Executive Interview: Carleen Lyden Walker, Co-Founder & CEO, NAMEPA

(Article originally published in July/Aug 2026 edition.)

Carleen Lyden Walker is one of the best-known figures in maritime – founder of her own marketing business, co-founder of NAMEPA, former IMO Maritime Ambassador, Chief Evolution Officer of SHIPPINGInsight and a fierce advocate for all things maritime. She's a frequent speaker and participant at maritime conferences around the world, advocating for seafarers' rights, environmental stewardship and the role of women in maritime while raising the profile of an industry that touches every aspect of human life.

Welcome, Carleen, we're honored to have you! Tell our readers about yourself and what attracted you to maritime.

The honor is all mine, thank you! I grew up on an island in the Detroit River where it meets Lake Erie. At the time, the Detroit River was the second busiest waterway in the world after the Suez Canal. You couldn't go five minutes without seeing a ship go by! And I was always curious. Who's on board? What are they carrying? Where are they going? How do I get off this island? And I guess that was the beginning of my love for maritime.

What came next?

I wound up going east to college. Since I'd been to Europe twice, when I was 15 and 17, I naturally thought I'd go into international relations and become a diplomat. So I went to Wellesley College and graduated with a double major in political science and history and a minor in economics – essentially an international relations degree – but along the way was told I had to take a law course. So I took two law courses at Wellesley and hated them. There went my international relations career!

I moved instead to New York and got a job in account management with Ogilvy & Mather, one of the world's leading advertising firms and a great place to work. And that's where I learned advertising, public relations, marketing and research – all the skills I'm still using today – and put them to work in an industry about which I was passionate, which is maritime.

Then I joined Jim Lawrence at International Marketing Strategies in 1995, helping run the Connecticut Maritime Association conference and Marine Money, the leading maritime finance publication. On day two of working for Jim, which was back in 1995, he sent me to a ship finance event hosted at a bank on Park Avenue.

At the end of the event, I was standing at the bar next to someone I didn't know from Adam and asked him, "Can you help me understand why I'm the only woman in this room?" And he said, "You're at a ship finance conference. The shipping industry is male-dominated, especially the ship finance part. There aren't that many women in shipping."

And I replied, "Well, I want to change that."

Nine months later I hosted an event called "Women in Shipping – Navigating to the Top." It was held at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point. I had about 120-130 women there from around the world and a few men. Two of the women there were from London and had started WISTA (Women's International Shipping & Trading Association). They were WISTA U.K.

Wow, small world!

Yes, they came to see if there was an appetite to start a WISTA USA. So that was the beginning of WISTA USA, and the conference was part of developing the community of women in our industry.

When did you start Morgan Marketing & Communications?

That was later, after I left International Marketing Strategies and was moving to Malta. I had started Morgan Marketing in November of 1999 and was able to take it with me to Malta. I managed a few events and did some press release work while living in Malta.

Where did the name "Morgan" come from?

Morgan is the Gaelic word for "of the sea" or "by the sea." And that's why I named my daughter Morgan. When I launched Morgan Marketing & Communications, I sort of got a two-fer. I tell the industry it's Gaelic for "of the sea" or "by the sea," which it is, but my daughter thinks I named it for her.

We provide marketing and communications services to the commercial maritime industry – product launches, branding, messaging, awareness building, social media, reputation enhancement, crisis management, creative and content development. We also provide secretariat support for nonprofits and associations.

What about NAMEPA, the North American Marine Environment Protection Association? When did that come along?

NAMEPA goes back to 2006, when one of my clients was Clay Maitland, a Managing Partner at International Registries, and we were in Athens at a conference. We were approached by the Secretary General of HELMEPA, the Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association, and I asked him, "Dimitri, why is there no MEPA in North America?" He replied, "Carleen, it is because your country, it is so vast, nobody can wrap their arms around it."

I turned to Clay and said, "You know what, Clay? We should form a MEPA in North America." He replied, "Oh, that's a lousy idea." So I came back to the States and called my shipowner friends and the Coast Guard and some others and asked them, "Do you think this is a good idea?" And they did.

