Shipbuilding group Conrad Industries, Inc., Morgan City, La., on Thursday announced its board of directors has appointed Cecil A. Hernandez as president and chief executive officer.
Chairman and CEO Johnny Conrad will shift into an executive chairman role, remaining as chairman of the board and an executive officer of the company.
Hernandez joined Conrad Industries in 1998 and was named a director later that year. Over his career, he has held several key leadership roles, including vice president of finance and administration, chief financial officer, chief operating officer, executive vice president, and president.
Johnny Conrad said, “[Hernandez] has our entire board’s full confidence that he is the right person to lead our company as CEO into the future. I look forward to continuing our strong working relationship.”
Conrad Industries designs, builds, and overhauls barges, dredges and dredge support equipment, tugboats, ferries, drydocks, liftboats, offshore supply vessels, and other steel products for commercial and government markets. The company provides repair and new constructon services at its five shipyards in southern Louisiana and Texas.
John P. "Johnny" Conrad, Jr. joined the company in 1962 and became vice president in 1982. He served as co-chairman of the board from 1998 to 2014, when he became chairman. He was named president and CEO in 2004 before serving as chairman and CEO.
“Johnny Conrad has been and will continue to be instrumental in setting our company’s strategy and reinforcing our ongoing commitment to the Conrad values that have guided our Company for 77 years,” Hernandez said. “Under his leadership, we have worked hard together, along with our senior managers, through challenging market cycles, to diversify our company’s product mix, invest in improving our shipyards’ capabilities and efficiencies, deepen our management and engineering teams, achieve impressive safety performance, exceed our customers’ expectations, recognize and support our dedicated employees, and build value for our shareholders.”
Other board changes
In addition, the company announced that Ogden U. Thomas, Jr. has retired from its board of directors effective May 12, 2025. The company has decreased the size of its board to five directors.
Johnny Conrad said, “We are grateful to Ogden Thomas for his dedicated service on our board and independent directors committee. Ogden’s deep experience managing businesses involved in offshore marine services and construction has been evident as he provided sound guidance and invaluable insights to our board and management. We wish him well in his retirement.”
Johnny Conrad continued, “As part of our board’s succession planning process, we have recently added two independent directors to our board and independent directors committee: Larry Callais in 2022 and Jack Waldo earlier this year. Our company is fortunate to benefit from the wisdom and perspectives of our independent directors.”
