McGinnis Honors Two Industry Veterans With Boat Namings
McGinnis Inc. honored two people instrumental to the company’s success with the naming of newly purchased boats in their honor September 5 in a South Point, Ohio, celebration.
Doug Ruschman and Donna Caviecy each received a framed photograph of the boat named in their honor and had the opportunity to address the crowd.
The mv. Mr. Doug Ruschman was formerly the W.M. Robinson. The twin-screw boat was built in 1978 by Marine Builders, Inc., of Clarksville, Ind. It is 52 feet long by 22 feet wide and has Cat 3408 diesels building a total of 730 hp.
The mv. Donna Caviecy was formerly the Clifty Creek. It is also a twin-screw vessel and was built in 1995 by Steiner Shipyard in Bayou La Batre, Ala. The vessel is 66 feet long by 24 feet wide with Cat 3212DIT diesels and 1,080 horsepower.
McGinnis refurbished both boats in house earlier this year.
Guests at the christening had a chance to walk through the mv. Mr. Doug Ruschman at the conclusion of the ceremony. The mv. Donna Caviecy was already at work for the company. The celebration ended with a dinner that evening at Rocco’s Ristorante in nearby Ceredo, W.Va.
CEO Bruce McGinnis detailed the history of the company, which stretches back for well over a century and now, along with its sister companies, has 54 towboats, shipyards, engine service and repair and fuel docks throughout the river system that employ close to 1,200 people.
He spoke about Ruschman’s involvement and value to the McGinnis companies, noting along the way that Ruschman had asked for a small gathering and not a large event.
In introducing Caviecy, McGinnis noted her work within the industry and said he heard her mention one time that she had worked within it for more than 40 years but doubted anyone would name a boat after her. About three weeks later, he purchased a boat and decided to name it in her honor. While he had intended to surprise her, she found out before he could tell her, he said.
“I’m pleased to name these two vessels after two people I admire,” McGinnis said.
Doug Ruschman
Ruschman, of Maineville, Ohio, has been an attorney for 50 years. He has worked within the maritime industry since 1996. He concluded his career working for the McNational family of companies, including McGinnis, National Maintenance and Repair, Excell Corporation and Mid America Fuels, from 2010 until his retirement in 2023.
In addition to his other duties, Ruschman supervised the safety, human resources, risk and insurance departments. He also worked within the industry as a long-time officer, chairman and editor for the Central Ohio River Business Association (CORBA) and received the Friend of the River Award from the group.
Even after his retirement, Ruschman said, he’s always glad to get a phone call from McGinnis and talk over any thorny issues as a friend, and always gives him his opinion, even if he doesn’t think it will be popular.
“I was flabbergasted,” Ruschman said of finding out McGinnis was naming a boat after him. “It’s something you’d never expect.”
Ruschman said he has been very lucky throughout his career. He was born into a family of 10, and six boys shared the same bedroom, he said.
“One might think that was a terrible experience, but it just brought us closer,” he said.
His father died when he was a senior in high school, but he was able to go to Thomas More University with the help of the local Catholic priest. From there he went on to Chase Law School at Northern Kentucky University.
“I had no real connections with any law firms, and, on the way to the post office to mail out resumes, I got stopped by a train,” he said. “I told my wife that all the big cases were railroad cases, and I applied to the L&N Railroad. I got a job with them, and the rest is history.”
Ruschman made his transition to working with the maritime industry with American Commercial Barge Lines (ACBL), where he met Bruce McGinnis as part of his practice. He later had the opportunity to come to work for him.
In retirement, Ruschman stays busy. He plays golf and pickleball and loves spending time with his three children and 11 grandchildren. In April, he published a novel, “Call Your Next Witness: Special Ops Surveillance,” based, in part, on his litigation experience.
“This is an unbelievable honor to be recognized like this,” Ruschman said. “Bruce McGinnis always treated me with great respect. It was not unusual for me to get a call from someone in operations who had an idea that they had pitched to Bruce. He would tell them that it was OK with him if they had gotten my legal approval. He always made me part of the team.”
Donna Caviecy
Caviecy, of St. Louis, Mo., retired in June 2025 from Osage Marine, where she spent the last seven years of her 45-year career within the maritime industry, working with the company’s Illinois River fleets.
Her career began in 1980, when she went to work for Continental Grain. When that company relocated to Chicago after four years, she went to Merchants Grain and Transportation. That company went out of business, and, in 1993, Caviecy moved to a different side of the industry. She worked for Manley & Manley, a marine surveying and engineering firm. In 2002, she started with AEP River Operations, eventually moving to Jeffersonville, Ind., for 19 months when ACBL acquired the company in 2015. She came back home to St. Louis to finish out her career with Osage Marine.
“I was just looking for a job and lucked out that it was in the river industry,” Caviecy said in looking back over her career.
Caviecy never worked directly for McGinnis, but she worked with McGinnis crews along with many others. While at AEP, she moved from accounting to logistics and dispatched the lower Ohio, Tennessee and Cumberland rivers.
“I got to work with amazing people at all the fleets up and down the rivers,” she said. “McGinnis had a fleet in Cincinnati with two cleaning docks and a fleet in Paducah. I would talk to the guys at each facility at least twice a day, if not more. They would answer any questions I had, and, in the beginning, there were a lot, and they would try to make things work as smoothly as possible. We developed good working relationships that, in a few cases, have turned into lasting friendships.”
Caviecy described her reaction as “shocked” when she found out McGinnis chose to name a boat after her.
“That is a distinction usually reserved for upper management or long-term company employees, of which I was neither,” she said. “It is so special and the biggest honor I have ever received.”
Caviecy said she is enjoying spending her time post-retirement traveling and visiting family and friends.
“ I feel so fortunate to have worked with so many wonderful people in my career,” she said. “We party together when things are good, but we also show up for each other in the bad times. I don’t know if there is another industry that is like that, but I am biased.”
Featured photo caption: (From left) Donna Caviecy, Bruce McGinnis and Doug Ruschman at the September 5 celebration in South Point, Ohio. Caviecy and Ruschman received large framed photos of the boats named after them, the mv. Mr. Doug Ruschman and the mv. Donna Caviecy. (Photo by Capt. David Smith)
