Weissman was selected as vice president, both to serve one-year terms

Harbor Commissioner Steven Neal was elected Monday as president of the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners, the five-member panel that oversees the Port of Long Beach.

The board also elected Sharon L. Weissman as Vice President and Bobby Olvera Jr. as Secretary. Each July, Commissioners select a president and two board officers to serve one-year terms.

Neal represented North Long Beach on the Long Beach City Council from 2010 to 2014. A longtime community leader, he is the senior pastor for LIFE Gospel Ministries. He is a co-founder of the Economic Policy Impact Center, a nonprofit agency working to advance economic opportunity for working families, Executive Director of the Long Beach Collective Association, and has served on the boards of Long Beach Transit and the Pacific Gateway Workforce Investment Network. Mayor Robert Garcia appointed him to the Harbor Commission in 2019.

“I’d like to thank my fellow Commissioners for the faith they have placed in me,” said Neal. “Over the last year, the Port of Long Beach has surmounted an unprecedented pandemic to keep moving the products desperately needed by homebound Americans. I look forward to working with my colleagues, staff, and Executive Director Mario Cordero to ensure this port remains a top commercial gateway for decades to come.”

Under the City Charter, the Board sets policy for the Port and directs the Port’s Executive Director, who leads about 550 employees in developing and promoting the Port of Long Beach.