Port Of Oswego Executive Director/CEO Scriber Announces Dec. 31 Retirement

William Scriber, executive director and CEO, Port of Oswego Authority (POA), has announced that he will be retiring from his position, Dec. 31, 2024.

OSWEGO, NY –William Scriber, executive director and CEO, Port of Oswego Authority (POA), has announced that he will be retiring from his position, Dec. 31, 2024.

            “It’s been a privilege to have helped guide the Port to new heights of expansion, diversified clients, and greater tonnage over the past five years,” Scriber said.  “As Lloyd Blankfein said, when he was preparing to retire as chairman/CEO of Goldman Sachs, ‘It’s always been hard for me to imagine leaving. When times are tougher, you can’t leave. And when times are better, you don’t want to leave.’ “For me,” Scriber said, “It feels like the right time to pass the torch to someone else.”

            ““William Scriber’s leadership and vision have returned the Port of Oswego to prominence as a maritime commerce leader,” said Thomas Schneider, POA board member and audit committee chair. “Bill stepped into the Executive Director position during a very challenging time for the Port.  His work ethic, drive and determination have secured millions in development and expansion, while simultaneously broadening our customer base to include new markets and materials. Thanks to his foresight, the Port is in an ideal position to continue to grow and prosper.”

In Dec. 2017, Scriber was asked by the POA board to serve as acting director. At that time, Scriber said, the Port had lost customers and there was an overall decrease in business. Scriber said he immediately went to work engaging former and existing customers to secure both their return and expanded business respectively. “I made numerous trips to Albany to the Department of Transportation and the governor’s office and began developing a ‘comeback’ plan for the Port. This led to the Port of Oswego’s Vision 20/30 that set a road map for achieving economic stability and long-term success.”

As a result, over the past five years, the Port has made a dramatic comeback. Among the milestones were the first Robert J. Lewis Pacesetter Award the Port had received in many years. The award recognized increases in international cargo tonnage shipped through the port during the 2018 navigation season. Since then, the Port has won a Pacesetter award for four of the past five years.

Scriber also started a major expansion program to increase capabilities. This led to his securing funds for planning and construction of the 22,000 metric ton, $15 million New York State Grain Export Center that affords more than 100 local farmers the opportunity to ship their grain from Oswego, rather than having to “long haul” it to ports like Baltimore. In addition to bringing in new customers to export grain, Scriber’s efforts also resulted in new soybean shipments to international markets.

During this time, Scriber also acquired funding to add eight slips to the Oswego Marina and secure an additional $2.1 million to construct the Goble deep-water marina on the Port’s West Pier. Other milestones during Scriber’s tenure include:

• Applying for and receiving funds for rail improvement and expansion projects that will ultimately create the largest, private rail yard in Oswego County when projects are completed in 2025. Part of that includes replacing the Port’s diesel rail car mover with an environmentally friendlyelectric rail car mover. Port rail traffic has quadrupled over the past three years.
• Since becoming executive director, Scriber has secured and overseen more than $7.2 million in dock improvements and reconstruction.
• Raising the Port’s visibility and recognition led, in 2022, to Oswego having the largest amount of wind turbine components shipped here over any other port in New York State that year, Scriber said.
• Scriber worked to create the first and only Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ), in Oswego County. An FTZ allows companies to save time and money on duties, tariffs, logistics and production costs because there is no outlay for duty while goods are stored in an FTZ.
• In 2023, a US/Canadian study determined that the Port contributed more than $half-a-billion in economic activity to the region.
• Scriber was the first Port of Oswego executive director to be named secretary of the Great Lakes Ports Association, and he was a keynote speaker at the 2022 Transportation Go! Conference in Milwaukee, WI, which focuses on soybean and grain transportation trade issues. He was also a keynote conference speaker in 2018 and 2022 for H2O, an organization offering shippers direct access to commercial, industrial and agricultural heartland of North America.
• Scriber was named to New York State’s Transportation Power 100 List this year and to the Economic Development Power 100 List in 2023.

Scriber, a U.S. Army veteran, served in the U.S. Army Special Operations Command during Desert Shield – Desert Storm and is a graduate of the Army’s logistics school.  He also holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree (BA) from SUNY Oswego and has earned the CPE, Certified Port Executive™ credential. He has also worked at a logistics company in Syracuse, served as the Oswego County Commissioner of Elections, and joined the Port of Oswego staff in 2010. He served as Manager of Port Logistics from 2010 to 2017 and served as executive director since 2018.

The Port of Oswego’s strategic location at the crossroads of the Northeastern North American shipping market, puts them less than 350 miles from 60 million people.

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