James_March-April_2026_web - Flipbook - Page 15
or nine years Grif昀椀th “Griff” Lynch has been serving as the
President and CEO of the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA),
which owns and operates world-class strategic gateways to
the Southeast. As the quarterback of a team powering a state
and national economic engine, the Long Island, N.Y. native
supervises all activities at the deep water ports of Savannah
and Brunswick, as well as at inland terminal operations. He also
administers a $820 million annual budget.
When you think about it, Lynch’s job and success affects virtually all Georgians
and countless people beyond the Peach State. Perhaps his biggest accomplishment
is managing the growth of the ports where ships dock and then the process translates
into getting materials and supplies that keep companies— and especially Georgia
businesses— up and running. These ports are handling record volumes of cargo—
inbound and outbound.
As I settled in to interview him at his Savannah of昀椀ce while gazing out his window
at harbor activity, I began by asking about where he grew up, how he began his
career and how he ended up in Georgia.
THE EARLY YEARS
“As a kid,” he reminisced, “I
actually dreamed of being a tug
boat captain. But there was a problem. When studying at the state
Maritime College, I found I would
become seasick. So this was never
going to be the career for me and
I’d have to work landside. Instead of
being a captain, I went into terminal
operations working with vessels.”
“I gravitated to Virginia to run
a small terminal that was owned
by Sealand and then went to APM
Terminals,” he continued. (A stint
as terminal manager for APM Terminals in the late 1990s and then
becoming the organization’s vice
president of sales for North America, enhanced his knowledge of
both sides of the business.) “Then
I went to New Jersey at Bayonne
(harbor). While there I got a call
from a search firm in October of
2010 about a job at the Georgia
Ports Authority. I went through an
interview process and Curtis Foltz,
who was executive director at the
continued the GPA tradition but
sometimes you have to make bigger shifts to keep up.”
One such “shift” beginning
six or seven years ago involved
soaring e-commerce sales which
caused the two ports to be overwhelmed with even more volumes of cargo. “That really was
a challenge that taxed capacity,
especially the loading, unloading
and storage of containers in Savannah,” he said. “At major ports
across the nation, in California and
KEEPING PACE WITH GROWTH
the Northeast as well as SavanBefore becoming CEO, Lynch
nah, dozens of ships were forced
worked as the chief operating
to wait in line for service. Working
officer for five years overseeing the through that was a challenge.”
GPA’s rise to becoming the sinDuring the COVID period,
gle largest container terminal in
growth exploded at the Georgia
North America and second busiest Ports Authority, and the team was
U.S. auto port. “When I arrived in
incredibly resilient in adapting caGeorgia,” he told me, “I had a great pacity to meet demand. But all that
team and heavy construction
was then and this is now.
ongoing at the terminal. As I look
During my Savannah port tour
back, my contribution in the early I saw where projects in recent
years was just to carry on how to
keep pace with the growth. We
time, thankfully hired me in March
2011. It was the greatest decision I
had ever made.”
“I didn’t know much about the
Ports Authority but knew it was
a great and growing operation
known nationally and around the
world. My family and I had never
been to Georgia before but I came
aboard the GPA in March 2011.”
The GPA board chairman at the
time was prominent Georgia businessman Alec Poitevint.
M AR C H /A PRIL 2026
15
