College selects Johns '57 as 2010 Keystone Leader
April 2010
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R. Kenneth Johns |
R. Kenneth Johns, a 1957 physical education graduate who served as president and chief operating officer of one of the world's largest and most innovative transportation companies, has been selected as the college's 2010 Keystone Leader-in-Residence.
Johns helped Sea-Land Service, Inc., revolutionize the containerized shipping industry.
Johns, a Mobile, Ala., native, began working with Sea-Land immediately after graduating from Auburn. A former lineman on the Auburn football team, Johns helped pave the way for Sea-Land to change practices in its industry by using specially designed cranes to load and unload detachable metal containers from ships and transfer them to tractor trailer trucks.
Johns served Sea-Land in a variety of roles for 30 years, including president and COO from 1979-87. In 2008, Sea-Land's successor entity, Maersk-Sealand, grossed revenues in excess of $28 billion.
Johns will deliver an open campus lecture Wednesday, April 28, at 11:15 a.m. in Student Center 2310.
After leaving Sea-Land in 1987, Johns founded The Hampshire Management Group, Inc., where he remains chairman and CEO. The firm creates as start-ups, or obtains through acquisition or shareholding alliances, innovative and successful businesses that serve the ocean shipping industry.
Johns, who received the Auburn Alumni Association's Lifetime Achievement Award 
in 2010, is the college's eighth Keystone Leader-in-Residence. Previous honorees include an assortment of Education graduates in industries that include healthcare, banking, public administration, religion, communications and business management. For more information about the Keystone Leader-in-Residence program and its past recipients, click here.
Watch the video 
of Johns' campus lecture
View photos from Johns' campus visit
Watch the Auburn Alumni Association's Lifetime Achievement Award video about Johns
Last Updated: May 17, 2011
