The Port of Los Angeles has appointed Erica M. Calhoun as deputy executive director overseeing the city of Los Angeles Harbor Department’s Administrative Bureau.
In this newly created position, Calhoun will be responsible for the planning, direction and management of several key divisions at North America’s busiest container port. Calhoun has served as interim deputy executive director of Harbor Administration since May.
“Erica is an incredibly talented professional and valuable member of our Harbor Department team,” said Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka in a release. “Her dedication, leadership and hard work over the past two decades with the City of Los Angeles have paved the way for this new role, a well-earned and deserving promotion. I couldn’t be more excited for her.”
In her new post, Calhoun will oversee the port’s human resources function for the department’s nearly 900 employees, as well as risk management, contracts and purchasing and the commission office. In Seroka’s absence, she will serve as acting executive director of the Harbor Department.
Calhoun began her port career in 2012 as a senior management analyst in the Grants Unit and joined the port’s Executive Office in December of that year. In 2015 she was appointed chief of staff to the executive director, the first African-American woman to hold that position.
Calhoun, who has a total 23 years working for the city of Los Angeles, previously served as assistant officer In charge in the Los Angeles Police Department’s Budget Section, where she helped manage a $1.3 billion budget. She also served in a civilian oversight capacity in the Los Angeles Police Commission’s Office of the Inspector General and as a grants manager with the city’s housing department.
Calhoun has an undergraduate degree in Spanish language and literature from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master of Science degree in public administration from California State University, Los Angeles.