Geraldine Knatz

Geraldine Knatz is a maritime expert, academic, and author. She was the first female port director of the Port of Los Angeles, appointed in January 2006 by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. As Los Angeles port director she formulated and implemented the Clean Truck Program, and the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan. She is a professor of Practice at the University of Southern California, with a joint appointment to the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and the USC Price School of Public Policy.

In 2014, in recognition of "her international leadership in the development of environmentally sustainable urban ports", she was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. She is Chair of the board of trustees of AltaSea at the Port of Los Angeles, and has been serving as a senior advisor to Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Port Services Network. Several writers have featured her maritime career in their books, including Edward Humes’s ''Door to Door'', Bill Sharpsteen's ''The Docks'', and ''The Golden Shore'' by David Helvarg. Her research interests span environmental sustainability in port operations, and global port governance.

Knatz is past president of the American Association of Port Authorities and the International Association of Ports and Harbors, and founding Chairman of the World Port Climate Initiative. She played a leading role in a National Geographic T.V. Show, ''America’s Port''. The eight-episode series ran in 2008. She is the author of three books, ''Long Beach's Los Cerritos'', ''Port of Los Angeles: Conflict, Commerce, and the Fight for Control'', and ''Terminal Island, Lost Communities of Los Angeles Harbor''. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Knatz to the California Ocean Protection Council in 2007. Governor Jerry Brown reappointed her to the Council in 2012.

She has been a Fellow of Linnean Society of London since 2012. Her non-profit board appointments include the Banning Museum based in Wilmington California, and the Los Angeles Historical Society. In 2023, she joined the Catalina Island Conservancy. In 2024, she became the Chair of the Grand Jury to select the Antoine Rufenacht Prize, a global prize awarded by the Association of Port Cities.

The Geraldine Knatz papers can be found on the University of Southern California Archives. Provided by Wikipedia