Authors & Contributors

Carl Bentzel

Carl Bentzel served as a Federal Maritime Commissioner beginning in 2019 and in December of 2024 became President of the National Association of Waterfront Employers, a D.C.-based trade association representing marine terminal operators and stevedores in the nation’s capital.

Heather Combs

Heather Combs is the newly appointed CEO of Ripple Operations and AdonisHR.

Dr. Joe DiRenzo

Dr. Joe DiRenzo is the Center’s Partnership Director. He is a retired USCG Officer who teaches part-time for American Military University and National University.

William P. Doyle

William P. Doyle is the CEO of the Dredging Contractors of America and the former Chief Executive of the Port of Baltimore. He is a graduate Massachusetts Maritime Academy and served ten years as a marine engineer in the U.S. Merchant Marine.

Robert Kunkel

Robert Kunkel is president of Alternative Marine Technologies and First Harvest Navigation. He served as the Federal Chairman of the Short Sea Shipping Cooperative Program under the DOT’s MARAD from 2003 until 2008. He is a past VP of the Connecticut Maritime Association and a contributing writer for MarineNews and Marinelink.com

Andy Lee

Andy Lee is a partner in Jones Walker LLP’s Litigation Practice Group and co-leader of the firm’s privacy, data strategy, and artificial intelligence team.

Ilsa Luther

Ilsa Luther is an associate in Jones Walker LLP’s Maritime Practice Group and a member of the firm’s Energy, Environmental & Natural Resources Industry Team.

Bert Macesker

Bert Macesker is the Executive Director of the USCG Research and Development Center.

Patrick Parsons

Patrick Parsons is Counsel and Director – Government Affairs with The American Waterways Operators, the national trade association of the American tugboat, towboat and barge industry.

David Walker

David Walker is a Vice President with the Global Government Services unit in the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS). ABS Global Government Services focuses on the needs of government clients with military or other public fleets as well as research, development, and demonstration programs that ABS undertakes with government agencies on a wide range of maritime innovation topics