• 6 min de lectura
• 6 min de lectura
Ellen Kennedy, a 26-year Port Everglades stalwart, will be retiring in August, with Joy Oglesby promoted to succeed her as director of external affairs and marketing.
CEO/Port Director Joseph Morris called Kennedy a "driving force at the county and port" who has "contributed in countless ways to Port Everglades, ranging from people to processes to publicity, all perfectly positioning the port at various stages of growth. And now," he said, "Ellen is perfectly positioned to retire, and she leaves us in a great place and will leave a tremendous legacy to her credit."
Morris said Oglesby, who starts her new role in August, brings "proven leadership and experience, creative ideas, excellent energy and strong collaboration to the position."
Currently Oglesby is public information officer of external affairs and marketing, responsible for media relations, website management and social media strategy. A search for her successor is under way.
Kennedy's worked under eight port directors, starting with Paul DeMariano, who hired her in August 2000 as manager of corporate communications, then Ken Krauter, Debbie Bowers, Phil Allen, Steve Cernak, Glenn Wiltshire (as interim/acting director), Jonathan Daniels and, now, Morris.
She's also held roles as assistant director of business development and acting director of business development, which gave her new insights from working on both cargo and cruise operations.
Corporate communications, which came to be called external affairs, was under business development. "I felt very strongly we should report directly to the port director," Kennedy said, and that came to pass thanks to her advocacy, enhancing community outreach by bringing it under the highest level at the port.
Kennedy looks back on many proud moments. Perhaps the pinnacle was "the way we pivoted and worked as a team" to recover from the COVID-19 shutdown. Led by Wiltshire and under the US Coast Guard Unified Command, safe cruise operations were restored. On June 26, 2021, Celebrity Edge was cheered as the first oceangoing cruise ship to sail from the US in 15 months.
"I liked the way we came together and worked with cruise lines and various government agencies to open as soon as possible," Kennedy said.
Another highlight: In November 2009, Port Everglades inaugurated Terminal 18, built for the world's largest cruise ship, Oasis of the Seas. Kennedy "felt like I was part of the building team from the ground up," giving numerous media briefings and tours, and planning fun things with Royal Caribbean, which brought dancers for a grand opening.
"The energy transmitted to the media and the public," Kennedy said.
Decorated with art and delivering the cruise line's incredibly ambitious goal of "curb to ship in 15 minutes," Terminal 18 was a marvel. (Subsequently it became "car to bar" in even less time, thanks to facial recognition software.)
Terminal 18 is now getting a refresh for the third Icon-class ship, Legend of the Seas, that will be arriving to its new year-round home in November.
On Jan. 26, 2004, Cunard's Queen Mary 2 ended its maiden trans-Atlantic voyage at Port Everglades, drawing crowds of onlookers as the world's largest passenger ship at more than 148,000gt.
"We were really excited to have this legendary name," said Kennedy, who worked closely with Cunard on the welcome that included an escort flotilla led by a tugboat spraying red and blue plumes of water.
Disney coming to the port in 2022 was "quite an achievement that really helped diversify" the lineup, Kennedy said, from the traditional Carnival Corp. and Royal Caribbean Group brands.
2025 put "another feather in the port's cap" with the naming ceremonies for three high-profile ships — Star Princess, Disney Destiny and Celebrity Xcel — all in early November.
Besides many ship inaugurals over the years, there were ceremonies capping the renovations of four cruise terminals for Carnival Corp. (2, 4, 21 and 26), two for Royal Caribbean (Oasis Terminal 18 and 25, for Celebrity Edge), along with the Disney terminal opening in 2023. Plus, six crane arrivals for cargo operations and opening the 1,818-space Heron Parking Garage serving Terminals 2 and 4.
Some other milestones were one day with 15 passenger ships (two of those single-day ships), on Dec. 21, 2003. At the time, the port had 11 cruise terminals so ships had to spill over into cargo berths.
The port now has eight cruise terminals.
And, on March 3, 2016, Port Everglades scored a world record 55,885 cruise movements in a day, eventually topping that with 55,964 passengers sailing in and out on Dec. 1, 2019.
When 8.5 acres of mangroves were removed to add five cargo terminals in the Southport Turning Notch a decade ago, the port was required to mitigate the impact but went further by establishing more than 70,000 mangroves and native plants, 16.8 acres worth.
"I was really proud of the port," Kennedy said, which worked with the South Florida Audubon Society and created "such a beautiful wildlife habitat right in the middle of this industrial port," with channels for manatees and a magnet for birds and crabs.
Other highlights included numerous United Way fundraisers and the "Keep Port Everglades Shipshape" program, a community event where volunteers painted old petroleum drums, transforming them into decorative trash and recycling bins.
When Kennedy started in 2000, Port Everglades had 1.6m passenger movements. This ballooned to 4.77m in fiscal 2025, with 4.9m projected in fiscal 2026.
"That's the crowning achievement: Being part of a team that saw Port Everglades grow into the major port it is today," Kennedy said.
When she steps away from her memorable job, "My to-do list for retirement is longer than my work list ... a lot of traveling, playing golf and tennis, yoga" and cruising, of course, with her husband. They'll be aboard Celebrity Xcel for New Year's Eve and are thinking about a trans-Atlantic crossing.
For ribbon cuttings, Kennedy always had a giant pair of scissors handy. She'll be entrusting those to Oglesby come Aug. 7.
"I have gained so much from Ellen, a leader who is very inclusive and has so much institutional knowledge," Oglesby said.
Oglesby joined Port Everglades in 2022 after managing corporate communications for Broward Health's five hospitals, serving as public affairs information officer for the Broward County Sheriff's Office and working as an editor at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
"I'm really proud and excited for Joy," Kennedy said. "She's a go-getter and has a lot of energy, and she's been working with me for several years now ... She'll take this position even further."
