A search committee of State Ports Authority board members and maritime industry leaders could be impaneled as early as this weekend to seek a new chief executive officer for the agency.
Longtime CEO Bernard Groseclose Jr. resigned unexpectedly during his semi-annual job review Tuesday.
The abruptness of his departure shocked port officials, but the announcement itself did not. Through Groseclose cited an interest in new opportunities and a growing sense of job dissatisfaction as his reasons for resigning, he came under intense public scrutiny in recent months, as cargo volume continued to fall and as the Port of Charleston's largest customer announced it would move its business elsewhere.
He also drew criticism from former Ports Authority board member and freshman S.C. Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, for the authority's tardiness in selling the Port of Port Royal site, not pushing hard enough to launch a deep-water port on the Jasper County side of the Savannah River and for the authority's lack of transparency.
Groseclose served in the top job for 12 years and became president and CEO only after a secretive process that triggered a lawsuit.
John Hassell, whom board chairman David Posek appointed interim CEO, said that would not be the case in the next search. As president of the S.C. Maritime Association, Hassell was a chief critic of the board's secrecy in 1996.
"I'll never forget it," he said Wednesday. "It's going to be different."
Posek appointed SPA vice chairman Bill Stern, a Columbia developer, to head the search committee and to assemble the rest of the members. Hassell said that group would include business leaders.
"The great advantage of the private sector being involved is they are wonderful means of vetting candidates," he said. "We can get an entirely different, objective view of the candidate, and that's extremely valuable."
Davis said he hopes the search committee includes people who understands port-related issues in Jasper and Beaufort counties. Just as important, he said, is the selection of a new president who understands Gov. Mark Sanford's desire to embrace "the use of private capital and free market approaches."
"We're one of the few ports authorities that is state-formed, state-financed and state-run," said Davis, who is Sanford's former chief of staff. "The only other one is Savannah. ... We're not talking about some ground-breaking concept here. This is what the rest of the world does."
Davis said the Jasper port project was delayed for years because the Ports Authority was too Charleston-centric and lacked the financial capital to develop another port.
Stern said he began making calls to prospective search-committee members Wednesday and hopes to have the committee assembled by week's end. After that, the group will consider search firms to scout potential candidates. Stern said he hopes to make the process "as open and transparent as possible."
The last time the SPA recruited a new CEO, it interviewed Groseclose and the other finalists in Charlotte after posting the only notice of the meeting on a Sunday inside its locked headquarters on Concord Street. The (Charleston) Post and Courier sued, alleging a Freedom of Information Act violation, but withdrew its complaint after the board released the candidates' names.
One of those on the list was Charleston resident Ron Brinson, then CEO of the Port of New Orleans who ultimately withdrew his application. A frequent commentator on Port of Charleston matters, Brinson stressed Wednesday that he had no ambition to replace Groseclose.
"I have absolutely no interest or desire in being employed by the S.C. State Ports Authority or anybody else," he said.
Hassell also has said he does not want the job on a permanent basis.
Stern said business leaders from around the state had called by Wednesday afternoon offering their assistance with the search.
"I think there are going to be a good number of candidates out there, because this is a very attractive job for someone in the maritime industry," Stern said.
Posek said Tuesday that he hopes to have a permanent chief executive in place by the start of the new fiscal year on July 1.
Jeff Kidd of The Beaufort Gazette contributed to this report.
rss
mobile
