Tay Yoshitani, the former executive director of the Port of Oakland from 2001 to 2004, was chosen Wednesday to take the helm at the Port of Seattle.

Yoshitani, 60, is the Port of Seattle's first Asian American leader, a role seemingly cut out for his experience in seaport and airport operations, as well as real estate development.

"Everything that I have done until now has been a dress rehearsal for this role," said Yoshitani said. In March, he will replace departing Chief Executive Mic Dinsmore, who announced his resignation last summer after 14 years in the port's top leadership position.

Yoshitani first saw Seattle's harbors in 1954 when as a boy of nearly 8, frightened and unable to speak English, he immigrated to the United States by way of a sea voyage to Seattle from Yokohama, Japan.

His parents were fourth-generation Americans who, tiring of the economic obstacles of that time's racial discrimination in the U.S., had moved back to Japan.

Commissioners struck a jubilant tone at Wednesday's vote, which was unanimous, though Commissioner Bob Edwards was out of the country on vacation.

Yoshitani is expected to be paid $310,000 a year, the maximum possible, as well as another $15,000 per year in deferred compensation.

He was the Port of Seattle Commission's unanimous choice from more than 70 candidates generated during a six-month-long national search, beating out a strong list of internal candidates, including Chief Administrative Officer John Okamoto and Aviation Division Managing Director Mark Reis.

"The Port of Seattle has long been a leader in its commitment to international trade and regional economic development," said Yoshitani, who was in Seattle for the commission vote. "Its role in the international trading system is a national asset. I look forward to continuing and building on that success."

A West Point graduate with a Harvard University master of business administration degree, Yoshitani comes to work for the Port of Seattle after several years outside of managing operations.

In 2005, Yoshitani was a finalist for the chief executive position at the Port of Los Angeles, where the mayor nominates the port's top job. In 2004, Yoshitani became a senior adviser and lobbyist for the National Association of Waterfront Employers, part of an industry group designed to highlight the port and cargo safety measures taken since the Sept. 11 attacks, as well as advocate for other industry-approved measures. As executive director of the Port of Oakland, a position he gained after three years as deputy executive director, Yoshitani reformed that port's mission to include environmental sustainability and social equity as well as economic viability.

Yoshitani was promoted to his new position as the Port of Oakland's executive director less than a month after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Just as Dinsmore was doing in Seattle, Yoshitani spent the next three years reshaping the waterfront and airport to meet security needs that were unthinkable, until then.

"He brought us back to a position that was strategically ready for more to come on the seaport side, the airport side and the land development side," said Joe Wong, the Port of Oakland's deputy executive director of administration and engineering. "Our organization is very similar to the Port of Seattle: What he was able to do with the Port of Oakland, he can do in Seattle."

Like the Port of Seattle under Dinsmore, the Port of Oakland passed through a period of unprecedented growth under Yoshitani, who oversaw an $800 million-plus expansion of Oakland's marine facilities to include two new terminals, an 85-acre intermodal rail yard and dredging the inner harbor from 42 to 50 feet to accommodate larger ships.

His reputation within private industry precedes him in Seattle, said Bob Watters, vice president of SSA Marine, the Port of Seattle's largest terminal operator and the world's largest privately held cargo terminal operator and cargo-handling company.

"Tay is a consummate professional and the most qualified port director in the United States, I would say," said Watters, whose company also runs one of the newly opened terminals in Oakland. "I don't think the commission could have made a better choice."

Yoshitani also has a good track record with labor unions; relations between the Port of Seattle and labor have been strained.

It was also Yoshitani's background in real estate as a private and public developer that attracted the commissioners, who face major decisions about the port's 57-acre North Bay property. Dinsmore has been positioning the property for redevelopment into an office and retail complex with the support of some members of the commission. Many in the maritime and industrial community are questioning these projects and what kind of return the port should expect from them.

"I can tell you that not every property lends itself to maritime use," said Yoshitani, who said such direction is a decision by the commission, with which he will meet to discuss specifics. "There are certain segments of it which lend themselves to an industrial park, which I understand is one of the options being considered."

Yoshitani, similar to Dinsmore before him, said the return on investment in projects goes beyond "economic viability" to include net benefit to the community. Also like the Port of Seattle under Dinsmore, Oakland under Yoshitani began a series of public-private partnerships to remake some of its industrial land into $1.2 billion worth of homes, hotels, offices, shops and restaurants.

Community leaders in West Oakland seemed to approve of Yoshitani when he was hired, though some now complain that environmental mitigations mandated as part of a 1998 community lawsuit's settlement have not been completed.

Yoshitani left that position's $247,800 annual salary just a month before the Port of Oakland broke ground on its $1.4 billion airport expansion, planned while Yoshitani was at the helm.

The reason for his departure silenced would-be critics of the untimely transition: He wanted to move back to Baltimore as a consultant so that one of his daughters, who has Downs syndrome, could receive the kind of high-level attention offered by innovative Johns Hopkins University programs.

He had left Baltimore in 1998 after serving three years as its executive director, taking over during a period of financial turmoil.

Yoshitani reversed the prior years' decline in cargo traffic to post solid terminal growth in 1997 and 1998.

Last year, Oakland's seaport outstripped Seattle's for container traffic volume, following policies set in place by Yoshitani. The Port of Seattle was the fastest-growing container port in the U.S. in 2005, but 2006 saw some of that container traffic diverted back to Southern California.

Still, the Port of Seattle will be his largest role as he oversees 1,647 full-time positions, compared to Oakland's 600 employees and Baltimore's 375 employees. And he steps into the crosshairs of a public debate over the Port of Seattle's mission to be an economic engine without maximizing profits, which has come under fire from the public.

Similar to the Port of Oakland, the Port of Seattle depends on a three-pronged strategy, which it uses to defend its property tax levy. King County homeowners paid $63 million in property taxes to the port last year.

Washington ports are among the few that receive such subsidy, but Yoshitani gave examples of other kinds of "community support," as he likes to call it, which bolster ports nationwide.

Some commissioners are hoping that Yoshitani, known for mentoring those around him, will bring a different style of management from departing, iron-fisted Dinsmore. Yoshitani inherits a port that looks much different than when Dinsmore first began nearly 15 years ago. The Port of Seattle has begun adding a third airport runway, developed three new container terminals and turned Seattle into a cruise destination during Dinsmore's tenure.

TAY YOSHITANI

1968-1973: U.S. Army

1973-1975: M.B.A. at Harvard University

1975-1987: Worked at a series of Fortune 500 companies and a Japanese investment firm

1987-1989: Grand American, Inc., President (real estate development)

1989-1995: Port of Los Angeles, Deputy Executive Director

1995-1998: Port of Baltimore, Executive Director

1998-2001: Port of Oakland, Deputy Executive Director

2001-2004: Port of Oakland, Executive Director

2004-Present: Consultant/lobbyist to National Association of Waterfront Employers on port security and environmentl issues.

Source: Port of Seattle

PORT CEO PAY

Tay Yoshitani (incoming):

Annual base salary: $310,000

Annual deferred compensation: $15,000

Mic Dinsmore (retiring):

Annual base salary: $289,841

Annual deferred compensation: $50,000

Gov. Chris Gregoire: $150,955