Garcetti names his harbor commissioners *

* Post updated below.

These are the appointees to the Board of Harbor Commissioners announced this morning by Mayor Eric Garcetti. This is a big commission for any mayor, considering all the contracts and politics that flow through the port — and because they tend to go along on mayoral junkets to the Far East to talk about bringing business to the wharves in San Pedro. Vilma Martinez was until recently President Obama's ambassador to Argentina.

David Arian

David Arian is president of the Harry Bridges Institute, a San Pedro-based nonprofit dedicated to community organization. A native of San Pedro, Arian began his career as a longshoreman in 1965 and has been an active member of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union since then. He served as an officer of the ILWU Local 13 many times, including three terms as local president. In 1991, he was elected international president of the ILWU. Following his term, he returned to the docks at the Port of Los Angeles where he worked until his retirement in 2009. He was originally appointed to the Board by Mayor Villaraigosa in October of 2010.

Patricia Castellanos

Patricia Castellanos is the deputy director of the L.A. Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE), a policy and advocacy nonprofit organization, where she oversees the organization’s efforts to advance economic development strategies that lead to better jobs and an improved environment. Prior to her current role, she served as LAANE’s director of the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports, served as the Harbor Area Director for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and served as director of policy, training, and education for Strategic Concepts in Organization and Policy Education (SCOPE). She also serves on the board of the Los Angeles League of Conservations Voters.

Anthony Pirozzi

Anthony Pirozzi is Director of Systems Integration, Test & Launch Organization Boeing Satellite Development Center. He also serves on the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce, where he served as Chairman of the Board of Directors from 2010-2012. He is very active in the Harbor community, serving as a long time little league coach, a Project Manager for the New Fields Project with Eastview Little League and the Port of Los Angeles, a columnist for San Pedro Today, and a member of the Marymount College Advisory Board.

Vilma Martinez

Vilma Martinez served as U.S. Ambassador to Argentina from 2009 until July 2013. She has been a Partner at Munger, Tolles & Olson since 1982, specializing in federal and state court commercial litigation and advising companies on equal employment opportunity policies. She has also served as President and General Counsel of the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), Chairman of The Board of Regents of The University of California from 1984-1986, and was a Regent from 1976-1990. She previously served as a board member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Ambassador Martinez chaired the Pacific Council's Study Group on Mexico and served on the advisory boards of Columbia Law School and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California. She was appointed to President Clinton’s Advisory Committee on Trade Policy & Negotiations from 1994-1996.

Edward Renwick

Ed Renwick is a partner of The Yucaipa Companies, a private equity fund. Beginning in 2007, Ed became the CEO of Yucaipa’s Global Fund, a private equity fund investing primarily in Greater China, Korea and India. In addition, he co-founded and serves as CEO of Raineth Holdings, a real estate investment fund. Prior to joining Yucaipa, he was a consultant at The Boston Consulting Group, the Senior Vice President of Business Development at the Chongqing Wanli Storage Battery Company in Chongqing, China, and worked as an analyst in the real estate investment banking division of Goldman Sachs. Ed has served as a Director of Current TV, Delltrade, and EasyBill, a transaction processor in India. He serves as an Advisory Board Member of Children Now.

Added: Garcetti had previously kept at least his rhetorical distance from Renwick due to the potential for a conflict of interest. The LA Weekly's Gene Maddaus wrote about that in 2011. After the story ran, Garcetti apparently returned $1,250 from Yucaipa employees.