“I wasn’t groomed for this,” Kristina Hebert says with a laugh. She’s the third-generation president and CEO of Ward’s Marine Electric, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based supplier of electric products and services.
Her grandfather, Ward Eshelman Sr., started the company in 1950. He stocked parts for his own service technicians. Ward’s then added engineering, retail parts, engraving for the switchboard panels it built, wholesale distribution and marine survey services. “I worked here one summer when I was grounded,” Hebert says. “But when I came back to help my mother with a catalog project, I worked with all the departments and realized this was everything I never knew I always wanted.”
Hebert earned a degree in political science from the University of South Florida and became an advocate for small businesses and the marine industry, working to change Florida’s workers’ compensation laws. Her brother, Wardy, retired from the business, and she took over from her father, Ward Jr., in 2021.
She credits her father with leading by example for 50 years, and she tries to do the same. Hebert shows up each day along with her son, Cameron, and nephew, Chase Eshelman, who work at Ward’s as the fourth generation. Hebert also runs the Ward’s booth at events to hear customer feedback firsthand.
Slow, controlled growth has been a key to the company’s success, with more than 50 employees. “We honestly are a family and try to operate that way, the good and bad aspects,” she says. “We know each other’s kids and would be there in a minute if any one of us needed anything.”
Ward’s has a saying: You matter where you work. The company is committed to education and helping employees grow. “What you want at 20 is not the same at 30 or 40,” Hebert says. “We help build careers, not jobs. We want people to feel fulfilled.”
For instance, the company started its own academy, teaching various skills. The company also pays a percentage of profits to employees annually. “It is easy to rest on your history. We still have to prove ourselves,” she says. “We want to be the one you call, and we don’t take that call for granted. If you do, you’re doomed.”
Dean DuToit, president of National Marine Suppliers in Fort Lauderdale, has worked with Ward’s for 35 years.
“If we need it, they can make it happen,” DuToit says. “It doesn’t matter if it’s Christmas or New Year’s Eve, someone at Ward’s will pull something off the shelf and get it to us so we can make miracles happen.”
Paul Spencer of Spencer Yachts in Wanchese, N.C., recently began working with Ward’s on referral from a colleague. “If there’s a problem, it’s not a problem,” he says. “They build good relationships.”
Building relationships has long been part of the company’s efforts. Ward Sr. was a founding member of the Marine Industries Association of South Florida. Ward Jr. was chairman of the American Boat & Yacht Council and its Electrical Committee for more than 20 years. Eshelman developed the first pilot program to certify electricians through the ABYC, helping not only to create the standards, but also to improve the industry’s long-term integrity.
Hebert continued that role in her political lobbying for the marine industry during her time as president of the MIASF, and has served as advocacy co-chair of the U.S. Superyacht Association for more than 16 years. She says elected officials must be made aware of the industry’s value to protect it for the future.
“Our industry needs to matter to them,” she says. “We’ve been through many challenges under both Democrat and Republican administrations. We have to work with the people in office in a nonpartisan manner.”
One of the current issues facing the industry is tariffs, which she sees differently than some other issues of the past. “The luxury tax was targeted at us; tariffs are not,” she says. “We will make adjustments to mitigate for the short and the long term. It will not stop our industry.”
Simultaneously, the evolution of Ward’s continues. That’s been true for decades. When Ward Sr. used to fly his plane to the Bahamas to transport parts for repairs, others asked if he could carry their parts as well. Then the company’s services grew with the industry, adding more-sophisticated panels, engraving for them, engineering consulting and surveying, and forensic analysis for accident investigations.
Ward’s also became involved in commercial enterprises, partnering with Hubbell Power Systems in shore power pedestals and with DEIF, a Denmark-based power and control solutions company. Ward’s also sought a contract with the U.S. Navy for vessels that transport cargo and machinery. After discovering that some provided specs were incorrect, Ward’s brought the error to the Navy’s attention and earned the contract.
Ward’s has also assisted builders such as Merritt Boat & Engine Works in Pompano Beach, Fla. “Ward’s has been a working partner for a long time,” says Roy Merritt. “We rely on their advice, electric panels and custom engineering. As boats become more complicated, we require a lot more power than we used to, and they can now layer the systems.”
Hebert says today’s sportfishers are like some yachts: faster and loaded with equipment. “Now it’s not just rocker switches. It’s seamless transfer of power,” she says. “We have to look at how the boat is going to be used. Sustainability and transferring DC to AC power are hot topics.”
While Ward’s does not supply electronics, the company does look at all the installed electronics, helping to balance power needs at different intervals. “When the owner is on board, the jacuzzi is on, the galley is being used, lighting, hair dryers, internet [are] all in play,” she says. “When the crew is on the dock, it is different. It used to be easy. Now owners want to go to remote places. Choices have to be made.”
To do all this work, Ward’s has expanded into six buildings, all within the same four blocks of Fort Lauderdale’s downtown. “We have a building that we’ve been in for 20 years, and we still call it the ‘new’ building,” Hebert says with a chuckle on a podcast that was recorded at a dedicated studio she built to do interviews.
Ideas like that are among the reasons John Allen, president and CEO of Fort Lauderdale’s Quantum Marine Stabilizers, says: “Kristina has taken over the Ward’s legacy and has become a pillar of the marine industry.”
For her part, Hebert says the company is just getting started. “Small businesses have so much more power than they think,” she says. “I never want to stop evolving. That’s what keeps me up at night.”
