Port People: Manatee, New Orleans, New York/New Jersey, Tacoma
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Betsy Benac has been elected to a one-year term as chairwoman of the Manatee County Port Authority, according to the governing board of Port Manatee.
Ms. Benac is a former professional planner who served from 1983 to 1994 as Manatee County’s assistant planning director.
Also elected to one-year terms at the port authority’s December 17 meeting were: John Chappie, first vice chairman; Charles Smith, second vice chairman; and Robin DiSabatino, third vice chairwoman.
As chairwoman, Ms. Benac succeeds Carol Whitmore, who remains on the board. The other board members are Vanessa Baugh and Larry Bustle.
The port authority board consists of the seven members of the elected Manatee County Commission, but with distinctively separate officers and financial accountability. Members of the authority board serve four-year staggered terms. Officers are elected annually.
Betsy Benac
Photo/Port Manatee
New Orleans: Board of Port Commissioners Elects William T. Bergeron Chairman
The Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans on December 17 elected William T. Bergeron chairman. Mr. Bergeron represents St. Bernard Parish and joined the Board in November 2012 following his appointment by Gov. Bobby Jindal. He succeeds Scott H. Cooper, whose term as chairman expired this month.
Mr. Cooper will continue to serve as a commissioner.
In addition, Mr. Michael W. Kearney was elected vice chairman and Mr. Robert R. Barkerding, Jr., secretary-treasurer.
Mr. Bergeron is managing director of Bergeron Resources, a diversified management, investment and consulting firm involved in oil and gas properties throughout Louisiana and Texas. Bergeron Resources also participates in real estate projects and maritime and transportation services in Louisiana and Mississippi.
The board consists of seven commissioners, who are unsalaried and serve five-year staggered terms. The Governor of Louisiana appoints board members from lists of three nominees submitted by local civic, labor, education and maritime groups. The board reflects the three-parish jurisdiction, with four members from Orleans Parish, two from Jefferson Parish and one from St. Bernard Parish. The other board members are Greg Rusovich, Laney J. Chouest and Arnold B. Baker.
William T. Bergeron
Photo/Port of New Orleans
New York/New Jersey: Port Authority Promotes Director Responsible For Rebuilding World Trade Center to Oversee Agency Capital Projects
Steven Plate – a 30-year employee of The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey who for the past decade has overseen the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site – has been promoted to the newly created position of chief of major capital projects.
In that capacity, Mr. Plate will oversee projects including the Port Authority Bus Terminal replacement, the PATH-to-Newark Liberty International Airport extension, the Bayonne Bridge "Raise the Roadway" navigational clearance project, and the emerging Gateway Tunnel project.
He will focus on ensuring on-time, on-budget project delivery, while working closely with various stakeholders, for these challenging, complex transportation mega-projects, the agency announced. He will continue to oversee and be responsible for World Trade Center construction and report to the agency’s executive director.
Mr. Plate began his port authority career in 1985. Prior to his service at the World Trade Center site, he oversaw the management and delivery of the port authority’s $2 billion JFK AirTrain system, delivering the project on time and under budget.
Immediately prior to his promotion, Mr. Plate was deputy chief of capital planning/director of World Trade Center construction, and has overseen the rebuilding efforts since 2006.
"Steve epitomizes what it means to be a ‘master builder’," said Port Authority Executive Director Pat Foye. "During his distinguished career, he has tackled two of the agency’s most challenging, high-profile construction projects – JFK AirTrain and the World Trade Center rebuilding – and through his perseverance and determination has gotten these projects to where they are today. As we return the port authority to its core mission of transportation, we are allocating our most valuable resource – our talented people - to those efforts."
Steven Plate
Photo/Port Authority of New York & New Jersey
Bacon to lead 2016 Tacoma Port Commission; Johnson and Petrich sworn in
Port of Tacoma commissioners named Connie Bacon to lead the 2016 commission at their December 17 meeting. Commissioners Don Johnson and Clare Petrich also were sworn in following their November re-elections.
Commissioner Bacon, who was first elected to the commission in November 1997, succeeds Commissioner Johnson as president.
The port’s five commissioners are elected to office by local voters to terms of four years. Officer positions rotate yearly. The other commissioners are: Dick Marzano, vice president; Don Meyer, secretary; Clare Petrich, first assistant secretary; and Don Johnson, second assistant secretary.
Connie Bacon serves as adviser to the Asia Pacific Cultural Center and Fuzhou Committee, and is co-founder of Water Partners Tacoma. She also serves on the Center for Urban Waters board and the Port of Tacoma Audit Committee.
She received the World Trade Center Tacoma’s Lifetime Achievement award in 2013, and was co-recipient with Commissioner Petrich of the Tacoma Propeller Club’s 2015 Master Mariner Person of the Year award.
Commissioner Bacon is a former executive director of the World Trade Center Tacoma and served eight years as special assistant to former Washington Gov. Booth Gardner. She is a graduate of Syracuse University and holds a master’s degree from The Evergreen State College.
Connie Bacon
Photo/Port of Tacoma
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