Meet the Commissioners

Helen A. Brohl
Commissioner

Helen A. Brohl began as the Director of the Executive Secretariat for the Committee on the Marine Transportation System in July 2006. The CMTS is a partnership of Federal agencies with responsibility for the Marine Transportation System (MTS) - waterways, ports and their intermodal connections created to ensure the development and implementation of national MTS policies consistent with national needs and report to the President its views and recommendations for improving the MTS.

For the previous ten years, Ms. Brohl was the Executive Director of the U.S. Great Lakes Shipping Association, an organization established in 1956 to represent US vessel agents in the Great Lakes. She also previously served for six years as the President of the National Association of Maritime Organizations, which brought together shipping associations, marine exchanges and a harbor safety committee to address issues impacting the safe and efficient navigation of vessels through our Nation's waters. Additionally, Helen served four years as the national coordinator for the Marine Navigation Safety Coalition which encompassed over 60 maritime related companies and organizations involved in maritime and safety as it relates to hydrographic services such as charting, mapping, and real time water level monitoring. Ms. Brohl is currently active with the White House Ocean Policy initiative and the Subcommittee on Integrated Management of Ocean Resources, the DOT-DOC competitive supply chain partnership, and CMTS activities entailing marine transportation safety and navigation technology, research and development, MTS assessment, and implementation of the National Strategy for the MTS.

Before joining the CMTS, Ms. Brohl was a member of two federal advisory committees: The Great Lakes Pilotage Advisory Committee under the U.S. Coast Guard and was Deputy Chair of the Hydrographic Services Review Panel under NOAA. She also served as policy chair for the Great Lakes Panel on Aquatic Nuisance Species and was a member of the Great Lakes Waterways Management Forum MTS Committee. She previously held positions as the Director of Marketing and Government Affairs for the Illinois International Port of Chicago (Chicago Port District), was an international business development specialist for the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, and served as professional staff with the House of Representatives Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee. Ms. Brohl received her Bachelor in Science from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida and her Masters in Science from The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. She is an alumni mentor with the John Glenn School of Public Affairs and sits on the board of the Women's Aquatic Network which she co-founded 25 years ago.

The CMTS is chaired by the Secretary of the Department of Transportation and is comprised of 20 Cabinet-level departments, independent Federal agencies and White House offices. In August 2008, the CMTS issued its National Strategy for the Marine Transportation System: A Framework for Action. and approved a Phase I implementation work plan in January 2010.

revised 18 Aug 2010