New Board Represents a Diverse, International Body of Experts

Board Serves Important Advisory Function as ACP Moves to a Market-Oriented Business Model with Total Focus on Reliability and Customer Service

Panama City, Panama – The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) announced today that it has appointed six new members to its Advisory Board. These appointments round out the Board, giving it tremendous diversity and breadth with members from business, transportation, academia and maritime shipping.

The Advisory Board was founded in 1999 at the time of the transfer of the Canal to Panamanian administration. The members of the Advisory Board provide strategic counsel to the ACP and the Board of Directors on various important issues that relate to the management and administration of the Canal including finances, insurance, operations and permanent modernization.

The new members are the following:

  • Admiral William J. Flanagan, Jr., Ret., U.S. Navy, Former Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet.
  • Dr. Ernst Frankel, Professor Emeritus in Ocean Systems and Professor of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  • Dr. Aaron Gellman, Professor of Management and Strategy, Northwestern University Transportation Center.
  • Mr. L. Francis Rooney III, Chairman and CEO, Rooney Brothers Company.
  • Mr. Isao Shintani, Chairman of the Board, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (“K” Line).
  • Captain Wei Jiafu, Group President and CEO, China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO Group).

“With our recent move to a market-oriented model and our complete focus on customer service and reliability, we need the best and the brightest to serve on our Advisory Board. These new appointments only reinforce this commitment. These selections will help me and our management team provide the most efficient and reliable Canal service in the world,” said ACP Administrator Alberto Alemán Zubieta.

Mr. Rooney and Dr. Gellman represented the new Board members at the seventh meeting of the ACP Advisory Board which was held in Panama on February 13th and 14th.

About the Panama Canal
The Panama Canal Authority is the autonomous agency of the Government of Panama in charge of managing, operating, and maintaining the Panama Canal. The operation of the Panama Canal Authority is based on its organic law and the regulations approved by its Board of Directors. For more information, please refer to the website: www.pancanal.com.