The last time the S.C. State Ports Authority looked for a new leader from the outside it brought in an international headhunting firm.

The nearly $100,000 recruitment effort in early 2009 took four months and attracted more than 100 potential candidates from across the globe.

The SPA elected to skip that step in its latest CEO search, a breakneck, hush-hush process that took all of 46 days from start to finish.

The agency didn't need to look far. The far-and-away top pick was running a business about 15 miles away in North Charleston, just across the Cooper River from the port’s Mount Pleasant headquarters.

After a pair of closed-door sessions, the SPA’s board of directors voted unanimously early last week to hire Micah Wallace as their next president and chief executive officer.

He

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