The Port of Oakland’s Board of Commissioners has voted to appoint current Chief Operating Officer Kristi McKenney as its new executive director.
McKenney will take over for Danny Wan, who is retiring on Feb. 28.
She will be the first woman to hold the port’s top job in its nearly 100-year history, according to port officials.
“I’m grateful and excited for this opportunity to lead during such a transformative time in Port history,” McKenney said in a news release. “I look forward to implementing the Port’s 5-year Strategic Plan that will help grow local employment and contracting opportunities and strengthen our economic base.”
McKenney has held several jobs at the port since she was hired as an environmental planner in 1994. Since then, she has worked as an aviation planning manager, assistant director of aviation planning and interim executive director, among other things.
She earned a Master of Science degree in civil engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautics from San Jose State University.
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