John Porcari

As Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer of the Department of Transportation in the Obama-Biden administration (2009-2014), John D Porcari was directly involved in overseeing port, intermodal, maritime policy and maritime-related competitive grant programs throughout the United States. In a previous role, serving twice as Secretary of Transportation for the State of Maryland and Chairman of the Maryland Port Commission (1999-2003 and 2006-2009), Porcari initiated a strategic plan for the Port of Baltimore that built it into the largest ro/ro (roll on/roll off) port in the nation, exporting construction and agricultural machinery from the Midwest to the world and growing the port into one of the nation’s top ten in terms of both dollar value and tonnage. Under Porcari’s leadership, the Port of Baltimore also entered into a pioneering public-private partnership to expand its Seagirt container terminal, adding a fourth, 50-foot container berth and state of the art cranes to accommodate the newest super-post-panamax container vessels. This 50-year, $1.3 billion dollar P3, with the strong support of labor, has become a national model.