So I went back to Clay and said, "Clay, I spoke to this person, this person, this person, this person, this person, and they all thought it was a great idea." And he said, "I agree. I'm glad I thought of it."

And that was the beginning of NAMEPA, which Clay and I founded the following year. Today, we have over 200 members and will be celebrating our 20th anniversary next year.

Remarkable!

Yes, it is. Our members are maritime stewards. They want to address the challenges facing our industry in a sustainable and responsible fashion. We also educate seafarers, shore communities and students to save our seas and raise awareness about the critical importance of our industry to society as the engine of global trade.

More recently, we've been very active in workforce development, particularly through our work running MPSEC, the Maritime Primary and Secondary Education Coalition. We're active on many different fronts from beach cleanups to going into schools and talking to students. And I've got to tell you, I'd much rather speak to CEOs of shipping companies than high school students!

But I basically say to them: "How many of you have cell phones?" And they all raise their hands. "How many of you wear clothes?" They don't know what to do with that one. So I explain: "Everything you're wearing comes by ship. Every drop of gasoline that's used in our cars comes by ship. And your cell phones all come by ship."

We have to start at the elementary and secondary school levels because one of the things our industry hasn't been effective at doing is developing the relationship between the services we provide and the general public. And if the general public doesn't know, then their elected representatives won't know either, and we won't get the attention we need in Congress to make maritime a priority.

That seems to be changing a little, don't you think, with the current Administration and the Maritime Action Plan?

Absolutely! MAP and the Ships for America Act and having someone like Capt. Steve Carmel at the helm of MARAD give me hope.

As you know, at the end of World War II the U.S. flag was on 50 percent of the world's tonnage. Today, of the roughly 55,000 internationally trading cargo ships in the world, it's on less than one percent – 0.4 percent, to be exact.

That was the title of a book I had the privilege of coauthoring with Admiral James Watson and four other maritime experts a few years ago. It's called Zero Point Four: How U.S. Leadership in Maritime Will Secure America's Future. Just before it was published, Admiral Watson and I walked the halls of Congress and shared drafts of the book with House and Senate members, including the sponsors of the Ships for America Act.

So I like to think our work helped form the framework of the Ships for America Act, which in turn generated the Maritime Action Plan.

What comes next?

As you know, many elements of the Ships for America Act got into the House-passed FY 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) including a higher Cargo Preference threshold, U.S.-flag commercial vessel preference and a Maritime Trust Fund.

So that's good news. Now, what are we doing about it?

In October, another organization I run, called SHIPPINGInsight, is holding a conference in Houston with the theme, "PROJECT 2027: Catalyzing the Maritime Industry into Action." It's aimed at revitalizing the U.S. maritime industry. As soon as we get the signal through passage of the NDAA, we need to be prepared to move immediately. And that's what PROJECT 2027 is all about.

And as I mentioned earlier, we're fortunate to have a seasoned mariner like Capt. Steve Carmel as the Maritime Administrator. He's the first commercial maritime administrator in 20 years, and he fully grasps the operational and legislative challenges facing the industry. Given his background and position, I think we've got a real shot at making something happen.

In fact, the whole conference we're doing in Houston is modeled after his five pillars of what needs to happen to build a whole new maritime system for the 21st century starting with cargo, then growing the U.S. flag fleet, then Maritime Prosperity Zones, maritime education and training, and raising awareness of the industry. Those are the five pillars of what Steve wants to see happen. We're supporting him by devoting much of the conference to that.

Wonderful! Where does all your energy come from? How do you manage to do so many things?

Well, I'm not a halfway kind of gal. Growing up on an island alongside the second busiest waterway in the world gave me my interest in maritime. And I guess because of my love of this industry, I want it to operate at its highest level.

Everything I do supports the commercial maritime industry and how to make it better and more successful. I want to support its efforts to mitigate impacts on the marine environment and to be recognized for those efforts. I want people within the industry to be proud of the service they deliver to the health and prosperity of our world, and I want people outside the industry to recognize and appreciate the essential role it plays in their day-to-day lives.

Finally, I want to attract new people, new entrants to work alongside us for the benefit of global society.

And I believe it can be done, but we have to work together.

Jack O'Connell is the magazine's Senior Editor.

The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Maritime Executive.