IMMEDIATE RELEASE             March 12, 2003

Duluth, Minn., U.S.A.—Great Lakes maritime and transportation veteran Adolph N. Ojard was appointed executive director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority at a special meeting of the board of commissioners today (March 12).
Ojard, who will join the Port Authority staff April 1, will succeed Davis Helberg who is retiring March 31 after more than 24 years as Duluth port director and 40-plus years in the Great Lakes maritime industry.

In his new position, Ojard will be the Port Authority’s chief executive officer. Port Authority policy is set by a seven-member board made up of three appointees by the Duluth City Council, two by the St. Louis County Board and two by the governor of Minnesota. Each appointment is for six years.

“ I look forward to working in the maritime community, having progressed during the last 30 years from labor and union president to executive positions in rail, inland barging and Great Lakes shipping,” Ojard said.

Ojard, 53, spent more than 30 years with various affiliates of the United States Steel Corporation, and served from 1999 through 2001 as general manager of both the DM&IR and the then-USS Great Lakes Fleet. For the past year he has acted as business development director of Krech Ojard and Associates, a fixture among the region’s engineering firms since 1984.

A native of Knife River, Minn., Ojard earned a bachelor of science degree in literature and history and minored in political history, graduating with honors from the University of Minnesota-Duluth in 1971. He joined the DM&IR the same year as a Duluth dock worker, and later served as president of the Brotherhood of Railway & Airline Clerks union. He was promoted to a management position in 1975 and was dock manager of the DM&IR dock in Two Harbors from 1980 to 1983.

He then served as manager of administrative services for US Steel’s Pittsburgh & Conneaut Dock Company in Conneaut, Ohio, through 1987. He became director of equipment utilization for Transtar, Inc./Bessemer & Lake Erie Railway, Pittsburgh, Pa., through 1991, then served as superintendent of the DM&IR in Duluth until 1994, when he was elected as president of the Warrior & Gulf Navigation Company, Mobile, Ala. He returned to Duluth as general manager of the then-USS Great Lakes Fleet from 1997 through 1999.

Ojard serves on the board of directors of the Lake Superior Marine Museum Association and Northland Country Club. He previously served on the City of Mobile Chamber of Commerce Executive and the Greater Mobile Boy Scouts of America boards, and was a member of the American Association of Railroads Committee on Car Service.

Long associated with the regional maritime industry, Ojard is the son of the late Adolph Ojard, Sr., last master of Two Harbors’ legendary steam tug Enda G. The Edna G., built in 1896, was for many years the oldest working tug in the United States. She was retired in 1981 and is now on permanent display in Two Harbors.

" I was on that vessel many, many times as a young boy. I have a lot of fond memories there, and of the local harbor as well," Ojard said.

Ojard and his wife Leigh Ann reside in Duluth and are the parents of two adult daughters.

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CONTACT: Lisa Marciniak, Port Promotion Manager

218-727-8525

More Press Releases, 2003