The Port of Kalama Commission on March 12 appointed Mark
Wilson to serve as the port’s Executive Director. He assumes the role April 1,
after the retirement of current Executive Director Lanny Cawley on March 31.
“Mark has been instrumental in much of the success the port
has enjoyed over the years, and he is well-positioned to carry on the many
projects initiated by Lanny Cawley during his tenure,” Port of Kalama
commission president Troy Stariha said in a statement. “We believe that with
Mark’s leadership the port will continue to serve the region as a significant
economic development hub.”
Cawley, who joined the port as Director of Property
Development and Management/Marketing in 1994, has served as director since
1998. Wilson, who’s currently the port’s deputy director, worked his way up
through the ranks. He was first hired 30 years ago as a high school student on
the summer maintenance crew and has spent the majority of his tenure on the
port’s development activities.
Among the projects Wilson, 46, has overseen are the current
work on the annexation and zoning of East Port which is expected to allow the port
to develop a new mixed-use business park for commercial and light industrial.
He has also contributed to planning of the development of
the 75-acre Kalama River Industrial Park, under which 156,000 square feet of
industrial buildings have been constructed by the port and a 170,000-square-foot
bottle manufacturing plant was built.
In 2005, Wilson helped manage a remodel project for the port-owned
grain terminal, Cenex Harvest States, which added over 4,000 feet of rail and
high speed railcar unloading capacity.
