Steamship Authority General Manager Awarded Raise In Final Months On The Job

The Steamship Authority board voted unanimously to give general manager Bob Davis a raise of just over 10 percent at a meeting Tuesday, significantly increasing his pay just months before he is set to transition to an advisory role.

Steamship Authority communications director Sean Driscoll told the Current that the adjustment in real numbers is $23,659, bringing Davis’s salary to a total of $239,480. The Martha’s Vineyard Times previously reported that Davis’s salary will remain the same during his stint as an advisor, which could last 18 months.

Steamship Authority general counsel Terence Kenneally said that the increase is “identical” to the increases received by other non-union employees in 2024 and 2025, which Davis was excluded from. Kenneally called the raise a “cost of living” increase.

“That’s for the two years where Mr. Davis did not receive a [cost of living increase],” Jim Malkin, who represents Martha’s Vineyard on the Steamship Authority board, said at the meeting.

While Davis didn’t receive the cost of living increases given to other non-union personnel in 2024 and 2025, he did receive a four per cent raise in 2023 and another significant raise in 2022.

Last September, after a tumultuous summer marred by strikes and cancellations, Davis announced he would be stepping down as general manager in October of 2025 and transitioning to an advisory role. That’s now only three months away.