On September 14, 2016, I had the distinguished honor of being asked by Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia, to serve as Chief of Executive Officer and Commissioner of the Liberia Maritime Authority. It was an honor for me to have served for 4 years.
I remain grateful to Madam Presidemt for opportunity afforded me. I will argue that nothing in my parentage or social status warranted this honor but through the blessings of the Almighty, I was asked to serve.
It could only be the Almighty!
After four (4) years of service, I am soldiering on to other things. I hope that I made some impact in the lives and careers of those professionals that I encountered at the Maritime Authority. But if nothing else, they definitely impacted me. I will continue to cherish the memories of the time we spent working together.
I hope I respected and honored them as much as they did to me.
However, in the process of discharging my duties, if I did hurt anyone, I am profoundly sorry and I seek your forgiveness.
In terms of accomplishments at the Authority, I hope that I did leave behind a system of management and operations that is embedded in the DNA of the Authority. I am not concern about infrastructure (the national HQ); I am more concerned about the system and processes that will enable the new leadership of the Authority to achieve more.
I want to thank all the young professionals that I met at the Authority and enormous support they gave me. They taught me a lot.
I am not a maritime professional by training and so I relied on the cadre of technicians at the Authority to achieve the little we did. What I carried to the Authority was a professional management experience that I thought could be used to harness and direct the technical capabilities of the professionals to deliver results.
In my fantasy, we did! But I stand corrected!
I am hopeful that our paths will definitely cross again as I “punctuate” this journey and soldier on….
It’s not good bye; it is see you later
James F. Kollie, Jr. 
You are a great man both in your personal and professional life. The people of Maritime will miss you and that’s for sure. Whenever I meet an employee from there( Maritime), they always spoke kindly of you. May the good Lord strengthens you and continue to direct your path in Jesus name. We are your legacy, you impact something in everyone you encounter no matter how little, it seems to you……. it’s gigantic to us( me especially).
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It was great working with you. We worked closely in moving audit opinions from qualified to unqualified. The processes and procedures put in place steered the authority into a world class corporate entity. We will sure do cross path once more and it was indeed a great pleasure working with you. The team will forever remember JFK. I wish you a blessed sojourn as you explore other career paths.
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Thanks, comrade! I appreciate all you guys
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Well punctuated, the journey of a soldier is to conquer and I am confident you’ve archived that at the Authority….. All the guys say to me is, what kind of human being is this, what is he thinking, why at this time after fighting for so long and my respond is that “I trust his judgment 100%”, and I say let’s wait and see. With time you all will applaud him for the step taken. Alway remember, “”naked we came, naked we shall return” … Bla, Bla, Bla…..
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You brought so much more with you to Maritime. From financial discipline to career and infrastructural development to your humble character and respect for all, your presence was hugely felt by all.
You demystified that office by making it accessible to all, I mean low level staff had the same access top management staff enjoyed. You were never too busy to stop, pay attention and chat with everyone. During your early days while instituting sound financial measures to deal with the enormous debts inherited for which some benefits were suspended prior to you assuming the post, I remembered in one general staff meeting where a senior staff was finding it so difficult to explain to staff why the benefits were not yet restored, you took the floor by empathizing with the general staff and patiently/painstakingly explaining what was really happening (with debt settlements while making salaries current) that everyone started clapping and was much relieved by your detailed/sincere explanation.
That astute act of leadership reinforced my perception that the masses are not the problem in our greater Liberian society but our many arrogant leaders who think they are not answerable to their subjects but instead doing them a favor.
Personally, when I nearly gave up on promotion upon my return from my postgraduate studies, you transferred and promoted me after 9 months when I least expected it. You did tell me then that your focus was to strategically place the right people in the right posts. This you did very effectively without any hard feelings amongst your staff.
Not only that but you took a very keen interest in folks expressing their professional views, so much so that the Marine Monitor Magazine was established under your watchful eyes to better inform the public about maritime affairs. My article (https://www.liberianobserver.com/opinion/seafaring-a-pro-poor-means-of-empowering-liberian-youths/), for instance, was first published in the Marine Monitor.
I could go on and on. All I can say is good things never last long enough. Sure, soldier on Commish, we all will until our paths do cross again. For the humbled, down-to-earth person you are, the Almighty will surely keep blessing you. Thank you so much for impacting us.
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