Hammond, Young Leaders Highlight IMX Closing Ceremony

This year’s Inland Marine Expo (IMX), held May 28-30 in Nashville, Tenn., concluded by celebrating young leaders in the maritime industry and honoring Cathy Hammond, a founder and long-time chief executive of Hebron, Ky.-based Inland Marine Service. Hammond received the Mike Rushing Legacy Service Award, given annually to an industry veteran whose career elects a commitment to community service, professional excellence and mentorship.

Tava Foret, president and cofounder of the Towing Vessel Inspection Bureau, and Todd Rushing, the son of award namesake Mike Rushing who leads Rushing Marine Service, presented the award to Hammond.

Addressing the crowd gathered for the closing ceremony, Hammond opened by recognizing the people who helped shape her life, both professionally and personally.

“You don’t get here in life by yourself,” Hammond said. “There are always people that have guided you along the way.”

Those impactful people in her life included her parents and her siblings.

“My parents believed in integrity, honesty and that you’re a person of your word,” Hammond said. “I’ve tried my whole life to keep those principles. If someone wants to really make me angry, tell me I’m a liar.”

Hammond also thanked her ex-husband David Hammond, with whom she founded Inland Marine Service.

“David is the one that had a passion for this industry, not me,” Hammond said. “I was a teacher. David is the one that put together the operations manual that we used starting in 1988. David Hammond is the one that gave me the encouragement to attend these meeting at which I was the only woman in the room.”

Hammond became a leader, not just for women in the industry, but for smaller operators. In addition, the operations manual used at Inland Marine Service became an early template for what became the American Waterways Operators’ Responsible Carrier Program and the Coast Guard’s Subchapter M regulations.

Hammond also thanked Jennifer Carpenter, president and CEO of AWO, Foret, the Rushing family and George Foster, last year’s recipient of the Mike Rushing Award, all of whom had a big impact on her career.

Hammond then encouraged the 40 Under 40 recipients to remember the people integral to keeping commerce moving on the waterways: mariners.

“Love the mariner,” Hammond said. “I can’t say that strongly enough.”

Hammond closed by recognizing the organizations with which she now volunteers, including Samaritan’s Purse’s Operation Christmas Child and Royal Family Kids Camp.

Following the address from Hammond, Foret and Rushing presented a check to the Rev. Mark Nestlehutt, president and executive director of the Seamen’s Church Institute (SCI) to benefit the organization’s Ministry on the River program. To close the award ceremony and IMX, recipients of this year’s 40 Under 40 awards were recognized.

This year’s 40 Under 40 recipients will be recognized online and in print over the course of the next 10 weeks. Here’s a link to a profile on the first four.

Featured image caption: From left, Tava Foret, president and cofounder of Towing Vessel Inspection Bureau; George Foster, founder of JB Marine Service and the inaugural recipient of the Mike Rushing Legacy Service Award; Nelson Spencer Jr., publisher of The Waterways Journal; Cathy Hammond, co-founder of Inland Marine Service and this year’s Mike Rushing Award recipent; and Tod Rushing, son of the late Mike Rushing and owner of Rushing Marine Service. (Photo by Tina Dinsmoor)