June 29, 2026

Cleve­land, OH – The Great Lakes Tow­ing Com­pa­ny (the “Com­pa­ny” or “GLT”) today announced that Joe Star­ck, the Company’s CEO, will retire, effec­tive July 2, 2026.

Mr. Star­ck­’s career at Great Lakes Tow­ing spans 35 years, begin­ning in engi­neer­ing and project man­age­ment before advanc­ing to CEO. Through­out his tenure, he has played a piv­otal role in shap­ing the mod­ern face of the 126-year-old Com­pa­ny and solid­i­fy­ing its posi­tion as the lead­ing provider of ship assist ser­vices on the U.S. Great Lakes–Saint Lawrence Seaway.

Gregg Thau­vette, Pres­i­dent of Tow­ing, and Tom Rigo­lo, Pres­i­dent of Great Lakes Ship­yard, will con­tin­ue to over­see their respec­tive busi­ness lines, report­ing to Great Lakes Towing’s Board of mar­itime indus­try vet­er­ans, as will CFO Ken Kure.

“It has been an hon­or to lead Great Lakes Tow­ing and the hard-work­ing teams on shore and on the water,” said Mr. Star­ck. “I’m incred­i­bly proud of what we have accom­plished togeth­er and our unwa­ver­ing com­mit­ment to oper­a­tional excel­lence and safe­ty, which are at the core of our busi­ness. Over the years, we have focused on main­tain­ing and strength­en­ing GLT’s role as the clear leader in the Great Lakes, with a dom­i­nant mar­ket posi­tion and a rep­u­ta­tion for pro­fes­sion­al­ism, per­for­mance, and reli­a­bil­i­ty. I know The Tow­ing Com­pa­ny is in very capa­ble hands with Gregg, Tom, Ken, and the rest of the team, and I look for­ward to see­ing their accom­plish­ments and lead­er­ship in the years ahead.”

“We sin­cere­ly appre­ci­ate Joe’s con­tri­bu­tions to GLT and his role in stew­ard­ing and strength­en­ing the Company’s 126-year lega­cy as the go-to provider of crit­i­cal ship assist and relat­ed ser­vices to cus­tomers through­out the Great Lakes,” said Jonathan Whit­worth, Chair­man of the Great Lakes Tow­ing Board. “Through­out his years at Great Lakes Tow­ing, Joe has worked to main­tain and strength­en GLT’s hard-won lega­cy for oper­a­tional excel­lence, safe­ty, and cus­tomer ser­vice. Most recent­ly, he has over­seen a suc­cess­ful new­build­ing pro­gram that has brought ten mod­ern tow­boats into the GLT. As we tran­si­tion to the next gen­er­a­tion of lead­er­ship, we are con­fi­dent the Com­pa­ny will con­tin­ue rais­ing the bar and solid­i­fy­ing its lead­er­ship in the Great Lakes.”