Panama Canal Appoints Diverse Members to Board

The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has appointed six new members to its Advisory Board adding it diversity with members from business, transportation, academia and maritime shipping. The Advisory Board was founded in 1999 at the time of the transfer of the Canal to Panamanian administration. The members of the Advisory Board provide strategic counsel to the ACP and the Board of Directors on various important issues that relate to the management and administration of the Canal including finances, insurance, operations and permanent modernization. The new members are: Admiral William J. Flanagan, Jr., Ret., U.S. Navy, Former Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet; Dr. Ernst Frankel, Professor Emeritus in Ocean Systems and Professor of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Dr. Aaron Gellman, Professor of Management and Strategy, Northwestern University Transportation Center; L. Francis Rooney III, Chairman and CEO, Rooney Brothers Company; Isao Shintani, Chairman of the Board, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. ("K"Line); Captain Wei Jiafu, Group President and CEO, China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO Group). "With our recent move to a market-oriented model and our complete focus on customer service and reliability, we need the best and the brightest to serve on our Advisory Board. These new appointments only reinforce this commitment. These selections will help me and our management team provide the most efficient and reliable Canal service in the world," said ACP Administrator Alberto Alemán Zubieta. Rooney and Dr. Gellman represented the new Board members at the seventh meeting of the ACP Advisory Board which was held in Panama on February 13th and 14th.