New London ― Ulysses B. Hammond, the interim executive director of the Connecticut Port Authority who helped stabilize an agency wracked by ethical lapses, announced Monday that he will be retiring Aug. 23 and that a permanent replacement is being sought.

Hammond, a former vice president of administration at Connecticut College who had headed boards at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital and the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut, came out of retirement after six years to lead the effort to transform State Pier into a wind turbine assembly and staging area.

Huge overruns had sent project costs spiraling from an initial estimate of $93 million to more than $300 million, and the port authority itself was under investigation for a series of questionable inside deals that Attorney General William Tong determined earlier this year were not part of a broader criminal conspiracy.

Hammond, according to local officials, brought his calm personality and easygoing resolve to help turn around public perception and get the project back on track. The Danish alternative energy company Ørsted, in collaboration with Eversource Energy, already has completed its first State Pier wind turbine project, South Fork Wind, and by later this week expects to start its second, the 65-turbine Revolution Wind.

Asked about the maelstrom accompanying his ascension to lead the port authority, Hammond said, “Turning the narrative around was the challenge.... You have to put all of that noise aside and concentrate on the future and the task at hand.”

“His leadership was transformational,” Mayor Michael Passero said in a phone interview Monday. “Ulysses’ leadership got us through the tough times. ... The controversies have seemed to all gone away.”

“He brought a sense of assurance that everything was on the up and up,” agreed Tony Sheridan, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut, in a phone interview. “Ulysses is able to bring people together in a spirit of goodwill.”

In a news release provided by Hammond, Gov. Ned Lamont praised the port authority leader for his hands-on approach in taking over the State Pier project, at that time the largest construction project in the state.

“With everything he does, Ulysses dedicates himself fully, and his leadership at the Port Authority has been invaluable during this key time in the redevelopment of State Pier,” Lamont stated in the release. “On behalf of the State of Connecticut, I thank Ulysses for his service to the Port Authority and wish him continued success and fulfillment in everything he does.”

In addition to his work in New London with State Pier operator Gateway Terminal, Hammond is credited with overseeing navigation improvements in New Haven and Bridgeport harbors. Future projects, he said, will include dredging near State Pier to allow access of ever bigger ships that are expected to arrive at the port and improvement projects at Fort Trumbull State Park.

Hammond said the offshore wind industry led to the creation of 160 to 180 jobs during the construction at State Pier and continues to employ 75 to 120 people on a daily basis. South Fork Wind brought in $3.5 million to help fund future port projects, while Revolution Wind will add $6.5 million to the coffers, he said.

Revolution Wind, Connecticut’s first offshore wind farm about 35 miles away between Block Island and Martha’s Vineyard, is expected to power more than 350,000 homes in Connecticut and Rhode Island. The 84-turbine Sunrise Wind project powering homes in New York state will be next up.

According to the release, Hammond had just three staff members when he joined the port authority, including a part-time bookkeeper and interim finance director. The group now includes Finance Director Fayola Haynes, office manager Jill Dowling-Moreno, administrative assistant Laurie Epler and the newly hired maritime development manager Eric Dussault.

In his resignation letter to the port authority board of directors and a followup interview, the 73-year-old Hammond said he was glad to have played a “small role” in the decarbonization of the nation by helping to launch the offshore wind industry in America. He said one of the most rewarding parts of his job was interacting with the community, and he reveled in giving tours of State Pier to more than 500 visitors, both local and international, in his more than two years at the helm.

He said that with State Pier now fully functional and professionally managed, “this is the perfect time for a permanent director to take the organization to the next level of prominence and promise.”

“Together we have transformed the administration and solidified the financial and fiscal management of the organization,” he said in his resignation letter that thanked board Chair David Kooris for his “steadfast good counsel and extraordinary support throughout my tenure.”

Hammond said he has told the port authority board that he would be happy to extend his time for a week or two beyond his retirement date to help transition the yet-unnamed permanent director into the role. He added that a professional search firm is currently engaged in seeking out an experienced director, and he said he appreciated that the previous port authority leader, John Henshaw, had been so willing to help him out when Hammond was named to replace him.

As for what he will do in retirement, Hammond indicated golf was tops on his list, as his nearly daily routine was interrupted by his work on the port authority, negatively affecting his handicap.

And he hopes someday to tap into the golf club “insurance” he takes out every year that would cover the cost of buying drinks for everyone if he is able to score a hole in one.

“I’ve never had a hole in one,” he laughed.

l.howard@theday.com