Lecture: US Coast Guard – Charting the Course Ahead with Captain Nicole Rodriguez

About the Lecture

Join Houston Maritime Center & Museum as we welcome Captain Nicole Rodriguez, USCG, the new Captain of the Port and Commander, Sector Houston-Galveston, for a discussion of US Coast Guard operations in the Port of Houston.

About the Presenter

Captain Nicole Rodriguez assumed the duties as Captain of the Port and Commander, Sector Houston-Galveston in April 2025. In this capacity, she oversees over 1,400 active duty, reserve, civilian, and auxiliary Coast Guard personnel who serve in an area from the east bank of the Colorado River in southwest Texas to 60 miles east of Lake Charles, Louisiana and 200 miles offshore.

Previous operational assignments include Deputy Commander, Sector Houston-Galveston, Commanding Officer of MSU Lake Charles from 2021- 2023 where she served as Field Commander representing MSU Port Arthur in execution of Captain of the Port, Officer in Charge of Marine Inspection, Federal On-Scene Coordinator, and Federal Maritime Security Coordinator authorities overseeing maritime operations over an 8,400 square mile area of responsibility in Southwest Louisiana. She also served as Commanding Officer of Marine Safety Unit Baton Rouge from 2013-2016 where she served as Field Commander in support of the Coast Guard’s maritime safety, security and environmental protections missions for an area spanning over 230 river miles.

Other operational tours include Chief of Prevention for Sector Houston-Galveston where she oversaw foreign and domestic vessel compliance, port facility safety and security, ports and waterways management, aids to navigation, and marine causality investigation; Chief of the Investigations Division for Sector Baltimore; and, marine inspector and port operations officer for Group/Marine Safety Office Los Angeles-Long Beach.

Previous staff tours include assignment as Chief of Inspections and Investigations for the Eighth Coast Guard District headquartered in New Orleans, where she was responsible for the District’s marine safety, security, and stewardship initiatives for 26 states including the inland waterways system and Gulf of Mexico. Additionally, she served as Program Reviewer for the Coast Guard’s Human Resources directorate, the Offices of Shore and Boat Forces, and Search and Rescue Directorate while assigned to the Office of Budget and Programs at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Captain Rodriguez is a prior recipient of the Congressman James Sener Award for Excellence in Marine Investigations and is certified as a Maritime Port Executive. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from James Madison University and a Masters in Public Administration from The George Washington University.

The lecture will be followed by a networking reception sponsored by Suderman & Young Towing.

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