Public gets first look at port executive finalists.(Brief Article)

The next Port of Portland executive director will need to deal with some thorny issues; issues that include, but are not limited to, channel deepening, maintaining and expanding marine and air carrier service, and ensuring enough revenue to pay off massive airport expansion-related debt.

The four finalists in the running to head the Port of Portland--possibly the highest-paid public agency position in the state--displayed varying degrees of familiarity with those topics and others during a public forum.

The finalists are well-known Portland businessman Matt Chapman; Ken Krauter, president and CEO of the Jacksonville, Fla., port authority; Bill Wyatt, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber's chief of staff; and Tau Yoshitani, deputy executive director at the Port of Oakland in California.

The port's board of commissioners came up with the forum as one opportunity in a series intended to give …