Page 22 - Port of Baltimore - Issue 4 - 2024

John D. Brewer, Jr.
John D. Brewer was appointed to the Maryland Port Commission by Gov. Wes Moore on July 1.
When he is not attending to Port of Baltimore matters, Brewer is Director of the Office of Insular Affairs at the U.S. Department of the Interior. In this role, he coordinates federal policy for the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Brewer
also supports the Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs
in their responsibility to administer and oversee U.S. federal assistance to the freely associated states of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of Palau, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
Prior to joining the Interior Department, Brewer served 14 years
in various leadership positions at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. These include Administrator of the United States Foreign Agricultural Service, Special Advisor to the U.S. Secretary
of Agriculture for Intelligence Issues, Assistant Chief Data Officer, and Special Assistant to the Administrator of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Over his 25-year federal government career, Brewer has held senior posts at the U.S. Departments of State, Defense and Treasury.
Brewer resides in North Bethesda with his family. He holds bachelor’s degrees in both history and English from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, and a master’s degree in international
history from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
What did you learn about the Port of Baltimore in your first Commission meeting?
I learned how important the Port is, not only to the city of Baltimore and our state, but also to the nation’s infrastructure. For example, Baltimore and the Port play a key role in moving cargo from the East Coast to the Midwest.
How do you think your career in the federal government has prepared you for serving on the Commission?
Through my government career, I have seen the important role ports have
in our national economy and in the global supply chain. I served for 14 years in the Department of Agriculture, primarily in the foreign agricultural trade policy space. It was my job to get U.S. agricultural products into foreign markets and the global ports system plays a major role in foreign agricultural trade.
ASSOCIATION o
MARYLAND PILOTS
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Phone: (410) 342-6013 | dispatch@MDPILOTS.com www.marylandpilots.com | 3720 Dillon Street | Baltimore, MD 21224
[20] The Port of Baltimore ■ ISSUE 4 / 2024