Former FedEx Canada President to Head Long Beach Port

The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners is scheduled to vote Monday, June 30, to name Jon W. Slangerup, a veteran corporate executive with extensive experience in global logistics and environmental technologies, as the Port of Long Beach’s new Chief Executive.

“After an extensive, nationwide search, the Board of Harbor Commissioners is very pleased to recommend the appointment of Jon Slangerup as the Port’s new Chief Executive,” said Harbor Commission President Doug Drummond. “He’s an extremely capable leader, proven team-builder and expert at managing a world-class organization. In our highly competitive, quickly changing industry challenged by major environmental and energy issues, he’s the perfect person for the job.”

With the pending expansion of the Panama Canal and the aftermath of the 2008 recession, port communities throughout North America have been highly focused on maintaining and growing their business. At the same time, ports have faced public pressure to “green” their operations.

“With a strong operational and environmental track record, we’re confident that Jon can move us ahead as the Best Green Seaport in the world while providing experienced leadership in developing advanced cargo-handling technology and infrastructure,” said Drummond.

Harbor Commissioners made the decision on Slangerup in an executive session following their regular June 23 board meeting. The Commission is set to confirm Slangerup’s appointment at a special public meeting June 30 at 6 p.m.  Slangerup will succeed former Executive Director J. Christopher Lytle, who left the Port nearly a year ago for a similar position at the Port of Oakland.

“We undertook a rigorous and thorough review process,” noted Commissioner Lori Ann Farrell, who chaired the Port’s search committee in a national review coordinated by executive search firm Boyden.  “In Jon we found the ideal combination of leadership, vision and execution that we need to take us strongly into the next decade.”
 
With more than 30 years of corporate leadership experience, Slangerup has served the past two decades as a president, CEO and/or director of both public and private companies, having built businesses ranging from technology startups to a billion-dollar subsidiary of FedEx Corporation.

During the last seven years of a distinguished 20-year career with FedEx, Slangerup served as President of FedEx Canada, which he transformed from a small regional domestic courier operation into Canada’s leading international express logistics company. Since FedEx, he has served as a CEO and board director of environmental technology companies providing leading-edge solutions in marine ballast water treatment, renewable energy and distributed power generation to customers throughout the world.

“I am extremely pleased to be joining the Port of Long Beach team, which has a long and distinguished record of operational excellence, technological innovation and environmental stewardship,” said Slangerup.  “The Port of Long Beach is investing billions of dollars in advanced technology and infrastructure development, and I look forward to working with our team to flawlessly execute our capital plans and deliver exceptional value to our customers and community stakeholders to ensure the continued growth and expansion of our Port.” 

Drummond also expressed his deep appreciation to Interim Executive Director Al Moro, previously the Port’s Chief Harbor Engineer.  “Al stepped into a challenging environment to calm the organization, keep our $4 billion of improvement projects underway and assist the Board in getting to this exciting day.  We thank Al and offer our deepest gratitude.”