The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners this week named two Harbor Department engineering leaders as the new Chief Harbor Engineer and the new Director of Program Management. The Appointments are effective April 29.
Suzanne Plezia, the Port's Director of Construction Management, has been promoted to Senior Director of the Engineering Bureau’s Program Delivery Group. The position also holds the title of Chief Harbor Engineer. Plezia is the first woman to be Chief Harbor Engineer of the Port of Long Beach. The Chief Harbor Engineer is in charge of executing all of the Port’s capital projects.
The Program Delivery Group Plezia will lead comprises four divisions – Program Management, Construction Management, Survey and Project Controls. This group is responsible for the Port’s capital program, including the new Middle Harbor Container Terminal Redevelopment and replacement of the aging Gerald Desmond Bridge. This decade, the Port is investing $4 billion in capital improvements.
Tom Baldwin, who has been Assistant Director of Program Management, will oversee the Port's capital improvement program, which includes dredging, wharf, terminal, building, railroad, bridge, safety, roadway and utility projects.
Plezia joined the Port of Long Beach in 1996 as an intern. A licensed civil engineer, she was named to her previous position, Director of Construction Management, in December 2014, and has worked in the Design, Program Management and Construction Management divisions. In 2012, she guided the procurement process for the Gerald Desmond Bridge replacement contract, and she managed construction for the recently completed Pier G Container Terminal Redevelopment project. Plezia earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of California, Irvine.
Baldwin began working for the Port in 2002 and was named Assistant Director of Program Management in January 2015. He specializes in leading large harbor development projects, including terminal renovations in use by tenants, such as the Middle Harbor Terminal Redevelopment program. The program is combining two outdated terminals into a 305-acre state-of-the-art facility designed to improve capacity while reducing pollutants. Baldwin has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Penn State University.