The Los Angeles City Council today confirmed Gene Seroka as executive director of the Port of Los Angeles.
The council voted 14-0 to back Mayor Eric Garcetti’s nomination of Seroka, an executive at American Presidents Line, the world’s seventh-largest container shipping company.
Garcetti selected Seroka following a search to replace former port executive director Geraldine Knatz, who announced her retirement last year.
Seroka is expected to start his new job within the next month and will be paid an annual salary of $320,000, according to port spokesman Phillip Sanfield.
He will be overseeing a seaport with a nearly $1 billion budget.
Seroka has headed up commercial operations in the Americas region for APL. He has also led operations for Neptune Orient Line, the company’s parent firm in Singapore. He went to work for APL after earning an MBA from University of New Orleans in 1988 and has also helped lead operations in the Middle East, East Africa and Asia.
