The Port of Longview Commission
on July 18 voted to hire Geir Kalhagen as the port’s new chief executive officer.
He’ll replace Ken O’Hollaren, who announced in late 2011 that he’ll retire this
December after nearly a quarter-century as CEO.
Kalhagen, who’s currently
the general manager for the Pacific Northwest office of Tidal Transport and Trade,
is expected to start at the port in early September, giving him a few months to
learn the ropes from O’Hollaren before he leaves at the end of the year.
O’Hollaren, who joined the
port as assistant operations manager in 1980, has been its executive director since
January 1988, making him the longest-tenured port director in Washington state,
and one of the longest-tenured maritime executives on the West Coast.
Kalhagen was unanimously
chosen by the three-member commission over another finalist, Glenn Carlson, the
chief commercial officer with the North Carolina State Ports Authority, after about
90 minutes of public and closed-session deliberation.
Before joining Tidal Transport
and Trade in June 2010, Kalhagen spent 15 months as an operations manager with Grieg
Star Shipping; from December 2007 to January 2009 he was an operations manager with
Star Forest Carriers PTE Singapore.
