Tuesday, the board of the Steamship Authority unanimously appointed the ferry line’s operations manager Mark Rozum to the position of treasurer/comptroller, effective July 1. Rozum fills a vacancy left by Gerald Murphy last year, and takes weight off general manager Robert Davis, who had been performing double duty.
The SSA secured the services of the KLR executive search group to find and vet candidates, Davis told the board. Of some possible 600 candidates, the field was narrowed to 80 candidates, and then to six external candidates and three internal candidates.
KLR did the initial round of interviews with these nine people, Davis said.
“Viable candidates,” as he put it, were then interviewed by himself, general counsel Terence Kenneally, and newly retained human resources director Janice Kennefick. Rozum rose to the top of the heap, Davis said, and was selected, among other reasons, because of his extensive experience with the workings of various parts of the Steamship Authority, and due to his skill with accountancy.
Chairman Robert Jones, Banstable’s representative on the board, congratulated Rozum after the vote, and the audience broke into applause.
At a port council meeting held earlier that day in Hyannis, Nantucket’s member, Nathaniel Lowell, welcomed new human resources director Janice Kennefick, new marine operations director Mark Amundsen, and new health, safety, quality, and environment manager Angela Sampson.
Lowell told them to maintain personal connections in the midst of all the changes underway as a result of the HMS report implementation process.
“People are going to call you to just talk to you,” he said. “Like they just have a right to do. That’s the way Islanders think. It’s not like Massport, it’s not like Logan, it’s a family thing. Those personal relationships are going to develop over time. It’s really important that we don’t lose that, Bob,” he then said to Davis.
Oak Bluffs port council member Robert Huss said he’s getting reports of better customer service.
“I’ve had quite a few people comment that the authority or the members, all the people on the boats, are much more personable, more helpful, than they were even like five years ago,” he said. “Just thought I’d tell everybody that we do get some good comments once in awhile.”
Insider gets the job. Big surprise? The culture at the SSA will never change, and it needs to, when it hires and promotes from within. It’s called inbreeding. Talk about insular action.
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