Ports chief harbors hope for expansion.

• Author: Rauch, Joe
• Position: PEOPLE - Tom Eagar,deputy executive director of Ports Authority

Given the choice, Tom Eagar would probably prefer to be elbow-deep in an engine block of one of the Corvettes--six, so far--that he restores. "My cars have won a few show awards, but the reward really is in the process, not any payment at the end." Good thing, then, that he keeps his day job as chief executive of the N.C. State Ports Authority.

Bringing three decades of shipping experience, Eagar, 63, came to work for the Ports Authority as deputy executive director of operations in 2000. In March 2004, he became interim CEO after Erik Stromberg resigned at the request of the board of directors. Last August, the $150,000-a-year position became permanent.

His first job on the docks was behind the steering wheel of a delivery truck. After graduating from high school, he spent four years working in garages around his hometown of Torrance, Calif. Drafted into the Army in 1964, he spent two years as an infantryman and truck driver, including a tour in Vietnam. "It was then I resolved that I was going back to school."

He graduated from California State University in Long Beach in 1970 with a bachelor's in business administration. The G.I. Bill and driving a truck paid for college. "I was doing a lot of deliveries and work at the Long Beach docks. That's when I really got interested in the process of the docks."

After graduation, he took a job in Long Beach working for Elizabeth, N.J.-based Sea-Land Service, then a fledgling container shipper. He stayed 23 years, rising to director of transportation services...