Ellen Mishkin Kennedy

Assistant Director of Business Development
Communications
Port Everglades

Ellen Mishkin Kennedy is the Assistant Director of Business Development/Communications for Port Everglades. She has worked to promote business development, strengthen community relationships and build an international reputation for the South Florida seaport since 2000. During her tenure, Port Everglades has seen its cruise traffic more than double from 1.6 million multi-day passengers annually to nearly 4 million, and cargo volumes grow from 465,000 containers to more than one-million today.

Ms. Kennedy heads up the Corporate Communications section, part of the Business Development Division, of Port Everglades and is responsible for all of the public relations functions including media relations, special events, publications, presentations, advertising, website and social media, and assisting the marketing sections to promote cruise and cargo business development.

Prior to joining Broward County, she was a vice president with the local public relations firm Bitner.com, which is now known as the Bitner Group. She also served as the Director of Public Relations for the Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau in the Fort Myers, Sanibel, Florida area; as an editor/writer at the University of Florida Health Science Center and as a reporter for the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

Ms. Kennedy earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Communications. She is also a 2016 graduate of Leadership Broward, and is an active member of the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) Communications Committee and the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau Marketing Advisory Committee. In 2016, Ms. Kennedy and her staff were honored to receive the AAPA’s Overall Award of Communications Excellence (category 3).