Council Salutes Oakland Port’s Chris Lytle as He Sails into Retirement

The Bay Area Council salutes Chris Lytle, Executive Director of the Port of Oakland, who is retiring today after 53 years in trade and transportation. Lytle served on the Council’s Executive Committee for three years and we greatly appreciate his strong leadership and support. A respected and highly visible executive in trade and transportation, Lytle previously ran the Port of Long Beach and he joined the Port of Oakland in July 2013.  He is credited with guiding the Port through an era of unprecedented growth that includes:

• Five years of consecutive increases in passenger volume at Oakland International Airport;
• All-time high containerized cargo volume in each of the past two years at the seaport;
• Record operating revenue for three straight years;
• Transformation of former Oakland Army Base property to a Seaport Logistics Complex;
• Development of Cool Port Oakland, a 280,000-square-foot refrigerated cargo distribution center; and 
• Two long-range planning initiatives that set the Port on a course to the future.

Mr. Lytle led development of a 5-year strategic plan for the Port called Growth with Care.  It commits the Port to business expansion that benefits neighboring communities. “We can grow, but we want our neighbors to grow with us,” Lytle said. “We must conduct ourselves in the public interest for the public good.”