Port of Long Beach Executive Director Mario Cordero will serve a two-year term as the chairman of the board of the American Association of Port Authorities.
Cordero was installed at AAPA’s virtual 2020 Annual Convention on Sept. 21-23, taking over for Port of Grays Harbor Executive Director Gary G. Nelson.
Newly elected directors include Port of Vancouver USA CEO Julianna Marler for the U.S. North Pacific Ports Region; Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka for the U.S. South Pacific Ports Region; Saint John Port Authority President and CEO James Quinn for the Canada Ports Region; and Northwest Seaport Alliance CEO John G. Wolfe (representing the North Pacific Ports Region), for the At-Large seat.
In addition to new elected leadership, AAPA is enacting changes recently voted by its members.
That includes expanding board member terms to two years, streamlining the number of board members from 45 to 11, doing away with the executive committee, mandating that only port CEOs or their equals serve and limiting to two the number of positions available to any of AAPA’s seven board-represented geographic regions and special representation areas, according to AAPA.
AAPA will also add an Academia membership category and a Supply Chain Partners category to diversify its network. “By restructuring and modernizing AAPA’s Board of Directors, I believe it’ll vastly improve the association’s ability with regard to policymaking and other governance issues, enabling us to be more nimble, efficient and effective as a hemispheric membership association,” said AAPA President and CEO Christopher J. Connor “In reducing the size of our board, we still have a diversity of ports of varying sizes and geographic locations represented. I think we’ve struck just the right balance so all voices of our member ports will be heard in crafting AAPA policy and programs, both now and in the years to come.”
