Port authority to announce new executive director Thursday

The next leader of the Port of Virginia will be named on Halloween.

The Virginia Port Authority Board of Commissioners is holding a special meeting Oct. 31 to approve the port’s next executive director/CEO.

Jeff Wassmer, chairman of the VPA board, said this week that the VPA’s search committee had decided on its candidate.

The search for the executive director began May 28. The committee considered 71 resumes and interviewed 10 candidates.

The VPA has been led by Rodney W. Oliver for the last year, the agency’s chief financial officer, who was asked to lead the port on an interim basis after former Executive Director Jerry Bridges stepped down.

“We owe Rodney our thanks and it is important to recognize the job he did during this last year,” Wassmer said in a statement. “Under his tenure, The Port of Virginia had the second most successful year it is history, in terms of cargo volume, he has led the agency three-quarters of the way through a major reorganization of VPA and its operating company, Virginia International Terminals LLC, and this past summer it was under his watch that the port set a number of critical records — right now we're 6.3 percent ahead of where we were at this time last year.”

The next leader of the port will serve as president and CEO of both VPA and its operational arm, Virginia International Terminals. For more information see our September story: https://virginiabusiness.com/article/at-the-helm-of-change