Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Tampa port has three finalists

Commissioners on Friday will interview the candidates for director, a job that has been in changing hands since March.

By STEVE HUETTEL
Published January 19, 2005

TAMPA - Tampa Port Authority commissioners expect to select a permanent port director this week after 10 months of controversy and uncertainty over leadership at the agency.

On Tuesday, a consultant presented the names of three finalists, which include the directors of Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale and the Port of Galveston, Texas, one of the nation's fastest-growing cruise ports in recent years.

Commissioners plan to interview candidates Friday, one-on-one in private and as a board in public session, then rank them. If the No. 1 choice agrees to a contract, commissioners will confirm his selection next month. The finalists are:

Steven Cernak, 49, director of the Port of Galveston since 2002. He previously was the port's deputy director and manager of port development for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Ken Krauter, 62, director of Port Everglades since August 2002. Before that, he was chief executive of the Jacksonville Port Authority and the Saint John Port Corp. in New Brunswick.

Richard Wainio, 54, an independent consultant. He resigned in August as executive director of the Port of Palm Beach after two years and previously was director of executive planning for the Panama Canal Commission.

The agency, which primarily manages public land at the port, has been without a permanent director since George Williamson left in March to join Rinker Materials, a construction materials company in West Palm Beach.

Commissioners named Williamson's deputy, Zelko Kirincich, as interim director and ordered a nationwide search for a full-time director. But the process took a variety of twists and turns.

Port officials didn't recommend a search firm for months. In June, the three commissioners appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush voted to make Kirincich director for a year without advance notice to the public or to two commissioners, Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio and Hillsborough County Commissioner Ronda Storms.

The next day, Kirincich declined the offer and said he would be a candidate in the search. But Kirincich returned to the No. 2 job under pressure in October after port tenants criticized his performance and he then abruptly fired the agency's legal counsel and real estate director.

Since then, retired GTE executive William Starkey has served as interim director.

Boyden Global Executive Search had contact with more than 60 candidates and interviewed 26 for the job, which will pay between $170,000 and $230,000, said managing director Timothy McNamara. The list was narrowed to five last month, he said, and two dropped out since then.

Cernak said Galveston was a wheat shipping port when he arrived in 1999 from New York. The port got its first cruise ship in 2000 and expects to handle about 500,000 passengers this year - slightly more than Tampa.

"It really does represent a career opportunity," Cernak said in a telephone interview. "I firmly believe I can use the skills I honed here to bring Tampa to the next level."

Krauter declined to talk about the job or his background. He is seeking to leave Port Everglades, among the nation's largest cruise ports with about 2-million passengers a year. Like Tampa, the port is a major location for receiving petroleum shipments.

Wainio could not be reached for comment.

Researchers Kitty Bennett and Deirdre Morrow contributed to this report. Steve Huettel can be reached at 813 226-3384 or huettel@sptimes.com

[Last modified January 19, 2005, 21:28:06]