The Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners has unanimously elected former US Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard as its new President and Diane Middleton as its new VP. Roybal-Allard was appointed to the 5-member Board by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass in May 2023. Former President Jaime Lee has left the Board.

Long Beach, CA, USA: Harbor Commission Vice President Bobby Olvera Jr has been elected as President of the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners, the five-member panel that oversees the Port of Long Beach. Olvera is a fifth-generation longshoreman and serves as International Vice President (Mainland) of the ILWU. The Board also selected Bonnie Lowenthal as Vice President and Frank Colonna as Secretary. Each July, Commissioners select a president and two board officers for one-year terms. The Commission’s new officers will begin their terms at the next regularly scheduled meeting, on Monday, 14 August, when outgoing President Sharon L Weissman will hand the gavel to Olvera. 

Mariusz Wdowczyk has been appointed President of the Management Board of Port of Gdańsk operator PGE Port Gdański Eksploataja SA. With over 20 years business experience, Wdowczyk has joined PGE from RAFAKO EBUS/ARP e-Vehicles and before that he was with Energa Elektrownie Ostrołęka.

Mike Conroy has been appointed as Kalmar Ottawa’s new Director Services, North America. With this promotion, he will take on the responsibility of driving and developing the services business in North America, overseeing both service sales and service operations. Conroy played a pivotal role in the transition of the Princeton Truck Mounted Forklift business from Canal Winchester in Ohio to Ottawa. In 2010, he became the Sourcing and Supplier Development Manager for the Ottawa MAU, overseeing the Global Axle Category for Kalmar as well. In 2018, Conroy assumed Terminal Tractor After Sales responsibilities globally. In light of the promotion, Marques Askins has been named the new Terminal Tractor Parts Manager.

Houston, TX, USA: John P McDonald has been appointed President and COO of ABS. He was appointed SVP and COO in July 2021 and will continue to be COO. Previously, he served as SVP, Global Business Development and Global Marine market sector for ABS, and before that he was SVP, Western Hemisphere Survey Operations.

Morten Engelstoft, the former CEO of Maersk’s APM Terminals, has been elected as the new Chairman of mutual insurer TT Club, as Ulrich Kranich retires from his position after 16 years. Engelstoft will take over as Chairman of both Through Transport Mutual Insurance Association and TT Club Mutual Insurance. He spent 36 years in various positions and across three regions within Maersk before retiring in June 2023. Ulrike Baum of Rohlig Logistics, who has been a member of the Board since 2016, has stepped down as Director. Marika Calfas of NSW Ports in Sydney, has been appointed to the Board, as has John Chambers, currently TT Club’s Insurance Specialist Director. Miguel d’Orey of Orey Shipping in Lisbon, Portugal, has also been appointed to the TTI Board.

After almost seven years with the UN, Eliana Barleta, has completed her last contract, as Expert in Shipping and Ports in the Infrastructure Services Unit (USI) led by Dr Ricardo Sánchez, at CEPAL/ECLAC in Santiago, Chile. She will now do a Ph.D at the University of Piraeus, Greece, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Thanos Pallis.

Amsterdam, NL: Supply chain visibility provider Fourkites has expanded its leadership team with two seasoned executives: Dr Bao Tao as CTO; and Manik Mair as SVP, Corporate Growth. Dr Tao has worked in the logistics and software industry for over 20 years, including posts at NEXT Trucking, Google, Symantec, Dell Technologies and Cheetah Mobile. Mair was most recently Global Vice President and Head of GTM Strategy at Ceridian, and prior to that was part of EY’s strategy consulting practice, where he focused on corporate, portfolio and business unit strategy, digital transformation and go-to-market strategy.

Rainer Mittl has been appointed as head of Dachser Austria’s Graz office, responsible for the newly-created Air & Sea Division for the Austrian market and developing the customer base. He joins Dachser from DB Schenker, where he was a Regional Managing Director and before that he was responsible for sales and marketing at Güssinger Beverages.

Greenwich, CONN, USA: GXO Logistics has promoted Adrian Stoch to the post of chief automation officer (CAO), reporting directly to CEO Malcolm Wilson. Stoch was formerly president of GXO’s consumer divisions for the Americas and Asia Pacific region.

Alexandria, VA, USA: The Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), the leading trade association for forwarders/3PL service providers in the USA, has appointed Dr Jim Kenny as Instructor of its Executive Development Leadership Program. Tis is described by TIA as an Executive-style MBA course focusing on freight brokerage. 

The British International Freight Association (BIFA) has appointed Mike Jones as policy advisor on environmental issues. Jones has been involved with shipping and forwarding for more than 40 years and has also held posts with Transport for London and been involved with major infrastructure projects. He joined BIFA in 2015 as policy and compliance advisor to look after issues related to air, aviation security and dangerous goods. He became BIFA’s regional representative for London West & the South West in 2019.