Secretary - Board of Harbor Commissioners
Port of Long Beach, California
Mike Walter, Ph.D., was appointed in July 2005 to a six-year term on the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners by then-Long Beach Mayor Beverly O'Neill and unanimously confirmed by the City Council. The Harbor Commission is the five-member governing board for the Port of Long Beach, California. Dr. Walter will serve as the Board's Secretary for the 2011-2012 term.
Dr. Walter is the Executive Assistant to the President of California State University Long Beach. He came to Long Beach in 1993 as the Dean of the University’s College of Business Administration and accepted his current post in 2000. He is also a professor of international business in the College of Business Administration, and is a recognized Phi Beta Delta International Scholar. He is President of the CSULB Chapter of the Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society, and the CSULB Class of 2010 voted Dr. Walter "Most Inspirational Professor" of the year.
Prior to coming to Long Beach, he served 10 years as Dean of the School of Economics and Business Administration at Saint Mary’s College of California in Moraga. Previously, Dr. Walter was Director of State Relations and Planning for the University of Michigan.
Well known for his philanthropy, Dr. Walter and his wife, Arline, donated $2.1 million to CSULB’s Faculty Development and Research Program and to its Department of Athletics. The university honored the Walters by naming its iconic sports complex the “Mike and Arline Walter Pyramid.”
Dr. Walter also has had a distinguished career in business, holding senior executive positions with three multi-billion-dollar, multinational companies: Levi Strauss, DuPont and Rockwell International. As Senior Vice President and member of the Office of the President of Levi Strauss & Co., and also at DuPont, he was responsible for international operations. At Rockwell, he was Assistant to the Vice President for Strategic Planning and Innovation.
In Long Beach, he is Chair of the California Conference for Equality and Justice (CCEJ) and serves on the Board of Governors of Long Beach City College, the Board of Governors of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC), the Executive Committee of International City Theatre, The Board of Trustees for the St. Mary Medical Center (SMMC) and the SMMC Foundation. He has served as Chair of the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, President of the International Business Association of Southern California, Co-Chair of the Tenth Anniversary Gala of the Aquarium of the Pacific, and Chair of their Ocean Conservation Awards Gala.
He has also volunteered with the Boys and Girls Club, Leadership Long Beach, Workforce Development, and served for two years on the Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners.
Dr. Walter has received numerous federal, state and local awards for business, societal, human relations, artistic and philanthropic contributions, and, for both his business and community involvement, President Bush’s Business Advisory Council selected Dr. Walter as a 2005 Businessman of the Year award winner.
Dr. Walter is a native of Clinton, Iowa. He was discharged from the United States Army to attend the United States Military Academy, and he holds B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Iowa.
Dr. and Mrs. Walter have two children. Their daughter, Angela, her husband and son reside in Atlanta, Georgia, and their son, Lance, his wife and two daughters reside in Pacifica, California.
Marking 100 years of service to the community in 2011, the Port of Long Beach enters its second century as one of the world's premier seaports, a primary gateway for Trans-Pacific trade and a trail blazer in innovative goods movement, safety and environmental stewardship. A major economic engine for the region, trade valued at more than $150 billion moves through the Port of Long Beach each year, supporting hundreds of thousands of Southern California jobs.
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