File photo.
The Port of Long Beach (POLB) filled three key director positions this week, POLB officials announced today. The hirings will potentially impact the port’s annual budget, operations and transportation, according to the release.
The Board of Harbor Commissioners approved Maurina Lee as the director of Finance, Robert Seidel as the director of Surveys and Allison Yoh as the director of Transportation Planning. All three appointees were promoted from within and will be made effective starting March 19.
Lee was the Harbor Department’s controller since March 2015. Now, as director of Finance, Lee will oversee the annual budget of $829 million for this fiscal year, according to a press release. The Finance Department is part of the Finance and Administration Bureau. From 2006 to 2015, she was the finance manager for the city of Downey.
Seidel was the POLB’s chief surveyor since 2006, before being appointed director of Surveys. The Surveys division is part of the Engineering Services Bureau, which is responsible for checking harbor depths, to support and ensure safe navigation, as well as assisting port operations in utility markings, construction projects and property rights.
As Director of Transportation Planning, Yoh will overlook transportation planning studies, administer grants, assist with managing port-related traffic and develop transportation policy. The division is part of the Planning and Environmental Affairs Bureau. Previously, Yoh was transportation policy manager, beginning in February 2015.
Lee received a master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Southern California and a bachelor’s degree from Pacific Union College in Business Administration. Seidel began a 18-month internship with the port back in 1992 and returned in 1997. Since then he’s worked on a number of projects at the port including the development of Pier T in 2000 and the expansion of Pier J in 1992. Yoh holds a doctorate and master’s degree in urban planning from UCLA, where she also served as associate director of two research centers focusing on transportation policy.