Global Maritime Ministries Honors Branch, Brito With Annual Awards

New Orleans-based port chaplaincy organization Global Maritime Ministries (GMM) hosted its annual Lighthouse Gala September 19 at the Audubon Tea Room, a banquet hall adjoining the city’s Audubon Zoo.

Global Maritime presents two awards each year at the Lighthouse Gala, the John P. Vandercook Service Award and the Crystal Lighthouse Award. The John P. Vandercook Service Award, named after Global Maritime founder and the father of the organization’s executive director, Philip Vandercook, recognizes an outstanding humanitarian connected with the greater New Orleans port community. The Crystal Lighthouse Award recognizes a maritime person of the year.

Capt. Ronald Branch, president of the Louisiana Maritime Association, received this year’s Crystal Lighthouse Award, while Lt. Peter Brito with the Port of New Orleans Harbor Police Department received the John P. Vandercook Service Award.

Port of New Orleans Harbor Police Chief Melanie Montroll introduced Brito to the crowd gathered for the gala. Not only has Montroll worked with Brito for more than 20 years, she said, but she was Brito’s field training officer when he was a new recruit.

“He was actually the last person I trained,” Montroll said.

Brito was promoted to the rank of corporal in 2010, then to the rank of sergeant in 2017. He was promoted to lieutenant earlier this year.

Montroll said Brito has distinguished himself throughout his career as both a giving and caring officer. He’s received a variety of commendations throughout his career, including in 2010 when he helped reconnect a 91-year-old man who had become disoriented and separated from his family. Then in 2020, Brito, who is fluent in both English and Spanish, was able to deescalate a situation at the port by speaking one-on-one with a Spanish speaker.

“I want to thank God first and foremost,” Brito said upon accepting the service award from Vandercook.

Brito also thanked the Global Maritime Ministries team, his family and friends, Montroll and his harbor police team. Brito then described the three things that give him daily strength and inspiration.

“There are three things I need each day,” he said. “God to look up to. Second, family to look forward to. Third, who I want to chase.”

Regarding that chase, Brito said he’s chasing himself to be a better person and officer each day.

Christine Titus, who oversees operations and membership support for the Louisiana Maritime Association, introduced Branch, who originally came to the New Orleans area as part of his time in the U.S. Coast Guard.

“After graduating from Oklahoma State University, which happens to be my favorite college, a young Ronald Wayne Branch left his house one morning to go join the Air Force,” Titus said. “When he returned to his house later that day, he was in the Coast Guard.”

Branch eventually made it to southeast Louisiana when he was assigned as the commanding officer of MSO New Orleans. He later transferred to the Eighth District, where he retired after serving as the D8 chief of staff. For the past 17 years, Branch has served as president of the Louisiana Maritime Association, where he focuses on supporting navigation and industry along the Mississippi River Ship Channel.

“As a person, Ron is one of the kindest and most authentic individuals that I have the privilege of knowing,” Titus said. “He is a man of integrity and is most worthy of our respect and this recognition.”

In accepting the Global Maritime Ministries Crystal Lighthouse award, Branch voiced his appreciation and admiration for the mariners that serve aboard the ships that call on ports and terminals along the Lower Mississippi River.

“It’s the crews on these ships that bring the ships to the ports,” Branch said. “They’re the ones who make the ports along the Lower Mississippi River number one in the world.”

Branch joked that, when he transferred with the Coast Guard from Cleveland, Ohio, to New Orleans, it was only supposed to be for three years.

“‘I can make three years,’” Branch said he remembers thinking. “And that was 23 years ago.”

Branch pointed to the work to prepare for Hurricane Francine and the collaboration to reconstitute the waterway as a perfect example of the team effort it takes to make the Mississippi River Ship Channel a success. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the National Weather Service, the Coast Guard, four pilot associations, the Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association and other industry groups—all work together to support navigation on the river.

“And without the ships on this river, a lot of us in this room would be looking for other jobs,” Branch said.

Vandercook said the leadership at Global Maritime Ministries started the Lighthouse Gala simply to celebrate maritime leaders in the New Orleans area.

“This event exists to recognize people in our maritime community who do so much and often don’t get the recognition they deserve,” Vandercook said. “This event is a chance for us to thank those in our maritime community that work so hard and to recognize them for the efforts and work they do.”

This year, the Lighthouse Gala was originally scheduled for September 12 but had to be pushed back a week due to Hurricane Francine. Even with that delay, the event was well attended, with representatives from the barge industry, shipping community, the Coast Guard and Coast Guard Auxiliary, and the local faith-based community.

This is the seventh year Global Maritime has held its Lighthouse Gala. Previous recipients of the Crystal Lighthouse Award include Gary LaGrange, former president and CEO of the Port of New Orleans (2017); Sean Duffy, executive director of the Big River Coalition (2018); collectively U.S. Coast Guard Sector New Orleans and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (2019), in recognition for their service during 2018-2019 government shutdown; David Fennelly, founder of stevedore Associated Terminals (2020); Brandy Christian, former president and CEO of the Port of New Orleans (2022); and Drew Heaphy, executive director of the St. Bernard Port, Harbor and Terminal District (2023).

Previous recipients of the John P. Vandercook Service Award include Michael Colomb, an attorney with Dodson & Hooks in Baton Rouge, La. (2017); Dwayne Boudreaux with the International Longshoremen’s Association (2018); Coast Guard Petty Officer Cory Ciekot (2019), who played a vital role in rescuing five people after their boat hit an oil rig; Robert Hecker, former chief of the Port of New Orleans Harbor Police Department (2020); Capt. William Boyce, captain aboard the mv. Green Lake who came to the aid of a crew that had to abandon their ship due to fire (2022); and Philip Schifflin, director of the Seamen’s Church Institute’s Center for Mariner Advocacy (2023).

Previous award recipients in the audience for the September 19 event included LaGrange, Duffy, Colomb, Boudreaux and Schifflin.

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Featured photo caption: Philip Vandercook, executive director of Global Maritime Ministries, stands alongside Capt. Ronald Branch, president of the Louisiana Maritime Association, and Christine Titus. (Photos by Tracie Morris Schaefer)