{"id":1448,"date":"2018-12-19T12:14:28","date_gmt":"2018-12-19T18:14:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aapaseaports.naymicrosite2.wpengine.com\/?p=1448"},"modified":"2020-04-23T07:51:45","modified_gmt":"2020-04-23T12:51:45","slug":"the-changing-faces-of-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/19\/the-changing-faces-of-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"The Changing Faces of Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ports are embracing diversity in gender and background experience, creating new opportunities and outlooks, especially at the port\u00a0leadership level. Many of these new executives share one more thing: they happen to be women.<\/p>\n

* By Sandy Smith *<\/em><\/p>\n

Accountants. Business strategists. Environmentalists. Real estate experts. These are just some of the non-traditional routes to port leadership that recent appointments have had on their resumes.<\/p>\n

Many of these new executives share one more thing: they happen to be women. And just this summer, two more were added to the list as the Port of Redwood City (CA) and Duluth (MN) Seaport added new executives who are women.<\/p>\n

It is part of a shift in port leadership \u2013 one focused beyond gender on a difference in backgrounds and skillsets.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was an era when the majority of port directors came to the job with sea time experience and academics from merchant marine academies or the Coast Guard,\u201d said Kristin Decas, who became CEO of the Port of Hueneme (CA) in 2012. \u201cOver time we\u2019ve seen a shift in credentials based on different challenges and opportunities facing the ports. Today, ports feel pressures from regulators and environmental and social justice groups, and consequently make sustainable growth a high priority. Equally important, ports strive to cost compete and increase their market share. As result, I\u2019ve seen a wave of ports starting to hire people with commercial backgrounds and\/or environmental degrees. I don\u2019t think there is necessarily a specific requirement that you must have \u2013 a business background, an environmental background or a shipping background. It\u2019s more focused on, \u2018What is the priority for that port complex?\u2019 that is driving hiring decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Susan Shey Dvonch, partner at the executive search firm Shey Harding, handled many of these appointments. \u201cWe\u2019re pretty proud of the record of phenomenal women coming into those leadership roles in the industry,\u201d she said. The shift has been somewhat accidental, she said, with the best candidates \u2013 who happened to be women \u2013 rising to the top. \u201cNow, we\u2019re seeing more of a trend to not just include women and diverse candidates in the candidate pool, but more of a commitment to actually hiring qualified women and diverse candidates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of that has come as the industry has opened to experience outside of maritime, Dvonch said. \u201cThat allows for people who are exceptional leaders, who are extremely smart, who are brilliant marketers, who have the ability to put these small ports on the map on a national scale,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s an understanding that somebody who brings those other qualities \u2013 whether leadership or financial acumen or business development or marketing savvy \u2013 is going to be critical for a port.\u201d<\/p>\n

Women are coming into port leadership from a variety of backgrounds, part of a generational shift that allows for more diverse careers. \u201cPeople today \u2013 not just women \u2013 don\u2019t expect their career to follow a linear path,\u201d said Lisa Wieland, who became port director at Massport in 2016. Wieland was recruited to Massport \u2013 which also oversees airports in the region \u2013 from Bain & Company, a global advisory firm. \u201cThey will find opportunities in places they never imagined. If that continues to be true, we will see more people with diverse backgrounds in port leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kristine Zortman, who became executive director of the Port of Redwood City (CA) in June, says her route to ports was \u201ccircuitous.\u201d<\/p>\n

She began her career focused on land acquisition for a large home builder before moving to the Port of San Diego to focus on commercial real estate. She also had a stint at Civic San Diego, though she always \u201ckept my finger on the pulse of what was happening in maritime,\u201d she said. \u201cI knew I would come back to the maritime industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the lengthy focus on real estate, Zortman \u2013 like many of the other women port leaders \u2013 has had a varied career that began with an undergraduate degree in biology. She also has experience in permitting and hazardous materials. \u201cBeing able to bridge from where I started in biology into a couple of different disciplines has allowed me to grow, and that\u2019s what has allowed me to come to the port.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ports are embracing diversity in gender and background experience, creating new opportunities and outlooks, especially at the port\u00a0leadership level. Many of these new executives share one more thing: they happen to be women. * By Sandy Smith * Accountants. Business strategists. Environmentalists. Real estate experts. These are just some of the non-traditional routes to port …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":1431,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,442],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-leadership"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aapaseaports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}