Beth Ann Branch brings a much-needed global perspective to the Port of New Orleans.
Since her hiring as president & CEO in October, her knowledge of the international supply chain has become more important by the day as the port edges toward the most significant investment in its history—the $1.8 billion Louisiana International Terminal in St. Bernard Parish.
Branch grew up in Saudi Arabia—her father was head of engineering operations for a rail company—then later lived in Bulgaria, Denmark and other locales as she undertook various short-term work assignments around the world.
Along the way, she developed a passion for the global supply chain, international trade and maritime sectors.
“I stumbled into it quite by accident,” Branch says. “I’d had a long career in nonprofit and public sector work prior to finding landing a job at Sea-Land Service in Charlotte, N.C., which was heavily involved in container ships. For nearly 20 years with them and their successor, Maersk, it evolved into a rewarding career.”
She lived in Copenhagen for five years, overseeing global business processes, then moved back to the U.S. to head up marketing and communications for a Maersk subsidiary.
After a five-year stint at the Port of Oakland, she took a job at the Port of Mobile as chief commercial officer.
At both ports, Branch spearheaded strategic initiatives that resulted in record container volumes, significantly boosting throughput and operational success.
Branch’s experiences on an international stage provided her with a holistic view of global trade and its various parts and pieces, which eventually led her to apply for the Port NOLA position. She sees great potential in the port, propelled by the promise of the new LIT container terminal. “A greenfield container terminal hasn’t been constructed in this country for decades,” she says. “It’s a transformative project and a compelling strategic vision.”
She says Port NOLA is uniquely qualified to oversee the unprecedented project. “We have the benefit of operating like a business with the support of the state behind us. That gives us a powerful platform to do things, particularly massive infrastructure projects such as LIT.”
She recently shared her insights with 10/12 Industry Report.
Describe your management style
We can look at things as a basket of problems or as a basket of opportunities. I always want to think about how we look at problems as something to be solved, and hopefully to be solved collaboratively.
For example, Gov. Jeff Landry’s Louisiana Ports & Waterways Investment Commission (announced in August) will serve as an advocate for all our state’s ports and waterways investment interests.
But it’s a pretty big lift to bring these active ports together and all get in the sandbox together to talk about how we prioritize this maritime complex that we operate. It’s important that we view everything as opportunities, not insurmountable problems.
Challenges you’re currently facing?
We have two very strong partners who have committed about $400 million to the Louisiana International Terminal—Ports America, one of the largest stevedoring companies in the U.S., and Terminal Investment Limited, based in Switzerland.
Sometimes they might not see eye to eye on everything, but we all share the end goal, which is standing up and building a nearly $2 billion container terminal about 17 or 18 miles downriver from where we are today.
To make that happen, we must power through problems and solve them. You don’t get everything you want all the time, but we must try to move forward for the greater good of the project and keep our eye on the prize—enabling the state to play in the global maritime supply chain space.
I start every week thinking about how we can materially move the project forward. Sometimes that’s with financing, sometimes that’s through partnerships, sometimes that’s with the state or the railroad.
And what’s my role? How do I make sure we’re at 90% design, that we’re engaging the community? We think about it every week and try to move things forward.
What excites you most about the future?
I don’t think I’ve ever lived in a place that’s more welcoming, and I’ve lived in 12 different places in my career. I now say that I wished I’d punched my career card much earlier in New Orleans. I don’t think I would have ever left.
There are some incredible women CEOs who hosted a lunch to welcome me here about a month ago. I haven’t seen that kind of outreach in my professional life … ever.
We at the port are excited to be a small part of the vision for the state. The port is an arrow in the quiver. If we can help the state land business because we provide the ability to get goods to and from markets, or feedstock to and from factories, we are proud to be part of that.
