The Steamship Authority (SSA) has finalized contract negotiations with its new general manager, marking the next step toward a new age at the ferry line.
After returning from an executive session last Thursday morning, the Steamship Authority board voted 4–0 to approve a three-year general manager contract for Alex Kryska, the next head of the SSA. New Bedford representative Moira Tierney was absent from the meeting.
“[Kryska] will be starting in early January,” said Jim Malkin, board chair and Martha’s Vineyard representative. “He will be compensated at a rate of $225,000 per annum.”
Malkin said the board was “delighted” to have successfully completed negotiations with Kryska.
Kryska’s career has taken him in and out of the maritime industry. His most recent role was chief operations officer of PROP, a San Francisco–based ferry service. He also had a stint as a fleet operations manager with Military Sealift Command in Washington, D.C.
Kryska’s leadership experience also took him beyond the maritime industry, and was largely focused in California. He was general manager of ACME Technologies, a software company in San Francisco that offers a cloud-based ticketing and membership platform, and directed Covenant Aviation Security’s operations and business services at the San Francisco International Airport.
As general manager, Kryska will have duties that include overseeing operations of the Steamship Authority, planning the future course of the ferry line, making policy recommendations to the board, and communicating with governmental regulatory bodies like the U.S. Coast Guard. Kryska was not immediately available for comment.
The hiring of Kryska followed a lengthy search to replace current general manager Bob Davis. Last fall, Davis announced he would be stepping down from his role, a decision that followed heavy pushback on how the ferry line was run. Davis will be staying on as general manager until the end of December, and then transition to a senior advisor role, not to exceed 18 months. Under the senior advisor agreement, Davis receives the same salary he did as a general manager; a cost-of-living adjustment Davis received in August bumped up his salary to $239,480.
The board tapped headhunting firm Faststream Recruitment Group in March to find candidates. While more than 130 candidates were reviewed, the board noted that heavy public criticism toward the ferry line led some individuals to withdraw their applications.
“This has been a very, very long, very involved, very thorough process that probably has been as arduous as well as interesting as a process I’ve ever been involved in,” Malkin said on Tuesday. “I look forward to this being the very successful start to the Steamship Authority as we move forward into the brave new age that we face.”
Why is he making less than Bob Davis??
Bob Davis worked for the SSA 39 years if that helps with the thought process
They are keeping Davis because they are not confident of the new guy. They needed a replacement due to the towns vociferous complaints but they were not unsold on Davis’ performance. They are keeping him in order to have a watchdog on the new guy to make sure things get done correctly. An ”advisor” to the Board is the kiss of death to the new guy and he should not have taken the offer because he will have accountability without authority.
If he had been paid on performance OKR’s maybe he would have made a lot less
Comments are closed.