GERALDINE KNATZ,
PORT OF LOS ANGELES EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
NAMED WOMAN EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR BY
THE LOS ANGELES BUSINESS JOURNAL
SAN PEDRO, Calif. – May 22, 2007 – The Los Angeles Business Journal has named Geraldine Knatz, Ph.D., Port of Los Angeles executive director, its “Woman Executive of the Year” for 2007.
“Geraldine Knatz is one extraordinary woman,” said Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, “We’re fortunate to have someone with her skill and character at the head of one of this city’s most significant economic drivers – the Port of Los Angeles.”
“I am honored by this award,” said Knatz. “This was a field of remarkable women, and I am humbled to be singled out by the Los Angeles Business Journal. Now I’ll be spending the entire year trying to live up to the title!”
Knatz was recognized for her role in creating the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Action Plan, a joint plan with the Port of Long Beach to reduce air emissions from port operations by nearly 50 percent over the next five years. Knatz was also cited for her take-charge attitude and her leadership at the Port of Los Angeles in her year-plus at the head of the nation’s number one container port.
Full copy of her winning nomination:
Geraldine Knatz, Ph.D., began her career at the Port of Los Angeles in the 1970s as one of the first females in the newly formed Environmental Affairs Division at the Port of Los Angeles. Today, she is the first female to head the Port in its 100-year history. Geraldine simply has a knack for doing it right, and getting there first.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa selected her as executive director for the nation’s number one container port in January 2006, and she has been shaking things up at the port complex ever since!
Moving the Port of Los Angeles forward with an agenda that focuses on responsible Port growth and environmental leadership is an aggressive goal that she has tackled from day one. Reducing port emissions, eliminating health risks and expanding capital development programs to accommodate the Port’s future growth as a premiere Pacific gateway and national economic engine are top priorities at the Port under Geraldine’s leadership.
A key to accomplishing these goals is the landmark San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan, approved in November 2006 by the Los Angeles and Long Beach Harbor Commissions – less than a year after taking the reigns at the Port of Los Angeles. The Clean Air Action Plan provides a comprehensive strategy for reducing air emissions from port operations by nearly 50 percent over a period of five years. Geraldine was instrumental in the creation and implementation of the Clean Air Action Plan. Her efforts facilitated the first joint meeting of the leaders of the two ports since the 1920s and the first ever public meeting of the two Port Boards on the day the Plan was approved last November.
With a desire to positively impact the maritime and transportation industries globally, Geraldine serves on the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority (ACTA) Board of Directors, is the past chair of the Marine Board of the National Academy of Sciences and has been appointed by the Secretary of Commerce to the National Sea Grant College Program Review Panel. A member of the Executive Committee of the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH), she chairs the organization’s Environmental Committee, representing the IAPH at the International Maritime Organization (IMO), part of the United Nations, on international maritime treaties. She also serves on the executive committee for the American Association of Port Authorities and is a past chair of its Harbors and Navigation Committee.
Truly a woman of amazing stamina and energy, Geraldine is in the office by 6:30 a.m., exercises every day (swimming at lunch is a favorite), bakes with fruit from her own garden for staff meetings, and routinely out-lasts her contemporaries in marathon meeting sessions.
Geraldine Knatz is truly a woman making a difference – for the Port of Los Angeles, for the City of Los Angeles, and for the nation who rely on the goods coming through the Port for their economies. She sets an impressive example for all of us.