Updated, Oct. 16
Steamship Authority general manager Bob Davis will be taking on a senior advisor role after stepping down from the ferry line’s top position next year.
Davis is slated to begin as a senior advisor to the Steamship board on Nov. 1, 2025, for a period not to exceed 18 months, and will be paid the same amount as his current general manager salary of $215,800.
The Steamship board approved of Davis’ new arrangement at its Thursday meeting after a 40-minute executive session.
Davis announced last month that he would be stepping down as general manager. His decision came in the wake of a number of crew shortages that resulted in many ferry cancellations; there have also been complaints from board members and the public about poor communication over cancellations, and that the ferry line’s website and online reservation system have been delayed.
On Thursday, board chair and Barnstable representative Robert Jones also appointed members to a new search committee to find Davis’ replacement. Jones, Vineyard representative Jim Malkin, along with port council chair Rob Munier from Falmouth and vice chair Nat Lowell from Nantucket will serve on the search committee.
Jones said at the meeting that the board will keep the public informed regarding any decisions the committee makes, but he did not discuss specifics.
Board members have faced criticism for keeping Davis on for the year plus the 18 months.
Malkin, in comments to The Times following Tuesday’s meeting, said that he shares concerns with the management of the Steamship, but he is somewhat constrained.
“The facts are that the SSA board has five members, and each serves different communities with different views of the SSA performance,” Malkin said. “For 4½ years, I have taken very strong positions about the efficacy of the SSA in terms of its operations, communications, reservation system and IT — in relation to service to Martha’s Vineyard. The two members of the board [Martha’s Vineyard and Falmouth] who have critically ranked the performance of the general manager have 45 percent of the vote. However, a majority of the board is comfortable with the SSA management.
“In September, we reached a point where the general manager agreed to retire,” Malkin continued. “He will be out of active management at the end of the current contracted year, and an independent recruitment firm will be engaged to conduct a global search to find a successor.”
At Tuesday’s meeting, Davis stated that he has reached out to executive search firms to aid in the hunt for his replacement.
Updated to included comments from Jim Malkin.
Are they kidding? Asking us to pay more and we are going to pay this clown another $440,000-$6000,000 before he’s gone? Utterly ridiculous and infuriating. Fire him yesterday!
Should the SSA be taken over the by MBTA?
The largest ferry boat operator in the state.
I totally agree!
Wow all I can say is wow
Time for change everyone need to go! from the port council to the board of governors and definitely the top ssa management
We need term limits!!
Is it time to change the people who put them in place?
We the people.
Yes!!
Whoa….This is outrageous! First. lets just set aside the job performance for a moment. Bob Davis stepped down– resigned in his role of Steamship Authority GM. While I do not know him I can probably assume he is a nice man and that we should thank him for his service, bless him… and move on. Instead, he negotiates a deal where he will act as a senior advisor to the Steamship board from November 2025 to May 2027 and paid at his current salary of $215,800!!?? For What? For 18 months? Why? What is it he will be doing for the same salary or in the ostensible range of what the replacement GM will make? And…what mandate will the new GM have if Davis is still “advising” on behalf of the board…potentially compromising whatever the new GM needs to do to fix this broken enterprise? What a mess this board is creating. Davis should move on; make a clean break. AND give the new leader a clean slate to fix what is a leadership crises within this institution.
I totally agree!!
Bob Davis should just leave. The entire operation is in shambles.
IT reservation systems which should have been replaced a decade ago are hobbling residents, visitors and hurting rental incomes.
Has leadership and insight for the next 30 months is a waste of money. Use it as a signing bonus to get someone with a brain.
Yes!!
Do any of you folks understand he likely has a contract if he is fired without cause. He stepped down as a negotiation and got hired as an advisor as part of the renumeration he is legally entitled to. If they fired him and didnt pay him his contract, he would sue. Both parties worked something out wherein he leaves but gets paid what he is owed. Would you rather just fire him and not pay him his due and let him sue and be in litigation for years. Furthermore none of you know if he met his measures of performance. You are only looking at optics and claim he is a terrible at his job without knowing other circumstances that constrain performance. He doesnt report to you–you are not his boss, you know nothing of what he is required to do. He might be a bad leader, I dont know but I wont weigh in unless I know the issues well. Do you really believe the Board who is his boss know nothing and are incompetent–all of them?
It certainly looks that way!
Keeping Mr. Davis on as a consultant could impede the ability of the new general manager to not only determine what changes need to be made in the operation and management of the SSA, but the implementation of those proposed changes.
Davis knows more about the SSA than anyone else.
The new manager will make his employment decision somewhat based on how his predecessor is treated.
What maritime professional manager would want to work for a bunch of angry ferry boat owners.
Do you remember when Davis was great?
The one before him?
The one before that was a real dozy.
WE are the angry boat owners. It’s not a privately held company, it’s a quasi- state entity like Massport.
Why is Davis the one reaching out to executive search firms? He should have no role in finding his replacement. None. Zip. Zero. This is a Board responsibility, not his. His hand in the search process will drive away some candidates, especially given his 18 month “sweetheart gift” of a consulting gig to hang around and “advise” his replacement.
No one knows more about the SSA than Davis.
Wrong!
SSA clearly needs some serious oversight from a state entity with veto power. These bountiful $$$ giveaways to top tier people, as with this ‘advisory’ role (for full salary?!), make that abundantly clear. Either that, or the rate payers will continue getting their annual fleecing by the management and all involved with governance on a local level who enable this type of profligate money wasting.
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