Tuesday, December 2nd

NEW for 2025! Join the Pre-conference Workshop & Lunch $100 add-on session (Limited to 100 seats)
8:00 AM – 12:00 PM PRECONFERENCE: Fact or Fiction: Dispelling Myths of OSHA Standards and Obligations
Robert Smith, Safety Consultant, Fisher Phillips, LLP

Session Description: OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, is often misunderstood, leading to various myths surrounding its role and impact on workplaces. This session will dispel the myths and focus on facts to increase workplace and worker safety. Topics covered will include common citations, applicable standards, reportable incidents, and key elements of a strong safety program.

12:30 – 1:30 PM OPENING SESSION: 2025 Industry Survey
Brent Wierson, Vice President, Sales and Services, Storable Marine (Molo | Stellar)
Christi Kleiner, Editor, Marina Dock Age

Session Description: Marina Dock Age, Storable Marine, and the Association of Marina Industries (AMI) partnered on a nationwide industry survey to better understand marina business operations, infrastructure, and expenses across the United States. Respondents shared insights on revenue, occupancy, rates and technology. The findings from this joint survey will be revealed during the opening session.

1:45 – 2:45 PM Marina Electrical Design: Navigating NEC 555 and NFPA 303
Sanad Aridah, Co-Founder & CTO, VoltSafe, Inc.
Trevor Burgess, Co-Founder & CEO, VoltSafe, Inc.
Chris Dolan, Vice President, Marina Electrical Equipment

Session Description: Electrical code changes are reshaping how marinas operate, and the cost of compliance is climbing fast. This session will cover the concepts of an efficient, economical, and safe marina electrical system and help marina owners and operators better understand the 2023 updates to NEC Article 555 and NFPA 303, including new ground fault protection and testing requirements. Through real-world examples and interactive discussion, we’ll break down what these changes mean in practice, why traditional solutions are falling short, and how innovative approaches to shore power infrastructure can help you meet safety requirements without costly overhauls. Whether you’re planning, retrofitting, or just trying to stay ahead of evolving standards, this session offers practical, code-informed guidance to help you make smarter, safer infrastructure decisions, without compromising your bottom line.

1:45 – 2:45 PM Employee Life Cycle: Building a Team that Lasts
Amanda Funk, Owner, Compass Maritime Group

Session Description: This session will provide marina owners with the tools to know how to hire and when to hire, onboarding for retention, training, accountability, and employee retention. Marinas will receive resources they can use to make long-term, successful hiring decisions and build a lasting team. We plan to discuss hiring practices, whether that is in-house or outsourcing. We will share ways to get involved with local tech schools to bring awareness to the marina and gain access to graduating candidates. Attendees will learn about the value of training, obtain resources for building in-house apprentice programs, and learn why it is important to work with local marine trades associations that offer grants for training and development.

3:00 – 4:00 PM Liability and Property Insurance: How Much is Too Much or Too Little: Living in the Age of Nuclear Verdicts and Major Storm Events
Matt Roper, Marine Practice Leader, One80 Intermediaries
Dan Rutherford, Director, Claims and Risk Management, One80 Intermediaries
DJ Tyler, Vice President & Co-owner, Marine Specialties Limited

Session Description: Nuclear verdicts in liability court cases or a major storm event can mean the end of your business as you know it. This course will discuss the age of litigation funding and the trend in courts awarding nuclear verdicts in liability cases, with jury awards and settlements in the tens of millions of dollars. Similarly, recent inflation and current tariffs have driven up repair costs, especially after a major storm. These issues can significantly boost the cost of insurance and negatively impact a marina’s bottom line. Attendees will learn how to protect their business from excess liability, identifying measures to take to ensure they’re not on the hook for multi-million-dollar settlements and how to reduce financial exposure in case the facility is damaged.

3:00 – 4:00 PM Marina Software: Streamline Operations and Improve Customer Experiences
Moderator: Brent Wierson, Vice President, Sales and Services, Storable Marine (Molo | Stellar)

Session Description: This panel session will bring together representatives from leading software companies who will share the latest technology and innovation and discuss the future of marina software. Attendees will learn how these platforms can enhance operations, streamline tasks and lead to improved customer service.

