Position 2 | Commissioner
Current Term: January 1, 2020 – December 31, 2023
Current Office: Commission President
Previous Commission Office: Commission Secretary
Current Port Commission Committee Assignments:
Northwest Seaport Alliance Work Groups/Committees:
Current Outside Board Assignments:
Education:
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Sam Cho was elected to the Port Commission in 2019 and became Commission President in 2023. Cho is the son of immigrants who immigrated from South Korea to the United States through the Port of Seattle in the 80’s. Today, he is the youngest and first person of color to become Commission President since the founding of the Port in 1911.
Driven to help shape the economy of the future, Commissioner Cho’s career has spanned from government and emerging start-ups to established companies in the tech and sustainability space.
Immediately before his election to the Port, Commissioner Cho was the founder and CEO of Seven Seas Export, an international trading company that exported over 2.5 million pounds of eggs to various countries throughout the Asia-Pacific.
Earlier in his career, Commissioner Cho held positions as an analyst at the US Department of State, as a Legislative Assistant to both a Washington State Senator and a member of the United States Congress, and served as a political appointee under President Barack Obama.
Commissioner Cho earned his Master of Science in International Political Economy from The London School of Economics and his Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from American University.
His priorities as a commissioner include creating economic opportunity, promoting environmental sustainability, equity, diversity, and inclusion, and ending human trafficking.
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