Updated August 6
Steamship Authority General Manager Robert Davis is getting a 10.6 percent cost-of-living pay bump just under three months before he transitions into a senior advisor role.
The Steamship Authority board unanimously approved giving Davis the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) after coming out of a lengthy executive session on Tuesday afternoon.
Davis had been excluded from the cost-of-living adjustments that other non-union employees had received in 2024 and 2025. Terence Kenneally, the Steamship general counsel, said the pay increase was aggregately “identical” to these pay adjustments.
“That’s for the two years where Mr. Davis did not receive a COLA,” Jim Malkin, Martha’s Vineyard representative to the board, said.
According to Sean Driscoll, Steamship communications director, the “compounding” adjustment is $23,659. That brings Davis’ new salary to $239,480. The board agreed in October that Davis would receive the same rate as in his general manager contract after he transitions to an up-to-18-month senior advisor role this upcoming November.
In September 2024, Davis announced he would be stepping down as general manager in the wake of heavy public criticism of the ferry’s operations. A search for a new general manager is underway.
A previous version of this story stated in the photo caption the commissioning was for the freight ferry Aquinnah.
I want this guy to pick my lottery numbers! I can’t think of a single CEO, GM, or leader with a track record of failure like his that consistently achieves success in (for a while) holding onto his job, having no performance requirements, and declining to accept any responsibility for the multitudinous failures, cost overruns, delays, cancellations, and overall horrible job—he has set the SSA back decades and shaped travel by volume to the Vineyard (and through Woods Hole) in ways that cannot be reversed and create problems. He has had a magical run, defying gravity. What are powerball numbers, Mr. Davis? How do you do it?
You have got to be kidding me. With the s*@%show the SSA has become, this man should have been fired two years ago. Not getting COLA adjustments three months before he moves into a “senior advisor role”
Isn’t it a tad ironic to publish the photo of Mr. Davis at an event introducing The Aquinnah? That vessel has been out of commission more than it’s been running. Back when I was in the work force I didn’t get a raise unless I merited it, no mention even of COLA when I was non-union.
I don’t know that the change in the photo liner for the boat that Mr. Davis is commissioning — the Barnstable instead of the Aquinnah — makes this story any better. Mr. Davis has had a cushy job and will continue to have one ad infinitum, apparently. Good luck to the new person coming on board, with Mr. Davis teaching that person all the great things he has learned to do as CEO.
No words….
Absolutely ludicrous!
This could not be a more tone deaf action by the board of governors. Every level of leadership of the steamship needs to be replaced including the board of “governors” whose oversight have allowed the catastrophic decline of whole organization.
Wait until they name the new terminal building after him!
How about we claw back the millions in wasted funds that this man has cost us collectively?
Not to mention the millions it will cost to fix the mess we’re inheriting.
To grant the GM a 10.6% cost-of-living adjustment, raising his salary to $239,480, just as he prepares to step down and take on an advisory role for up to 18 months …is a strange action…
This pay raise, coming on the heels of a year with record ferry cancellations—127 in 2024, up from 55 just the year before—sends the wrong message to both passengers and the people he is supposed to lead. Many in our community have been directly affected by these disruptions, and have watched with frustration as promised improvements have lagged and lagged.
While I understand the need to ensure pay equity among staff, it seems inappropriate to reward the Authority’s top executive with such a substantial increase as he transitions out—particularly given current performance issues and ongoing concerns about management accountability. The optics undermine public trust and do little to motivate real, lasting improvements. Who does the board work for? Him? Or the community?
I urge the SSA board to reconsider how it evaluates and rewards leadership during this transition period. Our community deserves better—both in ferry service and in transparent, responsible stewardship of public resources.
You have got to be kidding me. Just this weekend we were forced to utilize the steamship authority due to their monopoly on WH to MV vehicle transportation. By the second boat of the day they were already running late. Mismanagement and lack of accountability are the cornerstones of the SSA but let’s throw more money at the already overpaid and underperforming executives.
I mean, “feather his nest.”
So not one comment supporting him or his raise. And I bet the Board knew this would happen. So where does that leave the islanders? No one listening to them or supporting them. Such a shame.
where is our vineyard ssa rep-??Dukes county commission chief wrote a letter how great he is!!NO news ever-to anybody anytime-i guess he liked the new ticket office and the new freight boats..must have voted for that 10% raise UNBELIEVABLE..better cancel the consulting job before he costs us more money for more bad ideas -wake up and help us -You are asleep at the wheel
The only thing we should be focusing on at this point is bulldozing that new terminal building down to the ground.
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