The Containerization & Intermodal Institute (CII) is proud to announce that Griff Lynch, CEO of the Georgia Ports Authority, will receive the prestigious Connie Award, and Commissioner Rebecca F. Dye of the Federal Maritime Commission will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the CII Connie Awards Luncheon on December 7, 2026, at the Marriott Newark Liberty Airport Hotel.
“For more than 50 years, the Connie Award has recognized the leaders who shape how the world moves cargo,” CII President Chris Brooks said. “Griff has turned Savannah into the fastest-growing container port in the country, and Rebecca has spent more than two decades shaping the policies that keep American trade competitive. Their impact will be felt across this industry for years to come.”
Griff Lynch oversees two of the most critical gateways in American trade, the nation’s third-busiest port for containerized cargo in Savannah and the busiest U.S. auto port complex in Brunswick, which together form one of the largest economic engines in the Southeastern United States. Under his leadership, Savannah has become one of the fastest-growing container ports in the country, handling nearly 5.6 million TEUs this past fiscal year, a 12.5% increase over the prior year. The GPA board has committed more than $4 billion to expand Ocean Terminal and Savannah Container Terminal, with Mr. Lynch targeting 12.5 million TEUs of capacity by 2035.
Lynch joined the GPA in 2010 and became President and CEO in 2016, after five years as Chief Operating Officer. He brings more than 38 years of operational and commercial experience to the role. Under his direction, the GPA completed the $220 million Mason Mega Rail Terminal, doubling on-terminal rail capacity to nearly 2 million containers a year, and kept cargo moving through the pandemic-era supply chain crisis while posting record volumes, leadership that earned him Georgia Trend’s 2022 Georgian of the Year award.
Commissioner Rebecca F. Dye, Federal Maritime Commission
Rebecca F. Dye was first nominated to the Federal Maritime Commission by President George W. Bush in June 2002 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate that November. She has since served successive terms as a Commissioner under Presidents Bush, Obama, Biden and Trump, a run spanning more than two decades. Few figures in Washington have shaped maritime policy for as long or championed free markets and deregulation as consistently.
At the FMC, Commissioner Dye has led three major fact-finding investigations, looking into vessel capacity and equipment availability, detention and demurrage practices, and pandemic-era cargo delivery challenges, and she chaired its Supply Chain Innovation Team, developing commercial solutions to port congestion. Her influence began years earlier on Capitol Hill, where as Counsel and Staff Director of the House Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee she helped negotiate the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 1998 and the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002. She started her federal career as a Coast Guard officer and attorney and later served as Minority Counsel to the House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries from 1987 to 1995.
At the luncheon, CII will continue its industry education mission by presenting scholarships to students studying logistics, along with the institutions preparing our industry’s future leaders. To date, CII has awarded more than $1 million toward scholarships. Companies interested in supporting industry education can fund a named scholarship through CII starting at $1,000.
