Granda to lead Port of Long Beach’s government relations division

The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners on Monday approved the appointment of Adrian Granda, the director of Government Affairs for the City of San Diego, to fill the same role at the nation’s second-busiest seaport.

As Director of Government Relations, Granda will be Port of Long Beach’s representative to federal, state and local governments and oversee workforce development. In this capacity, he will also supervise the activities of the Port’s legislative advocates in Sacramento and Washington, D.C.

Granda comes to the Port after four years leading San Diego’s strategic intergovernmental initiatives.

Prior to that, Granda held several positions, among them policy adviser to a San Diego County supervisor, and Director of Communications, council representative and Interim Director of Legislative Affairs for a San Diego City councilmember.

The appointment is a return to Long Beach for Granda, who earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in political science from California State University, Long Beach. He grew up in Downey and attended St. John Bosco High School.

Recently, the Port’s Government Relations Division was moved along with the Communications and Community Relations Division to form the Strategic Advocacy Bureau. The organizational change brought together the functions and activities of government advocacy, communications with the public and workforce development, to tell the story of one of North America’s busiest seaports within a strategic framework.