Two Touchet Valley Residents Are Port of WW Finalists

WALLA WALLA - The Port of Walla Walla Commissioners have announced that four candidates will be interviewed to become the Port's next executive director. Final interviews will be held Thursday.

Among the finalists are Port of Columbia Manager Jennie Dickinson and Waitsburg City Council member KC Kuykendall.

An interview panel will meet with the candidates on Thursday in executive session, and then forward their recommendation to the Port commissioners, who will meet and make their final selection on April 19 during a special public meeting at 4 p.m.

The Port's attorney and one Port Commission member then negotiate an employment contract with the proposed new executive director. The employment contract will be reviewed and approved, and the appointment of the new executive director confirmed, at the next Port Commission regular meeting on April 28.

The Port of Walla Walla Commission is made up of board members Michael Fredrickson, Ronald W. Dunning and Peter Swant.

The new executive director will succeed Jim Kuntz, who retired from the position earlier this year after serving for more than 26 years.

Dickinson has been the manager of the Port of Columbia since 2007. From 1999-2007, she was executive director of the Dayton Chamber of Commerce, and served as ADO and board member on the Southeast Washington Economic Development Association (SEWEDA). She is a member of the Dayton Development Task Force board and also a member and past president of the Dayton Historic Depot board.

Besides being a Waitsburg City Council member, Kuykendall is a member of the Waitsburg City Planning Commission and the Walla Walla County Planning Commission. He is owner and principal consultant for Sustainable Solutions Group, LLC, which he started in 2009. Recently, he was Global Supply Chain Manager for Kurion, Inc., Richland, Washington, an international corporate technology firm, and prior to that, he was Director of Energy & Sustainability for Vista Engineering Technologies, also in Richland.

The other two candidates for the Port of Walla Walla position are Patrick Reay, who is city administrator for the City of College Place and Arthur Scheunemann who was most recently Senior Vice President of Business Development for Northwest Container Services in Seattle. Prior to that, Scheunemann was the President & CEO for the Economic Development Council of Seattle & King County for almost six years, and he was Managing Director for the Market Development Division of the Washington State Department of Agriculture for over ten years.