Kristine A. Zortman
President
Kristine A. Zortman is the executive of the Port of Redwood City where she is responsible for implementing long-range organizational goals and policies for the seventh largest port in California.
While serving in this role, Zortman has spearheaded several key initiatives that have positioned south San Francisco Bay’s only deep-water port for long-term success. This includes developing the port’s first-ever strategic vision plan, which will guide the port’s development through 2025. The plan calls for maximizing land use, improving infrastructure, diversifying maritime and commercial business efforts, improving operations and protecting the environment – all with the overall goal of strengthening the port’s impact on the region’s economy and quality of life.
Zortman’s port experience also includes eight years at the Port of San Diego where she worked on commercial real estate negotiations for cargo and maritime trade growth. She also served as vice president of neighborhood investment for Civic San Diego, a non-profit economic development agency. She began her career working in the environmental and biological realms for the National Park Service and Heitman Financial, a real estate investment management firm in Los Angeles.
Zortman was named the 2021 Chamber San Mateo County’s Businesswoman of the Year and is a board member for the Bay Planning Coalition, California Marine Affairs & Navigation Conference, and the San Francisco Marine Exchange.
Her unique ability to navigate the complex intersection of public and private interests has led to the successful implementation of pioneering policies, including cost recovery initiatives, environmentally conscious practices and unique development opportunities.
She holds a degree in biology from George Mason University and has pursued graduate studies from the University of Utah and University of California Los Angeles.
Mario Cordero
Vice-President
Mario Cordero, an international maritime industry leader, Long Beach resident and attorney, is Chief Executive Officer of the Port of Long Beach, California, named to the post by the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners in 2017.
Beginning in 2003, Mr. Cordero served as a member, vice president and president of the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners for eight years, before resigning to accept President Barack Obama’s appointment to the Federal Maritime Commission in 2011. He served on the FMC until his appointment as Chief Executive Officer in May 2017 and was FMC Chairman from April 2013 to January 2017. The FMC is the federal agency responsible for regulating the nation’s international ocean transportation for the benefit of exporters, importers and the American consumer and fostering a fair, efficient and reliable international ocean transportation system, while protecting the public from unfair and deceptive practices.
As Chief Executive Officer of the Port of Long Beach, Mr. Cordero reports to the Board and leads the Port’s Harbor Department staff of more than 500 with a budget of $634.5 million for the 2023 fiscal year. Inclusiveness and collaboration are hallmarks of Mr. Cordero’s leadership style, and due to both his Port and FMC leadership experience, he understands the needs of ocean carriers, terminal operators, cargo owners and other trade partners locally, nationally and around the globe.
During his tenure as a Long Beach Harbor Commissioner, Mr. Cordero spearheaded the development of the pioneering Green Port Policy, which outlines a sustainable environmental ethic for all Port operations, mandating that trade growth must run parallel with environmental stewardship. The Policy has been nationally recognized and become a model for ports worldwide.
In an effort to help the public to better understand Port operations and how the Port benefits the Long Beach residents it serves, Mr. Cordero also promoted an expanded Port community outreach program.
He serves as the Port’s representative to the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority Governing Board and to the Governing Board of the Intermodal Container Transfer Facility-Joint Powers Authority.
Mr. Cordero was elected to a two-year term as Chairman of the Board for the American Association of Port Authorities in 2020 following a term as Vice Chairman. He previously served as an Executive Board member on AAPA’s Latin American delegation and was instrumental in the development of policy urging greater cooperation and trade between North American and Latin American ports.
In 2020, Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn appointed Mr. Cordero to the L.A. County Economic Resiliency Task Force, charged with helping guide the County’s approach to reopening the economy as the region emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Task Force includes 13 representatives from different sectors of L.A. County’s economy, and Mr. Cordero chairs the Commodities and Goods Movement sector working group.
In addition to his Port responsibilities, Mr. Cordero was appointed by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco to serve on the bank’s Los Angeles branch seven-member board of directors effective January 1, 2021.
Also, in 2023, for the fifth consecutive year, he was named to the Los Angeles Business Journal’s “LA500” list of the city’s most influential civic leaders.
Mr. Cordero has practiced law for more than 30 years, specializing in workers’ compensation cases. He is a past member of the Federal Bar Association’s Central District, the Long Beach Bar Association and former Chairman of the Workers Compensation Committees for both the Long Beach Bar Association and the Mexican-American Bar Association for the County of Los Angeles.
The Mexican-American Bar Association named him Attorney of the Year in 2007; he received an environmental award the same year from the League of California Cities and is a 2019 Education & Leadership Institute BOSS Award recipient.
He has taught political science at Long Beach City College, focusing on California politics, and served on the City of Long Beach Community Development Commission. He also was Vice Chair of the City-commissioned Long Beach Ethics Task Force that developed a Code of Ethics for Long Beach City employees, as well as elected and appointed officials.
He holds a law degree from the University of Santa Clara and a Bachelor of Science in political science from California State University, Long Beach.
Born in Los Angeles and raised in Gardena, Mario Cordero is a classically trained pianist, playing since the age of 8, and also expresses himself through poetry. He moved to Long Beach in 1974 when he married Long Beach native Gloria (Duron) Cordero. The couple, who still reside in Long Beach, have two children. Mrs. Cordero has an impressive history of public service in Long Beach and heads Cordero & Associates, a Long Beach-based public affairs firm. She currently serves on the Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners. Their daughter, Celine, is also a lawyer, and son Mario Andres is an educator at St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower.