Sector St. Petersburg - Commander

GUARDIANS OF THE GULF 

Captain Sheryl L. Dickinson

Captain Sheryl L. Dickinson is a graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, and originally hails from Smithtown, New York. Prior to joining the Coast Guard, Captain Dickinson sailed as Third Mate and Second Mate, and practiced maritime law in South Florida.  Captain Dickinson reports to Sector St. Petersburg from the U.S. Marine Corps War College.

Captain Dickinson’s operational tours include serving as Prevention Department Head and Director of the Passenger Vessel Control Verification School at Sector Miami from 2004 to 2007, where she directed over 200 members executing marine safety, security and environmental protection missions for 165 miles of coastline and five commercial ports, including the world’s two largest cruise ship ports. During that time she also directed response and recovery operations in southeast Florida during the record breaking 2004-2005 hurricane seasons. While assigned to Sector Miami, Captain Dickinson was designated as the Executive Assistant for the Principal Federal Official, Gulf Coast Region, and assisted in post-Katrina operations in Louisiana. From 1996-2000 Captain Dickinson was assigned to Marine Safety Office Tampa, where she served as Senior Investigating Officer, Port Operations Department Head, and Port State Control Branch Chief.

Captain Dickinson’s staff assignments include serving as the senior legal advisor from 2007-2009 for Joint Interagency Task Force South in Key West, a Department of Defense command responsible for counternarcotics operations in a 42 million square mile operating area. She provided operational law support to Coast Guard, DoD, multi-agency and international air, surface and subsurface assets operating in South and Central America and the Caribbean. From 2002-2004 Captain Dickinson served on the Commandant’s Transition Team,  coordinating and executing all aspects of the Coast Guard’s transition from the Department of Transportation to the Department of Homeland Security. She also served in the Office of Maritime and International Law as legal advisor for marine safety program activities. Immediately following the events of 9/11, Captain Dickinson was instrumental in identifying systemic vulnerabilities in the Coast Guard’s merchant marine credentialing system, resulting in the largest investigation in Coast Guard history. Captain Dickinson’s first assignment was as a staff attorney at District Fourteen in Honolulu Hawaii.

USCG SECTOR ST. PETERSBURG
600 8TH AVE, S.E.
ST. PETERSBURG, FL 33701
(727) 824-7534