Dr Geraldine Knatz

Geraldine Knatz is Professor of the Practice of Policy and Engineering, a joint appointment between the University of Southern California Price School of Public Policy and the Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.

She served as the executive director of the Port of Los Angeles from 2006 to January 2014. She was the first woman to serve in this role and made a significant impact through the creation and implementation of the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan, an aggressive plan that reduced air emissions by combined port operations of over 70 per cent over five years which is recognised around the world for its innovation and success.

She was also the managing director of the Port of Long Beach where she also led a number of environmental initiatives, including the Green Port Policy and Truck Trip Reduction Program. She is past president of the American Association of Port Authorities and past president of the International Association of Ports and Harbors.  She serves as Gov. Brown’s appointee on the Ocean Protection Council. She has received numerous awards, including Outstanding Women in Transportation (Journal of Commerce, 2007), Woman Executive of the Year (Los Angeles Business Journal, 2007), Compass Award (Women’s Leadership Exchange, 2008), honorary PhD, Maine Maritime Academy (2009), and the Peter Benchley Ocean Award (Blue Frontier Campaign, 2012).

In 2014, she was named a member of the National Academy of Engineering in recognition of her international leadership in the engineering and development of environmentally clean urban seaports.