Thursday, March 17, 2016

POLB Hires Three Division Managers

By Mark Edward Nero

The Port of Long Beach Harbor Commission on March 14 approved the appointments of new directors for the port’s Finance, Surveys and Transportation Planning divisions.

Maurina Lee, previously the Harbor Department’s controller, will become the Director of Finance. She has been controller since March of last year and was previously finance manager for the city of Downey from 2006 to 2015.

The port’s Finance Division oversees an annual budget that is $829 million this fiscal year. It is part of the Finance and Administration Bureau.

Robert Seidel, who has been the chief surveyor for the Port of Long Beach since 2006, will be the new Director of Surveys. The division, part of the Engineering Services Bureau, checks depths in the harbor to support safe navigation and assists port operations in areas such as utility markings, property rights and construction projects.

Seidel began working for the port in 1992 as part of an 18-month internship. He returned to the port in 1997.

Allison Yoh is being promoted to Director of Transportation Planning from the position of transportation policy manager, a post she has held since February 2015. The Transportation Planning Division is part of the Planning and Environmental Affairs Bureau. It oversees transportation planning studies, assists with managing port-related traffic, administers grants and develops transportation policy.

Prior to joining the port in 2013, Yoh was associate director of two research centers at UCLA focusing on transportation policy.

The three appointments are effective March 19.