The Steamship Authority will be on the hunt for not one, but two top-ranking officials in the coming months, following the resignation of the boat line’s chief operating officer last week.
Mark Higgins, the Steamship’s first ever COO, announced Friday that he would leave the boat line in December to take a job in Maine. His departure comes less than two years after he was hired, and is right on the heels of general manager Robert Davis’s announcement that he will step down next year and take on a consulting role.
Mr. Higgins’ exit was due, at least in part, to the Steamship board of governors’ plan to search internationally for Mr. Davis’ replacement, according to James Malkin, the Vineyard’s representative on the board.
“Mark Higgins received a job offer near his home in Maine and was unwilling to remain with the SSA as it goes through a careful professional search for a general manager to follow Bob Davis,” Mr. Malkin wrote in a statement.
At a forum in Vineyard Haven Tuesday, held to discuss the future of the Steamship Authority, Mr. Malkin went further, telling the more than 100 attendees that Mr. Higgins was willing to stay at the boat line if he was guaranteed the general manager’s position.
The board remains committed to a far-reaching search before making a selection, Mr. Malkin said.
Mr. Higgins came to the Steamship Authority from the Maine State Ferry Service, where he oversaw ferry service to a handful of islands off the Pine Tree state’s coast.
The position of COO at Steamship Authority came at the request of the boat line board of governors following a comprehensive study of SSA operations in 2018. The governors wanted to prioritize vessel operations at the executive level, while also taking some of the burden off the general manager.
Mr. Davis initially resisted creating the position.
Mr. Higgins was hired in March 2023, and was responsible for planning, directing and overseeing the boat line’s departments for marine operations, shoreside operations and engineering, as well as the operations and communication center. He was also in charge of the new website project, which has been put on the back burner as the boat line looks at a new reservation system.
Part of the reason Mr. Higgins was hired was for his past experience in overseeing the design and construction of one of the nation’s first ocean-going hybrid electric ferries for the Maine state system.
That experience was seen as vital to the Steamship’s future hopes for greener ferries.
“Attracting an accomplished maritime professional of Mark’s caliber to the Steamship Authority underscores our commitment to enhance and evolve service offerings as we chart a course for the future,” Mr. Davis said when Mr. Higgins was hired.
At the Island forum Tuesday, some members of the public lamented the loss of Mr. Higgins just when the SSA is looking for a new leader.
“[He] would have been perfect for the job,” Island trucker Stephen Araujo said.
Kate Warner, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission’s regional energy planner, has been a proponent for hybrid ferries and wanted the incoming managers to think about the Steamship’s emissions.
“They still have these [state climate goals],” she said. “The question is how are they going to do it. I hope they have it on their mind.”
A new COO would be hired internally by the general manager. The process is expected in the coming weeks.
The search for Mr. Davis’ replacement is also starting to get underway. A search committee with two board members and two port council members has been formed, and its first meeting is scheduled for Nov. 22.
The boat line is currently looking for a consultant to help find candidates. Mr. Davis plans to step down in October 2025, after eight years as the top administrator. Once a consultant is found, Mr. Malkin expected the search would take about four months, perhaps longer.
“We are hoping to find qualified people with good maritime experience, people skills, the ability to lead the group, and the ability to help us take the Steamship Authority forward in a very positive and constructive manner,” Mr. Malkin said.
Finalists for the job will be interviewed in a public board meeting, he said.
Frederick Condon of Edgartown, one of many Islanders who spoke during Tuesday’s forum, said the Steamship Authority needs a business executive, not a mariner, at the helm.
“We need a business person coming here [to] run a company that happens to run a steamship,” he said. “And if we don’t do that we’re gonna be back here again for the next five, 10, 20 years for the same thing.”
Joe Sollitto, the Oak Bluffs port council member, wanted someone who understands all sides of the ferry business.
“We need somebody with administrative experience, but also maritime experience,” he said.
Both Mr. Davis and his predecessor as general manager, Wayne Lamson, came through the Steamship Authority ranks on the business side, with each man rising to treasurer-comptroller before taking the top job.
Island resident Margaret Hannemann called for a larger search committee.
“This is an extremely critical search for not just this Island, but Nantucket and all of the port cities,” she said. “It seems to me like just four governors doing the search is not really appropriate.”
Ethan Genter contributed to this report.
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