A Virginia Port Authority commissioner and former chairman of the board has stepped down from his post, port officials have announced.

William H. Fralin Jr., appointed by Gov. Bob McDonnell for a five-year term on July 15, 2011, gave his last day of service Friday.

Fralin, who served as chairman of the board from Nov. 27 until the end of July, was “instrumental in leading the board through the determinative phase” of the recent bids to privatize port operations, the a press release stated.

The board declined two private bids in March, after a third bidder earlier had dropped out of the race, leaving operations in the hands of Virginia International Terminals, which the state had previously established as a private entity to run port facilities.

“It was a process that took a lot of time, research, analysis and the like, and in the end it was the board’s firm belief that we made a decision that was in the best interest of the Commonwealth and one that set up the Port of Virginia to continue to grow into the leading port on the U.S. East Coast,” Fralin stated in the release.

“I leave knowing the port is the envy of its peers on this coast: The Port of Virginia has a very bright future.”

President and CEO of Roanoke’s Medical Facilities of America, Fralin represented the 17th district in the Virginia House of Delegates from 2004 to 2010.