HOUSTON, Jan. 7, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- PHA Commissioner Janiece Longoria has been selected by Direct Women, an initiative of the American Bar Association, the ABA Section of Business Law and Catalyst, Inc., as a recipient of the 2008 Sandra Day O'Connor Board Excellence Award.
A photo accompanying this release is available at http://media.primezone.com/poha/pages/exec.html
Longoria is among a select group of women lawyers across the United States who have served with distinction as independent directors of public companies and have worked to advance the value of diversity in board positions. She and her five fellow recipients will be recognized at a luncheon on Feb. 22 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City.
The Sandra Day O'Connor Board Excellence Award is named for Retired United States Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. An innovator and pioneer, she became the first woman justice appointed to the United States Supreme Court.
"It is a fitting tribute for Commissioner Longoria to be recognized with this prestigious award," said PHA Chairman James T. Edmonds. "Her leadership in overall port issues has been exemplary. She works diligently to serve Houston, and her dedication to her constituents has been instrumental in helping maintain the port's economic vitality."
"I am honored to have been selected as a recipient for this award," Longoria said. "It is of particular honor that this award is named for Sandra Day O'Connor, a distinguished jurist and a mentor for all women who seek to achieve excellence in their fields of endeavor."
A PHA commissioner since 2002, Longoria chairs the International Business Development Task Force. As chair of that task force, her goal is to increase the port's international presence and to continue to grow container traffic from international destinations.
She also serves on the Board of Directors of CenterPoint Energy, Inc., the third largest publicly traded natural gas delivery company in the U.S., and the provider of electricity transmission and distribution service for the Houston metropolitan area and natural gas distribution service in Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas, along with operation of an interstate pipeline system, corollary field services, and competitive natural gas sales and services. As a member of the board of directors, she serves on CenterPoint Energy's audit and finance committees.
She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from the University of Texas and a Doctorate of Jurisprudence from the University of Texas' School of Law. As a lawyer with 28 years' experience, she has brought creative and innovative solutions to address legal and business issues. For more than 10 years, Longoria has been a partner in the law firm of Ogden, Gibson, Broocks & Longoria, L.L.P., where she focuses her practice on the trial, arbitration and appeal of a broad range of commercial litigation cases.
Longoria is a member of the American Bar Association's Securities Law Section, the State Bar of Texas, and is a Fellow of the Houston Bar Association and Houston Bar Foundation. She is a member of the Legal and Compliance Division of the Securities Industry Association and has been a contributor to the annual broker-dealer survey of litigation published by the SIA.
Her civic duties include serving on the board of directors of The Greater Houston Partnership, which is the largest economic chamber in the Greater Houston Region, and on the World Trade Division of the Greater Houston Partnership. She has also served on the Board of Directors and the Executive Committees of numerous philanthropic and community organizations.
The Port of Houston Authority owns and operates the public facilities located along the Port of Houston, the 25-mile-long complex of diversified public and private facilities designed for handling general cargo, containers, grain and other dry bulk materials, project and heavy lift cargo, and other types of cargo. Each year, more than 7,000 vessels call at the port, which ranks first in the U.S. in foreign waterborne tonnage, second in overall total tonnage, and 10th largest in the world. The Port Authority plays a vital role in ensuring navigational safety along the Houston Ship Channel, which has been instrumental in Houston's development as a center of international trade. The Barbours Cut Container Terminal and Central Maintenance Facility are the first of any U.S. port facilities to develop and implement an innovative Environmental Management System that meets the rigorous standards of ISO 14001. Additionally, the port is an approved delivery point for Coffee "C" futures contracts traded on the New York Board of Trade's Coffee, Sugar & Cocoa Exchange.
For more information, please visit www.portofhouston.com
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Members of the public who wish to speak at a Port Commission meeting will be asked to sign in at the 4th floor lobby area. They may speak when the Chair calls on them during the appearances portion of the agenda and their comments will be limited to three minutes. The public comment protocol is available on the PHA Web site, at: http://portofhouston.com/publicrelations/meetings.html
To access the port's web site photo gallery, please visit http://www.portofhouston.com/publicrelations/publicrelations.html and click the link for PHA Photo Gallery.
The photo is also available via AP PhotoExpress.
