The board of the Steamship Authority voted 4-0 on Tuesday to establish a succession outline for the position of general manager. New Bedford board member Moira Tierney was the absent voter.
SSA general manager Robert Davis is being asked to come up with an outline for that succession plan. The vote came after Davis shared his July 2021 to July 2022 goals.
Board member Jim Malkin, who represents the Vineyard, took the opportunity to highlight something he felt was missing from what Davis presented to the board, which included things like assessing the fleet and further development of an app.
“I’ve been thinking about this a lot,” Malkin said. ”One of the things I think has been missing is something that we discussed several months ago … the issue of a chief operating officer.”
Malkin noted Nantucket board member Robert Ranney previously suggested the concept of a COO should be folded into an exploration of succession planning.
“We never went really further with that,” Malkin said. He said the concept should be further explored with the goal of a plan that’s worked on with Davis and the board.
Barnstable board member Robert Jones took the conversation in another direction and suggested Davis could use an assistant, one who would not necessarily be his successor but instead would lessen his workload.
Jones said Davis has done a “wonderful job” to date, and “may not be extremely excited” about the idea, but nevertheless, he may benefit from a helper.
“I think we don’t like to give Bob more work than he already has,” Nantucket board member Robert Ranney said. But nonetheless he said he saw merit in asking Davis to develop a succession plan, something that would be presented to the board “for further discussion” or something that develops into “an ongoing discussion of some sort until we get to a place where we’re comfortable with it.”
Ranney went on to emphasize, “We definitely need to be looking at a succession plan …”
Malkin said a succession plan doesn’t necessarily mean a plan that hires from within the ferry line.
Jones suggested the SSA’s strategic plan might be the proper place for a succession roadmap.
“Maybe we should let the strategic plan move forward, and see if in the strategic plan they find that this is something we should pursue,” he said.
Chair Kathryn Wilson agreed.
Ranney asked if succession was currently part of the strategic plan.
Jones said the strategic plan remains in a formative state.
Wilson asked if succession should be voted in as a component of strategic planning, to which Jones said no, as far as the board is concerned.
“I don’t think we should plan on succession,” Jones said. He suggested that could be done at a later time, and could be relegated to a headhunter. He said he was more concerned with lessening Davis’ work burden. Regardless, Jones wound up voting in favor of a succession outline.
Ranney wasn’t comfortable waiting for a headhunter to help decide the next leader of the ferry line.
“I don’t want to wait until Bob decides it’s time to leave,” Ranney said. He pointed to the loss of institutional knowledge that would occur when Davis leaves, and hoped there would be planning to stem the loss of that knowledge. Ranney noted the SSA has a history of selecting “random great people” from the outside to lead, and that has “not worked out very well at all.”
Davis didn’t weigh in on the discussion. SSA spokesman Sean Driscoll later said he was unaware of any immediate plans for Davis to exit, and noted he has a year left on his contract.
After reading your headline, getting over my disappointment, I was very relieved to see this was not our honored Clerk of the Courts, George Davis.
George had big shoes to fill stepping in after Joe Sollito’s retirement. He has done so wisely and honorably.
The ‘other’ Davis is part of an unmitigated disaster, which continues to deteriorate.
Rats always run off the ship when they anticipate disaster.