Michael Duffy: “Working together is the key to positive change.”

Stewardship might seem like an archaic concept in this day and age, but it is more relevant now than ever. We are surrounded by glorious bounty, especially here in the Central Valley, from the abundant farmers markets that bless us every harvest season to the cool waters of the Delta. Our location is perfect, close to some of the most beautiful and cosmopolitan places in the world. But the Central Valley doesn’t belong to us alone; it also belongs to future generations. We should all do our part in ensuring the beauty of our county will last for centuries to come, to be good stewards and take care of it for the sake of our children and our children’s children.

Michael Duffy, a lifelong resident of Stockton and humanitarian, has long considered himself a steward of his beloved hometown. He has dedicated his life and career to helping his neighbors, and not just those living adjacent to him: “My neighborhood is the county!” he said. “There’s nothing that ignites more happiness in me than to see my neighbors living a good life.” From his childhood playing along the Delta to his current position as port commissioner, Michael has worked tirelessly to preserve the beauty of San Joaquin County for the generations that will follow in his footsteps.

Backyard Creek to Broader Shores
Born into a loving Irish Catholic family, Michael grew up on the north side of Stockton with the values of “God, family, and community” always at the forefront of his mind. A creek ran right behind his backyard and their home was adjacent to the Holt Ranch, which gave them permission to hunt and fish on the land. Michael said he had “a perfect childhood. growing up in a place like that.” Although their neighborhood was near the amenities of the city, the creek and ranch property gave them the beauty and adventures of country life. His childhood was something straight out of a storybook; with his siblings, Michael would build crawdad traps and rafts as they played on the creek and into the greater channel. That little creek first opened his eyes to the rest of the world. “The creek was connected in a larger way to the greater Delta. At the port there were ships that came in from around the world and the naval base, and it was all connected to the little creek behind my house,” Michael said. “It gave me a great appreciation for the Delta.”

On feast days and holidays, Michael’s parents would invite sailors from the port to come celebrate with them and go into town to shop. He remembers stories from faraway lands and their eagerness as they browsed their local stores with new wares and fresh produce. The sailors’ excitement helped him see many things he took for granted about his hometown, such as its beautiful agriculture and abundant markets and its port with access to the wide world beyond. “The world comes into Stockton through the port,” he said. “We’re connected to everything everywhere!” After serving as a page in Congress during his junior year in high school, Michael attended San Francisco State University to study international relations, pursuing his ongoing interest in the ways the world is interconnected. Once he graduated with his degree, he spent a few years working all around the globe, interacting with different people and their cultures. Some of his favorite jobs were aboard ships, sailing and seeing the world that he’d heard stories about from the sailors sitting around his parents’ dining table.

No Place Like Home
After his travels, Michael found himself moving back to Stockton to settle down. There, he met his wife, and they raised their two children together as he pursued his career. “You can get far away from Stockton, but it always calls back,” he said with a laugh. “I could not ask for a better hometown, our community, our geography, everything about Stockton. You can’t replace good land and good people, there’s no substitute.” Michael earned his international MBA from Pepperdine University and had a successful career managing the Financial Center Credit Union for 30 years before he retired. Every day, he brought his passion for making the world a better place into work with him. “I helped people to become the best that they can be and live to their full potential through access to credit,” he said, reminiscing on how he explained his job to his young children. He loved being able to support people in their financial goals and help take care of members of the community: “I couldn’t ask for a better career in helping people.”

That theme of helping others is woven throughout Michael’s life from a young age. “My parents wanted us to be good citizens,” he said, “with a responsibility to take care and steward the future.” His family taught him that working to make the community a better place was not a chore or a line item to add to a resume, but rather a privilege and an honor as a responsible citizen. When asked where his love for helping others started, he points to his very first job. “It started with being the milk monitor in first grade!” he said. He still proudly shows off his first-grade school picture, when he donned a bow tie for the first time. Ever since he raised his hand to volunteer for that job, he’s been finding ways to help people. “If there was an opportunity to help the greater good, to help the group as a whole, I found that opportunity and did my best to make things better,” he said. “It’s no surprise that later in life I’d be doing the same thing!” He continues to raise his hand to help those around him; he currently sits as the president and CEO of the San Joaquin Community Foundation, which works to bring resources and opportunities to those with the greatest needs in the county. He also has worked with St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Stockton for many years and is currently involved with their Tower expansion project slated to be finished in 2030.

Returning to the Waters
Even after his retiring from his professional career, Michael continued to look for ways to give back to the people around him. “I prefer to see what I can do to help without being too loud and out front,” he said, “Keeping your head down and working for a goal is the way to achieve it.” Remembering his joyful adventures playing along the backyard creek, he began to look for ways to help preserve the environmental beauty that enriched his childhood so much. He found his place at the Port of Stockton, and in 2013, the Stockton City Council appointed Michael as port commissioner. “I’ve gone to work since then really looking to leverage this asset for the present but also for the future,” he said. “The port is a lever of our economic engine. This is what can throttle us up or throttle us down, and if we steward it correctly, it can continue to pay off for generations to come.”

For more than a decade, Michael has dedicated his time and energy toward maintaining and growing the port while also looking for ways to make it more environmentally conscious. The Port of Stockton is a geostrategic asset that’s often overlooked. Every year, the port works with over 55 countries, importing and exporting goods as well as conducting its domestic business. It stands as an example of human ingenuity; the complex systems and machinery never cease to amaze Michael. “I’m amazed at human beings and what they’ve been able to do and how they’ve been able to mechanize,” he said, describing conveyor belts that stretch for blocks and cranes that stretch stories into the sky. But his absolute favorite part of the job is looking toward the future and finding ways to improve the way the port operates to keep it operating in a way that preserves both its usefulness and its beauty. “Long-term strategic planning is one of my favorite activities,” he said. “I want to devote my energies to what makes things better for the next generation; everything stems from that at this point.”

Small Actions, Big Impacts
Again and again, Michael returns to the creek that played such a pivotal role in his childhood formation, seeing it as a metaphor for our connection to the greater world. Just like that creek feeds into the sea, we are all connected to the greater whole, and everything we do has a ripple effect that impacts the larger community. All of us are called to be stewards of the gifts we have been given, and all of us should ensure those gifts will pass on to the next generations. Even the smallest actions can lead to positive changes, and Michael is one of the first to urge everyone to do whatever they can to make the world a better place. He encourages those around him to get involved in any way they can, from helping at clean-up days to participating in food drives, every small action brings the community closer together. “I’m not so important; we’re all important,” he said. “The more of us that become a small part in what happens here, the more things we can do together.” He emphasizes cooperation over complaining: no problem is too big when enough people come together to tackle it. “There are so many ways in our daily lives, if we just take a moment to think about how we fit in and think of others, that we can come together and make large issues into small, manageable things,” Michael said. He dreams of a future when all of us come together to steward the land around us, passing it on like a precious gift to our children. “Working together is the key,” he said.