William P. Doyle Appointed as Dredging Contractors of America Executive Director and CEO

The Dredging Contactors of America’s (DCA) Board of Directors announced it has selected the Honorable William P. Doyle, Sr. as its new executive director and chief executive officer (CEO). William Doyle currently serves as a Commissioner with the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission having been unanimously confirmed twice by the U.S. Senate as a Presidential Appointee, and remained onboard with the administration of President Donald J. Trump. Doyle began with DCA in January.

Doyle served more than a decade as an officer in the U.S. Merchant Marine as an engineer aboard numerous classes of vessels. He is a licensed attorney and marine engineer. Combined, he has more than 25 years of experience in transportation and maritime policy serving in senior level executive roles, including presidential appointee and previously chief-of-staff, general counsel, senior regulator, director of government and legislative affairs, and communications executive.
He is a graduate of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy earning a Bachelor of Science in Marine Engineering and a Juris Doctor degree from the Widener University School of Law.

“Bill Doyle is a proven leader in the maritime industry. His extensive experience spearheading maritime policy including drafting legislation, shaping policy and managing communications, combined with his enthusiasm and passion for the dredging and marine industry made him the right person to guide our industry association on an exciting journey forward,” said Ashley Kerns, president of the DCA Board of Directors and senior vice president of Mike Hooks, Inc.

In the role of executive director and CEO, Doyle will direct DCA’s team to successfully represent, advocate and promote the common interests of the organization’s members and America’s dredging industry. Among his top priorities is the commitment to continuing the industry’s strong voice and advocating for the U.S. dredging industry and its stakeholders’ interests.
Kyle Johnson, DCA board member and executive vice president & COO of Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company said, “The DCA is a strong and unified organization that helps our members and stakeholders succeed by advocating, educating and promoting for the common interests of the U.S. Flag dredging and maritime community. We look forward to working with of all of our stakeholders and especially continuing our key partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Bill Doyle is the right person for the mission.”

Kerns added, “The DCA is especially grateful to our outgoing Executive Director, Mr. Barry Holliday, for his many years of successful leadership at the DCA. Barry’s long list of successes include a strong and robust partnership between the DCA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and his important leadership as Chairman of RAMP – Realize America’s Maritime Promise — resulting in important reforms to, and improved maritime transportation funding from, the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund. We wish Barry and his wife Kathy all the best.” “I am honored and thrilled the DCA has selected me as the Dredging Contractors of America’s new executive director and CEO,” Doyle said. He continued “The dredging industry is the foundation to economic prosperity in the United States. Ships visit the U.S. from all over the world, and we are becoming a natural gas exporting nation. Larger ships now more than ever visit our ports as a result of the expanded Panama and Suez Canals. None of these ships would be able to dock in America but for the important work that dredging companies do to deepen and maintain our harbors, channels, ports, and inland waterways.”

Doyle will ensure that policy and decision makers understand the economic, national security, and environmental importance of the work performed by the U.S. Flag dredging industry on our coasts and waterways at the federal, state and local levels. Pointing this out, Doyle said, “When our coastal and inland waterways and communities are decimated by hurricanes, super-storms and Nor’easters, it’s the U.S. dredging companies that answer the call – deepening and maintaining our channels and harbors, replenishing our beaches, rebuilding our wetlands and barrier islands, and allowing our ships to transit and our families to enjoy outdoor conservation and recreational activities.”

“These are American built, owned, operated, and crewed dredging vessels. Our DCA members spend billions of dollars in the United States recapitalizing their fleets in U.S. shipyards and purchasing U.S. equipment. And they employ and provide benefits for thousands of hard working American families,” said Mr. Doyle. “Dredging companies and their mariners are true patriots. When the 2017 hurricane season ravaged Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, Texas and Florida, the U.S. flag dredging and marine companies immediately made available their dredges to open our waterways and protect our shores and their tug boats and barges to deliver goods for humanitarian relief.”