4:15 – 5:15 PM Grant Funding in the DOGE Era
Kathy Weykamp, Principal, Edgewater Resources
Mike Morphey, PE, Principal, Edgewater Resources
Greg Weykamp, CRMP Principal, Edgewater Resources

Session Description: Changes to federal funding, unpredictable budget cuts, and reduced staffing of agencies have impacted grant programs that marinas have relied on for years for pumpouts, transient services, resiliency efforts and more. Presenters, including grant writers and marina developers, and state grant administrators, will leave the politics of the situation at the door and focus on how the current programs are changing and what that means for marina owners. Strategies for building coalitions and broader support with state and federal congressional representatives will be discussed.

4:15 – 5:15 PM Certificates of Insurance: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Truth
Lori Sousa, President, Sea Land Insurance

Session Description: Certificates of insurance between marinas and boat owners, on-site repair companies, and vendors are becoming crucial, but understanding what coverage should be required and how it should be on a certificate is challenging. This session will explore the anatomy of a certificate—what contractors should be required to carry, how coverages can expose a marina, how to protect a marina from fraud, and what to do if a contractor doesn’t have workers’ compensation. We will review some actual fraudulent certificates in the wild, and you will see how easy it is to get past even the eagle eyes of the industry. Attendees will leave with a true understanding of what is needed and why.

WEDNESDAY, December 3rd

9:30 – 10:30 AM KEYNOTE SESSION: Revenue Generating Ideas to Set Your Marina Apart
Moderator: Kyle Bostwick, General Manager, Lake Industries

Session Description: Following the overwhelmingly positive response to the panel session during the 2024 Docks Expo and Marina Conference, a new set of marina owners and operators will take the stage this year to discuss and share revenue-generating ideas that are leading to unexpected success. Attendees are encouraged to join the conversation and share insights, ideas and lessons learned.

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM Anchored in Safety: Creating a Culture of Safety and Avoiding Common Marina Operating Mistakes
Zachary Commeau, Regional Environmental Health and Safety Manager, Safe Harbor Marinas
Dan Natchez, President, Daniel S. Natchez and Associates, Inc.

Session Description: A safe marina is a successful marina. This session will explore proactive strategies to identify hazards, mitigate risks, and create a culture of safety for boaters, staff and the environment. Attendees will hear about many common operating and facility mistakes that can adversely affect customers and the marina and learn how to avoid them.

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM Grandfathering is a Myth: Can You Rebuild Your Marina After a Hurricane?
Robert Fowler, President, Fowler Construction and Development

Session Description: Your insurance coverage is probably not sufficient for today’s construction costs, and your old permits probably don’t apply under new Federal, State, and Local regulations. This leaves you back at the beginning with getting permits to rebuild – often a years-long process – and struggling to fund the rebuild while your marina could be closed for a long time. Join us to discuss proactive planning strategies to ensure you’re as prepared as possible to rebuild quickly after the next storm. Just because you have it, it doesn’t mean you can rebuild it.

1:00 – 2:00 PM Sound Design and Engineering Solutions for New or Updated Marina Facilities
Dan Williams, PLA, ASLA, AMI MSA, Principal Landscape Architect, MSA

Session Description: Just because you have a piece of waterfront property doesn’t mean it’s the right location for a marina. Nor does a throwing-darts-at-a-board approach to dock location and slip size equate to a better return on investment. In the world of marina design, forethought matters. Owners must consider the surrounding environment and marina market, current and future boater demands — and conduct due diligence to ensure the marina complies with design standards, accessibility best practices and regulatory requirements. This presentation will explore the importance of planning in marina development, discuss standards defined by the Planning and Design Guidelines for Small Craft Harbors Manual 50, and provide examples of successful context-specific marina projects.

