Port People: Long Beach, Trois-Rivières

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Four executives with extensive experience in their fields of engineering, maintenance and finance have been hired to oversee Port of Long Beach operations. François Dupuis has been reappointed to a third three-year term on the board of directors of the Trois-Rivières Port Authority.

Port of Long Beach Adds Four Executives

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

The four professionals all have long 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 Jon Slangerup. Mr. Kenagy has 30 years of experience in engineering and management, most recently as senior vice president with the Moffatt & Nichol engineering consulting firm. That includes involvement domestically and internationally in major construction projects 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 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. Ms. Pierson comes to the port from City of Hope medical center in Duarte (CA), where she was project controls manager from 2011 to 2014. Earlier, 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. Ms. Pierson has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from San Diego State University. The new Project Controls Division is part of the port’s Engineering’s Program Delivery Group, and will focus on cost and schedule oversight of development programs.

Betsy Christie, who 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, vice present finance/controller, and accounting manager. Ms. 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 for 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. Earlier, he held various positions with the Tulsa (OK) Airport Authority. Mr. 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 Maintenance Division is part of the Design and Maintenance Group of the port’s Engineering Services Bureau’s.

Trois-Rivières: Mr. François Dupuis Reappointed to Port Authority Board

François Dupuis
Photo/Trois-Rivières Port Authority

On the recommendation of a committee of port users, Federal Transport Minister Lisa Raitt has re-appointed François Dupuis to a three-year term on the board of directors of the Trois-Rivières Port Authority.

Mr. Dupuis is Partner in Charge of tax services for the Mauricie region for the firm Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton. He holds a diploma as a certified management accountant, a diploma from the Ordre des comptables professionnels agréés [chartered professional accountants] du Québec, a master of taxation degree and a diploma in business administration from the University of Sherbrooke.

He has worked with chartered accountancy firms in Trois-Rivières since 1988, and in Montreal and Sherbrooke, from 1985 to 1988. He is a member of the Ordre des comptables professionnels agréés du Québec and is a frequent speaker at conferences dealing with taxation.

The port authority board consists of seven members, including one representative each of the federal, provincial and municipal governments and four representing port users. Members are eligible for two-reappointments, or a maximum of three terms.