When it comes to orchestrating events at sea, Jeanna Steele, Vice President of Operations, is a seasoned pro. Prior to joining Landry & Kling full time, she helped plan and operate 20 programs on cruise ships, including 14 full-ship charters.

Jeanna is no stranger to Landry & Kling, either – in fact, she’s been a valued member of the L&K family for years! The relationship began during her years as a meeting planner at Colonial Supplemental Insurance, when Jeanna and the Landry & Kling team joined forces to plan and operate two cruise programs together.

Jeanna’s professional career began when she joined Colonial Supplemental Insurance as a junior meeting planner. Within six months, she had taken over the planning of board, management, and training meetings; and within a year was a senior member of the meetings department. After four years as a planner with Colonial Supplemental Insurance, Jeanna left the private sector and put her expertise to work as Events Manager for the national non-profit organization, Southern Institute on Children & Families.

Jeanna continued to hone her meeting planning skills, and after several years, she was primed for a career change. In 2005, she and her business partner founded their own events management company, Steele Thomas, LLC, where she handled logistics for both cruise and land-based events. One of Jeanna’s first calls was to Landry & Kling, and the company was thrilled to welcome her back to support their operations team.

Landry & Kling first brought Jeanna onboard as a Trip Director for the 2005 Jacksonville Super Bowl dockside ship charters. She also helped operate the Cricket World Cup charter (30 days on a ship in the Caribbean). Ultimately, Jeanna joined the L&K operations team on more than a dozen corporate cruise events and ship charters, but she is most proud of her role during the 2009 Summit of the Americas and Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings. As operations team leader for these two prestigious global events, Jeanna oversaw three dockside ship charters.

In her current position as Vice President of Operations, Jeanna now oversees all aspects of Landry & Kling cruise program operations by providing leadership to the operations staff, while managing client and supplier relationships.

When she is not on the road or sailing on a cruise program, Jeanna resides in Columbia, South Carolina.

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