Manufacturing | Transportation & Logistics
Executive director
Duluth seaway port authority  | Superior
Deb DeLuca is executive director of the Port of Duluth-Superior and the first woman to lead the organization in its history. The port is the largest tonnage port on the Great Lakes and ranks among the top 20 ports in the U.S., handling an average of 35 million short tons of cargo and hosting approximately 800 vessel visits annually. In October alone, more than 3.1 million short tons of cargo transited the port, and inbound cargo shipments are on track for their highest tonnage in nearly 40 years, which provides an economic boost to the area.
In response to global shipping container shortages, the Duluth-Superior port this year expanded its service to ship cargo containers over water.
DeLuca is president of the Minnesota Ports Association and an executive committee member of APEX, a regional economic and business development organization focused on growing northwestern Wisconsin and northeastern Minnesota. She is a board member of the Iron Mining Association of Minnesota and the Chamber of Marine Commerce and also serves as an alternate Minnesota commissioner to the Great Lakes Commission.
Education: Bachelor’s, University of Wisconsin-Madison