San Diego port still searching for new CEO — minus one commissioner

The Port District of San Diego met three times this week in closed sessions to discuss the selection of the powerful agency’s next leader — but without one of the commission’s longest-serving members.

In a surprise move Commissioner Dan Malcolm, appointed to the agency in 2011 representing Imperial Beach, announced Monday he was not going to be part of any future discussions, and won’t cast a vote.

“I just wanted to announce that I am going to be abstaining from any further participation in the CEO search process,” Malcolm said before the commission headed into a closed session.

He didn’t give any reason, and when contacted twice this week declined to elaborate. 

“The statement is going to have to speak for itself,” he said. 

The timing is odd. Before this week, the board had met eight times in closed sessions since March to discuss the search for a successor to former CEO Joe Stuyvesant. 

Malcolm did not abstain from any of those meetings. 

He declined to say in an interview with inewsource if he had a legal conflict, or if he had consulted with lawyers for the district. 

Malcolm’s decision comes four months after the port formally launched its search for a successor to Stuyvesant. He resigned in January, months after being abruptly placed on administrative leave and subject to a lengthy investigation by an outside law firm for reasons that the commission has never made public. He departed after reaching a settlement agreement that paid out $371,000.

The CEO is the top administrator at the port, overseeing a workforce of more than 600 people that manages 34 miles of waterfront property encompassing five cities. The job description posted by the port compared the port district to “a small county” and said the CEO had to be “both a diplomat and expert facilitator.”

The position’s annual salary range was listed as $350,000 to $425,000.

Selection of a leader who will have to navigate the varied interests — from member cities to maritime industries to labor unions — is one of the most critical decisions commissioners make. Malcolm’s decision to abstain means that Imperial Beach’s lone representative on the board will not have a say in selecting that next leader.

The commissioners met in another closed session Friday morning to discuss the CEO opening but concluded without taking any public action.

After putting Stuyvesant on leave in July 2023, the port brought back former CEO Randa Coniglio out of retirement to serve as acting CEO, a position she still holds. Under state pension rules Coniglio can’t work more than 960 hours per year — or 24 full work weeks. 

A port spokesperson said Thursday that Coniglio is working part time and her time is being tracked hourly. She worked the full 960 hours last fiscal year. With the new fiscal year beginning July 1, she re-started with a new allotment of 960 hours. 

Shadowing the search for a replacement for Stuyvesant is speculation that former commissioner Rafael Castellanos could be in the running for CEO. Four days after Stuyvesant resigned, Castellanos announced he too was leaving, citing professional and personal reasons. 

He said at the time he was not interested in being the CEO, though he had asked the state Fair Political Practices Commission a few months prior if state law barred him from holding the job.

The FPPC responded that as long as there were no discussions or considerations of the CEO position while Castellanos was a commissioner, he would not violate the law if he sought and got the post. 

Last month the online news site La Prensa, citing unnamed sources within the agency, reported Castellanos was being pushed by a majority of commissioners to take the job. Castellanos did not respond to a request for comment from inewsource. 

Malcolm declined to say if his decision was motivated by the speculation over Castellanos returning as CEO.

“I’m not going to answer that question, other than to say — I have made the decision to abstain,” he said.