Shipping exec commands ports.

• Position: EASTERN REGION

A veteran shipping executive who graduated from the U.S. Military Academy is the new executive director of the N.C. State Ports Authority. Paul Cozza, who has an MBA from Fair-leigh Dickinson University in Hackensack, N.J., held several key jobs--including chief financial officer--with Danish container-shipping company Maersk Line and, before that, Sea-Land Service when it wa! owned by Jacksonville, Fla.-based CSX. His boss, N.C. Transportation Secretary Tony Tata, is a retired Army general. Cozza's appointment followed an eight-month international search. Jeff Miles had been interim ports director since Torn Bradshaw, a former Democratic mayor of Raleigh and state transportation secretary, resigned in January 2013, shortly after Republican Gov. Pat McCrory took office. In addition to the state ports at Wilmington and Morehead City, the authority operates inland terminals in Charlotte and Greensboro.

HAMPSTEAD--Wilmington-based Trask Land Co. plans to develop Blake Farm, a 1,300-acre mixed-use community with 2,200 residential units along U.S. 17 near here. The first phase of the 10-year project is 300 apartments and 200 single-family houses. Building will begin in the fourth quarter, pending approval of the site plan by county commissioners.

WILMINGTON--The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services selected Pharmaceutical Product Development as one of five contract-research organizations to...