How I Made It: Richard McKenna of the Marine Exchange of Southern California
The gig: Richard B. McKenna is executive director of the Marine Exchange of Southern California, a key local agency that few outside the international trade industry know about. The nonprofit Marine Exchange tracks the arrivals, dock time, loading and unloading, maintenance, supply purchase times, refuelings and departures of the thousands of commercial vessels that enter the nation’s busiest seaport complex.
It’s vital information that sets every activity at the port in motion. From the information the Marine Exchange provides, trucking companies know when to send their drivers to pick up or deliver cargo. The longshore union knows how many crane operators, foremen, clerks and dockworkers will be needed to load and unload. Shipping agents, freight forwarders and consolidators know when the cargo can be moved. Customers around the world know that their goods have arrived safely. Railroads know how many locomotives and rail cars will be needed, and when.
“We’re here to provide a comprehensive picture of everything that is happening at the ports,” McKenna said, noting the rivalry for business between Los Angeles and Long Beach, the No. 1 and No. 2 container ports, respectively, in the nation. “We’re honest brokers of information.”
Building sailors: McKenna is board secretary for the Los Angeles Maritime Institute, a nonprofit organization providing sailing instruction as a character-building vehicle for at-risk, underprivileged youth. McKenna also serves on the board of the International Trade and Education Program to encourage high school students’ interest in the maritime industry and is a trustee of the Port of Los Angeles High School, San Pedro’s charter maritime high school.
“It’s good to show these kids that there is a world out there beyond the three or four city blocks where they spend most of their time,” McKenna said.
Working on the waterfront: McKenna, 68, spent 38 years in the Navy, retiring as a captain. In an era when more Americans have served in war zones than at any other time since the Vietnam War, he notes that one of the advantages of moving from military to civilian work is the confidence of knowing that he has already handled the most stressful situations he is ever likely to face. In Vietnam, during the 1968 Tet offensive, for example, McKenna was ordered to take his boat up the Saigon River for a “smoke test.” That was a euphemism, he said, “for seeing whether anyone would shoot at us.” During the 1980s and the Iran-Iraq war, McKenna served as commodore of a destroyer squadron, escorting U.S.-flagged oil tankers through the Persian Gulf amid occasional rocket fire.
Most embarrassing moment: In Vietnam, watching the anchor chain of his boat, a World War II-era landing craft, run out and out and then follow the anchor right off the vessel and into the water. It wasn’t connected to anything.
Most gratifying moment: Escorting the battered remnants of the South Vietnamese navy to the Philippines just before the war was lost. Five women gave birth along the way. One named her child after the ship, the destroyer escort Kirk.
Personal: McKenna has been married for 22 years to Susan, who runs a coffee shop and deli in San Pedro called the Nosh Cafe. They have two children, daughter Emily, 21, and son William, 19.
Team spirit: McKenna won people over in his current job by proving he knew the value of teamwork. “You have to believe in the people you work with and work for. You have to learn to depend on them. You have to try to get their best out of them. Ninety-five percent of the people you meet really want to do a good job. You have to believe in that.”
The perfect closing act: McKenna says he has the ideal job for this stage in his career. “When I left the Navy, I said I always wanted to work at a major harbor. Now, I work over one. I get to participate in almost every aspect of the ports and how they do business. I’m like the proverbial kid in the candy store.”
