Hearken to this textThe Port of New Orleans has a brand new chief.
The Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA) has appointed world maritime trade veteran Beth Ann Department to the place of President & CEO of Port NOLA and CEO of the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad (NOPB). The brand new appointments are efficient Dec. 1, 2024.
“After a complete nationwide search, it turned clear that Beth Ann Department is the visionary chief wanted to assist transfer Port NOLA and Louisiana ahead,” mentioned Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry. “Her deep understanding of the business panorama and her monitor document of fostering fast financial progress will be sure that our State stays a essential participant within the world provide chain. With Beth on the helm, we’re poised to strengthen our state’s position because the premier commerce and commerce gateway to the nation.”
Department is a globally acknowledged business strategist with greater than 20 years of expertise within the transportation and logistics trade. Department joins Port NOLA from the Alabama Port Authority in Cellular, the place she has served as Chief Industrial Officer since 2021. Department replaces EVP and CFO Ronald Wendel Jr., who served as Port NOLA’s Performing President & CEO and Performing CEO of NOPB. Within the interim position and transitional interval, Wendel moved ahead key strategic initiatives, such because the $1.8 billion-dollar Louisiana Worldwide Terminal.
Wendel stuffed in on the management roles when former President and CEO Brandy Christian stepped down in mid-June 2024 to pursue a non-public sector alternative. Christian was additionally the CEO of the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad after the port acquired it in 2018.
The nationwide search was performed by the manager search agency Korn Ferry. Former Port NOLA and NOPB
Chairman Joseph Toomy was important in overseeing the search course of.
“Beth brings a unprecedented depth of maritime experience and worldwide commerce expertise to the Port of New Orleans,” mentioned Toomy. “Her forward-thinking imaginative and prescient will likely be instrumental in advancing key strategic initiatives which can be essential to our long-term success. Below Beth’s management, we’re assured that the Port will attain new heights and drive sustainable progress for each the area and the worldwide commerce group.”
Previous to Department’s position in Alabama, she led enterprise improvement and worldwide advertising for the Port of Oakland’s maritime division. All through her tenure at each areas, Department spearheaded strategic initiatives that resulted in document container volumes, considerably boosting throughput and operational success. Moreover, Department labored in varied management positions at Maersk for 18 years within the firm’s U.S. regional headquarters exterior New York and world headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The Chairman of Port NOLA and NOPB, Mike Thomas, mentioned Department is “precisely the form of chief we have to information our subsequent part of progress.”
“Her in depth expertise, strategic mindset and confirmed capacity make her uniquely certified to tackle this essential position,” mentioned Thomas. “As we proceed to advance transformative tasks, Beth’s management will likely be important in positioning the Port as a number one pressure in worldwide commerce and a key driver of financial prosperity for our area.”
Along with her expertise within the maritime trade, Department has 10 years of expertise in program improvement and administration within the nonprofit sector, together with location oversight of a U.S. Company for Worldwide Growth grant in Japanese Europe. Beth obtained a Bachelor of Arts from Duke College and a Grasp of Enterprise Administration from the College of North Carolina.
“I’m actually honored to affix the Port NOLA and NOPB groups,” mentioned Department. “Port NOLA performs an important position in driving financial progress for our area and state, and I sit up for constructing on this robust basis in world commerce. Collectively, we are going to pave the best way for extra alternatives, creating jobs and driving the economic system. I’m wanting to work with leaders in any respect ranges as we proceed to put money into infrastructure and safe long-term prosperity for Louisiana.”
