Long Beach Port Appoints 4 Executives

 

The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners continued to fill key positions in Harbor Department leadership ranks this week with four additional appointments of experienced executives to oversee Port of Long Beach operations.

The four professionals all have long and valuable experience in their fields of engineering, maintenance and finance, and come from outside the Port of Long Beach. Two of the positions are newly created and two were vacated earlier this year.

Duane Kenagy has been appointed to the newly created position of Capital Programs Executive to oversee the Port’s capital improvement program and will report directly to the Chief Executive. Kenagy has 30 years of experience in engineering and management and has been with the Moffatt & Nichol engineering consulting firm since 1994, where he has risen to Senior Vice President. He has had a vast range of roles domestically and internationally in major construction projects and has focused on goods movement and transportation, including the type of projects underway at the Port. He has a bachelor’s in structural engineering from Oregon State University, and he is a registered Civil Engineer in California.

Also appointed to a newly created engineering leadership position is Diane Pierson, the new Director of Project Controls. Pierson comes to the Port from City of Hope medical center in Duarte where she was Project Controls Manager from 2011 to 2014. Prior to that, she was Chief of Project Controls for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers -- Los Angeles District from 2000-2011, where her work included oversight of project controls for Army Corps dredging projects at the Port of Long Beach. Earlier project controls positions were with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Raytheon and Ebasco Constructors Inc. Pierson has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from San Diego State University. The new Project Controls Division is part of Engineering’s Program Delivery Group, and will focus on cost and schedule oversight of development programs.

Betsy Christie, who recently served as Chief Financial Officer for container terminal company NYK Terminals from 2008 to 2013, has been appointed the new Director of Finance for the Port of Long Beach. Before NYK, she worked for LifeMasters Supported SelfCare, where she held various positions -- CEO, VP Finance/Controller, and Accounting Manager. Christie has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and an MBA from California State University, Fullerton. She is also a Certified Public Accountant.

The new Director of Maintenance, Fred Greco, has 29 years of maintenance management experience with airports, cargo operations, surface transportation, rail and public works. He has been the Public Works Operations Superintendent with the City of Anaheim since February 2013.  Prior to that, he was the Deputy Director of Operations and Maintenance for the Sacramento County Airport System from 2002-2012. From 1985 to 2002, he held various positions with the Tulsa (Okla.) Airport Authority, the last position as Facilities Chief. Greco has a bachelor’s in aeronautical operations from San Jose State University and a master’s in Natural Science from Oklahoma State University. The Port’s Maintenance Division is part of the Engineering Services Bureau’s Design and Maintenance Group.

The Port of Long Beach is one of the world’s premier seaports, a gateway for trans-Pacific trade and a trailblazer in goods movement and environmental stewardship. With 140 shipping lines connecting Long Beach to 217 seaports, the Port handles $180 billion in trade annually, supporting thousands of Southern California jobs.