James K. “Jimmy” Lyons, director and chief executive of the Alabama State Port Authority, was the speaker before the Sunrise Rotary Club of Mobile on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009 — a moment when the port he ran was in the middle of the largest expansion in its modern history even as the global economy contracted around it.
From 14th to 10th largest
Lyons had led the authority, still widely known in Mobile as the state docks, since July 1, 1999. Over his tenure the port climbed from the 14th to the 10th largest seaport in the country. His 36-year maritime career had run through marketing, financial management, transportation, stevedoring and terminal operations, and he had worked as a consultant advising port managers and shipping lines before taking the Mobile job.
By 2009 he was managing an organization of about 650 employees with revenues approaching $130 million in the 2008 fiscal year and cargo volumes of more than 26 million tons. Under his direction the authority had rebuilt piers, upgraded rail connections and replaced equipment, and had absorbed the post-2001 wave of maritime security requirements — new surveillance and fencing, information technology upgrades, a port police force and compliance with the federal Transportation Worker Identification Credential program.
Pinto Island and the steel mill
The centerpiece of his remarks was the capital program then under construction. The authority was building a $100 million terminal on Pinto Island to serve ThyssenKrupp’s $4.3 billion steel and stainless steel processing complex rising on the Tombigbee River north of Mobile in Calvert.
The ThyssenKrupp project was, at that point, the largest private industrial investment in Alabama history, and the terminal was the link that made it work: slabs arriving by ship from Brazil would be unloaded at Pinto Island and moved upriver by barge to the mill. For an audience of Mobile business people watching layoffs mount across the country, the port’s construction schedule was one of the few unambiguously encouraging economic stories in the region.
Lyons holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and economics from the University of Alabama and completed the executive development program at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. He is married to Beth Marietta Lyons, a Mobile attorney, and they have a son, Patrick.
Youth Merit Award
The club’s Youth Merit Award was presented the previous week to Ashton and Allison Johnson of Little Flower Catholic School, who were photographed with club president Jay Ison.
Interact raises $1,717 for the heart association
The St. Paul’s Interact Club and the school’s Service Leadership class reported the results of their National Wear Red Day effort on Friday, Feb. 6. The students held an out-of-uniform day and a bake sale and raised $1,717 for the American Heart Association’s work against heart disease and stroke. Both organizations are made up of female students, and members said the cause mattered to them because heart disease is the leading killer of women.
The Interact Club was also continuing its “Pretty in Pink Boutique,” accepting donations of gently used prom dresses at St. Paul’s through Saturday, March 7.
Bidding on Bill Gates’s ball cap
Members were pointed to an unusual fundraiser: the baseball cap Bill Gates wore and autographed at Rotary’s 2009 International Assembly was being auctioned on eBay to support Rotary’s $200 Million Challenge for polio eradication, with bidding open through Feb. 12. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation had awarded Rotary International $255 million for the polio fight, bringing the two organizations’ combined commitment to $555 million.
Coming programs
Teeto Graham, program chairman for February, had Estella Dorn, executive director of the Mobile International Festival, scheduled for Feb. 18. There would be no meeting Feb. 25 because of Mardi Gras. March programs, arranged by Billy McLean around Rotary’s literacy theme, were to address illiteracy, poverty and the school dropout problem, closing with a members’ panel on workforce development. Applications also remained open to all students for the RYLA leadership conference April 2-5 at Camp ASCCA on Lake Martin.