The Tall Ships America Speaker Series is a new initiative that brings together experts from across the maritime community for engaging presentations and discussions. This educational program features speakers sharing their knowledge on a variety of topics and is free to Tall Ships America Members. Sessions typically include a presentation and a Q&A session.

March 24, 2:00 PM ET

Lauren Hull Enterprise Sales, National Center for Safety Initiatives (NCSI)

About Lauren: Lauren has worked in the background screening industry for over 10 years and is passionate about ensuring kids (and adults!) are able to pursue their passions in a safe environment. NCSI has specialized in exactly that for 20 years and is considered the Gold Standard in background screening, specifically in youth sports, recreation, and activities.

Topic: Protecting Your People, Brand, and Assets: How Background Screening Minimizes Risk This session will provide an opportunity to learn about how background screening works, why it is important, and general trends in the industry.  You’ll also have a chance to learn how your organization can take advantage of NCSI’s new partnership with Tall Ships America!

April 28, 2:00 PM ET

Kate Neubauer Program Officer for Community & Environment, Vermont Community Foundation

An accomplished leader with 20+ years of demonstrated success in nonprofit management and philanthropy. Over the last two decades, Kate has served in leadership roles for a wide range of environmental, educational and mission-based organizations.  She is a key problem solver with entrepreneurial drive helping to advance the mission of social enterprises and nonprofit organizations. Kate currently serves as Board President for Rozalia Project.

Kate has built extensive portfolio of clients and projects, ranging from small grassroots nonprofit organizations to family foundations to multimillion-dollar capital campaigns.

Topic: 10 Ways to Optimize Fundraising and Secure More Funding During Times of Uncertainty.

May 27, 2:00 PM ET

Reed Maltbie Partner, Beyond the Game Partners, LLC 

With dual master’s degrees in sports psychology and education, and three decades of professional coaching experience, Coach Reed Maltbie has established himself as a global authority on cultivating and achieving peak performance, high-performance communication, mental skills training, creating cultures of excellence, and leadership development.

As a trusted expert, he is a sought-after educator and advisor, having worked with organizations like State Farm Insurance, Civil Air Patrol, Proctor and Gamble, the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee, PGA Canada, Gaelic Games Association, Sport New Zealand, and US Sailing. He has logged nearly 1,000 hours on stages in the last 20 years honing his craft so he can amplify the impact of what he has to teach to his audiences.

Beyond his captivating virtual and in-person keynotes and workshops, Coach Reed is a prolific writer and on-air guest and his invaluable insight has been featured on CNN, ESPN, ESPN Radio, Huffington Post, NBC SportsEngine, the MLS’ Cincinnati FC broadcast booth, the Player Development Project, and SiriusXM Radio.

Coach Reed’s compelling 2015 TEDx talk, “Echoes Beyond the Game,” remains essential viewing for leaders who want to build transformational relationships with their teams. His unwavering dedication to developing leaders who transform lives and teaching them to create peak-performance environments remains a driving force in his work.

In 2023, Coach Reed released his highly anticipated debut solo book, “The Spartan Mindset: Mastering the Language of Excellence.” This international bestseller (in 5 countries!), delves into the profound impact of language on performance. It is an essential read for individuals and teams striving to become more effective and supportive communicators within high-pressure, competitive environments.

Today, Coach Reed primarily focuses on helping high performers leverage the skills they forged in sports to achieve performance excellence beyond the game. In addition to coaching others, he is a flow hunter – searching for the best ways to unlock and cultivate flow states. His expansive coaching experience, at all levels of sports, has proven flow is accessible by anyone, anytime, anywhere.

November 4, 2:00 PM ET *Rescheduled*

Rachael Miller Expedition Scientist, National Geographic, and Founder, Rozalia Project for a Clean Ocean

Topic: Adventure Stories from Protecting the Ocean

Rachael Zoe Miller is a National Geographic Explorer, inventor and Explorers Club Fellow working to protect the ocean through expedition-based science, conservation and storytelling. She is the founder of Rozalia Project for a Clean Ocean, a nonprofit addressing marine debris through cleanup, education, innovation and solutions-based research. She is also a co-inventor of the Cora Ball, the world’s first microfiber-catching laundry ball, and sea life artist for Coraclip, a renewable alternative to wasteful virgin-to-landfill plastic bag clips. Miller leads teams on expeditions whose results are published in peer-reviewed journals and experiences translated into education programs; recent expeditions include sampling the entire Hudson River for microplastics in the air, water and soil; microplastic sampling from onboard the E/V Nautilus in the Hawaiian archipelago; and research in the Arctic and Antarctic with Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic as a visiting Explorer/scientist. She and her team have received multiple awards and recognition, including Best VideoRay PR Story for using ROVs to find and remove marine debris, being named an Ocean Exemplar by World Ocean Observatory, and winner of the Most Innovative Idea in Microplastics from Think Beyond Plastic.

November 19, 2:00 PM ET *Rescheduled*

Capt. Christopher Nolan Founder, Practical Navigator Training

Topic: The Ocean and Trafficking

Practical Navigator Training is run by Capt. Christopher D. Nolan, a former USCG cutterman and current USCG reservist. Chris holds a 1600-ton USCG merchant mariner license upon ocean routes and a 3000-ton STCW license, having served in command of both military and civilian ships.

The Practical Navigator project began in 2010 when Chris was the Commanding Officer of USCGC Jefferson Island in Portland, Maine.  Recognizing a deficiency in Coast Guard navigational prowess as technology grew to dominate the bridge, Chris decided to combine his three hobbies of film-making, training, and maritime navigation to create funny and educational training videos for his crew and friends.  After posting these early videos on YouTube and receiving positive feedback, Chris grew the program over the next several years while he was on sabbatical on his 34-foot sailboat in the Caribbean.  There, he wrote, filmed, and edited the 11-part “Celestial Navigation” video series and wrote a navigational textbook called “The Cutterman’s Guide to Navigation Problems.”  After returning to the USA and expanding his own merchant mariner license, Chris recognized that many Coast Guard Approved courses were overpriced and under-whelming in quality.  So, he set out to expand the Practical Navigator project to include USCG-Approved training courses from 100-ton master all the way to Advanced Celestial Navigation.

In 2015, Chris left the Coast Guard to pursue a career in maritime education, and has since recognized that as technology improves and the next generation of mariner advances up the hawsepipe, there is a significant need for high quality, low cost training, especially navigation training and USCG license preparation for navigation exams.  This website serves as a homeport for The Practical Navigator’s training efforts and is meant to assist mariners in learning or improving the fundamentals of maritime navigation and USCG licensing.