Port of LB names managing director of Communications

[aesop_image imgwidth=”500px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Port-appointment.jpg” credit=”Courtesy Port of LB” align=”center” lightbox=”on” caption=”Noelia Rodriguez” captionposition=”center”] The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners on July 13 selected Noelia Rodriguez as the managing director of Communications, a newly created role, to oversee the Harbor Department’s communications, government relations and marketing divisions.
Rodriguez’s experience is expected to enhance the Harbor Department’s advocacy and communications effort, according to the Port of Long Beach.
In her former position as Metro’s chief communications officer, Rodriguez led 275 employees and managed a $50-million budget overseeing media relations, government relations, marketing, communications and community relations. She was also responsible for customer programs and services.
She previously served as director of the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at Harvard University, vice president of Corporate Communications at Univision, director of Communications and press secretary to First Lady Laura Bush from 2001 to 2003 and deputy mayor under former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan.
In 2000, Riordan appointed Rodriguez to serve as president and CEO of LA 2000, the host committee for the Democratic National Convention, Los Angeles’s first political convention since President Kennedy’s nomination in 1960.
Rodriguez earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from California State University, Los Angeles. She also completed one year of studies in the social ecology program at University of California, Irvine.
“I am so pleased to have Noelia join our world-class port team,” said Port of Long Beach CEO Jon Slangerup. “Her years of experience in communications and government relations are exactly what we need during this very dynamic time at the port.”