1:00 – 2:00 PM Building an Engaged Client Audience with Best Practices for Social Media and Email Marketing
Sam Claitor, Founder and Lead Strategist, Hammer and Nail Marketing
Jon Delp, Lead Writer, Hammer and Nail Marketing

Session Description: Every marketing strategy’s presumed ultimate goal is to evoke leads, but what do you do when you have a customer base that represents a disengaged audience? This interactive session will touch on practical, actionable basics of how marina managers can curate an effective mailing list, grow a social media presence, and execute email marketing best practices that will invite members and visitors to spend more time at the marina with a more invested connection to its brand. If a marina’s website is its digital face, then the classic mailing list or social media channel is a marina’s voice. Give it a microphone.

2:30 – 3:30 PM Wave Attenuation Strategies: How to Protect Your Marina from Mother Nature
Jack Cox, Principal, Edgewater Resources
Alejandra Lira-Pantoja, Engineer, Edgewater Resources

Session Description: Wave action is one of the greatest threats to marina facilities—damaging docks, impacting vessels, and even tarnishing a marina’s reputation for comfort and safety. While wave attenuation can be one of the most significant expenses in a marina’s budget, failing to address it often results in increased maintenance costs and reduced lifespan for dock systems and utilities.

This session will help marina owners and operators understand the fundamentals of developing an effective wave attenuation strategy. Topics will include site selection, marina layout, and how to determine whether a fixed or floating solution is most appropriate. The presentation will feature a series of case studies that highlight different types of attenuation systems and the environmental conditions that influenced their design, ranging from small inland marinas to one of the world’s largest floating attenuators.

2:30 – 3:30 PM Storage, Hurricane and Repair Contracts: How to Properly Protect Your Business Legally
Lori Sousa, President, Sea Land Insurance
Eric J. Stockel, Esq., Partner, SBSB-Eastham Law

Session Description: In the maritime industry, contracts are like oxygn – they are fundamental and the basis of almost every interaction, from simple daily actions to complex business transactions. The problem is that most marinas purchase or “borrow” these agreements from others, and do not invest in having them reviewed by their insurance agent or an attorney. There are many hidden exposures for a marina which can be “protected” by a contract. In this session, we will go through many of these potential exposures and advise where insurance stops and the contracts begin, or vice versa. The attendee should walk away with actionable items to take back to their agents/attorneys for a review of existing exposures and/or, at the very least, know what to look for and where to find a qualified attorney who can help protect their marinas.

THURSDAY, December 4th

8:30 – 10:30 AM ASCE Manual 50 Planning and Design Guidelines for Small Craft Harbors Update – WATER SIDE
Moderator: Jack Cox, Principal, Edgewater Resources
Craig Funston, Vice President, Engineering, Bellingham Marine Industries
Manuel Castano, Coastal Engineer, Moffatt & Nichol
Jeff Oskamp, PE, P.Eng., Senior Coastal and Ocean Engineer, Moffatt & Nichol

Session Description: ASCE Manual 50, Planning and Design Guidelines for Small Craft Harbors, has been one of the most useful tools in helping marina designers, engineers, agencies, and owners for decades. Over the last few years, a team of highly experienced marina design professionals has been preparing the next edition of this design resource. Covering all aspects of marina design and planning, this team has updated the content of the manual to reflect the evolution of boating trends, environmental conditions, and regulatory requirements, as well as addressing entirely new topics not covered in previous manuals. This class will be broken into two concurrent sessions for land side and water side topics and will bring the authors of the revised manual to provide an in-depth review of the next edition.

Specific Water Side topics will include Navigation and Facility Layout, Wind Loading, and Catenary Anchoring Design

8:30 – 10:30 AM ASCE Manual 50 Planning and Design Guidelines for Small Craft Harbors Update – LAND SIDE
Moderator: Greg Weykamp, Principal, Edgewater Resources
Gary D. Loftis, PE, Maffett Loftis Engineering, LLC.
Chris Dolan, Vice President, Marina Electrical Equipment

Specific Land Side topics will include Electrical Utility Design, Site Design and Layout, Dry Stack, Amenities, and Boat Launching

11:00 AM – 12:30 PM AWARDS BRUNCH & CLOSING SESSION
Presentation of the Marina of the Year Awards and the Young Leader Awards