Friday Oct 10, 2014

Update on The Port of Seattle

Bill Bryant

Commissioner Port of Seattle

Introduced by: Scott Hildebrand

Commissioner Bill Bryant will discuss the present and future at The Port of Seattle.

About the Speaker

Commissioner Bill Bryant was elected to represent King County citizens as a Port of Seattle Commissioner in the fall of 2007. In January 2008, he was sworn into office by former Governor Dan Evans, who co-chaired his campaign. Bryant immediately began increasing the Port’s transparency and public accountability, working to protect Puget Sound, and improving our transportation system. After only one year on the Commission, in 2009, he was elected President of the Commission by his peers. He served as Commission President for three consecutive years. In 2010 he was named Maritime Public Official of the Year by the Propeller Club.

Commissioner Bill Bryant was born in Morton, and grew up on the Olympic Peninsula and in Olympia. After attending Capital High School, he studied trade and diplomacy at Georgetown University. He put his training to work immediately as the director of Washington Governor John Spellman’s trade council. He then lived in Yakima for seven years, traveling around the world working to eliminate unfair foreign trade barriers and open new markets for Washington's fruit growers.

In 1992, Bryant moved to Seattle and founded Bryant Christie Inc., a company that works to eliminate foreign trade barriers, develops new international markets. He is also an investor and advisor to Deneki Outdoors, a company with fly fishing camps in Alaska, British Columbia, South Andros, and Chile.

In addition to his entrepreneurial interests, Bryant has been appointed by both Democratic and Republican administrations, Congress, and the United States Export Import Bank to advise on our nation’s trade policies.