SEATTLE — The Washington Business Alliance has named Port of Port Angeles Commissioner Colleen McAleer its new president.
Although the post will require her to be in Seattle four days a week, she has said she would continue in her role at the port.
She did not attend Tuesday’s commission meeting or Monday’s groundbreaking ceremony at the future Composite Recycling Technology Center at William R. Fairchild International Airport.
She could not be reached immediately for comment.
At the port, she served as director of business development until she ran for and won the commissioner’s job in 2013 over Del DelaBarre for the District 1 seat that includes Sequim and eastern Clallam County.
Her election came after she filed a whistleblower complaint that the port had not updated rental rates on its properties.
At 46, she became the first woman commissioner in Port of Port Angeles history. Her term expires next year, and she has told the Peninsula Daily News she does not plan to seek re-election.
The Washington Business Alliance describes itself as a “nonpartisan, nonprofit organization of entrepreneurs.”
“Colleen brings a wealth of on-the-ground economic development experience and organizational leadership” to the job, said David Giuliani, the alliance’s president.
As a commissioner, McAleer championed development of the Composite Recycling Technology Center, which as of Monday became an independent nonprofit corporation.
Before joining the port, she was part of “Team McAleer” at the RE/MAX Fifth Avenue real estate brokerage in Sequim with her father, Mike McAleer, and brother E. Michael McAleer.
She also served as an Army aviator of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft and as a military intelligence officer for 10 years, including duty as a platoon leader in Operation Desert Storm.
