Port of Oakland Welcomes Two New Commissioners

Oakland, Calif. —August 3, 2012— On Wednesday, August 1, Mayor Jean Quan swore in two new Commissioners for the Port of Oakland, Cestra “Ces” Butner and Bryan Parker. The commissioners were recently nominated by Mayor Quan and appointed by the Oakland City Council on July 26, 2012. They replace outgoing Commissioners Pamela Calloway and Margaret Gordon. Commissioners Butner and Parker will join the Commission at its upcoming Special Meeting on August 16, 2012.

“I welcome the opportunity to work with Commissioners Butner and Parker to continue guiding the Port toward a sustainable future,” commented Board of Port Commissioners President Gilda Gonzales. “Their practical business experiences will be welcome additions as we continue our relentless focus on our core aviation, maritime, and commercial real estate businesses in fulfillment of our duties under state law as trustees of state tidelands.”

Commissioner Cestra “Ces” Butner is the President, CEO and owner of Horizon Beverage Company, an Oakland-based beverage distributorship that supplies retailers in Northern Alameda County and Western Contra Costa County. Upon graduating from the University of Missouri in 1975 and working in Minneapolis and Chicago for Fortune 500 companies, Butner settled in Oakland in 1981, working for a local beverage distributorship. By age 33, he became the youngest owner of an Anheuser-Busch wholesale operation in the country. Through acquisitions and expansions over the last 25 years Butner has more than tripled the size of Horizon Beverage Company revenues placing it among Black Enterprise’s top 100 Black Owned Business nationally. His community service work includes serving on the boards of the East Bay YMCA, Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, and as president of Sequoyah Country Club. Butner lives in Oakland with his wife Teresa and two daughters Raquel & Andrea.

Commissioner Bryan Parker serves as the Vice President of Davita, Inc., a Fortune 500 company and leading provider of kidney care in the United States, providing dialysis service and education for patients with chronic kidney failure and end stage renal disease. Prior to joining Davita, Parker volunteered for nine months with the Obama presidential campaign’s finance committee and before that, he was the Chief Operating Officer of a $100 million global digital media company. Parker’s broad expertise also includes investment banking, operations management and law. He received his BA from the University of California, Berkeley in Political Economy of Industrial Societies and JD from the New York University School of Law in 1995 (bar certified in both California and New York). Parkers’ community service includes volunteering at his local church, Allen Temple Baptist Church and his hobbies include art collecting and football.