October Commerce Club Featuring Brooke Millard, CEO, Coast Guard Mutual Assistance
CGMA Provides Lifeline for Coast Guard Community
Brooke Millard, CEO of Coast Guard Mutual Assistance “(CGMA”), was the guest speaker at the Port Bureau’s October Commerce Club luncheon. Millard joined the organization after a 21-year Active-Duty career as a cutterman and writer in the U.S. Coast Guard (“Coast Guard”).
Millard opened her presentation by highlighting some exceptionally memorable moments of her Coast Guard career that included participating in an international exercise off Greenland and enforcing international fishing policy near the Flemish Cap. She named a drug interdiction mission in Colombia as among her most exciting missions.
During a partial government shutdown in late 2018, Millard served on a voyage of the tall ship Eagle. She saw firsthand how relief provided by CGMA lessened financial stress and benefited the crew. This experience was one of the reasons she joined the CGMA team.
Millard explained that the organization is the official relief society of the Coast Guard. For more than a century, it has been the lifeline for the Coast Guard community. CGMA serves as a vital financial safety net, promoting financial stability and general wellbeing, fostering high morale, and encouraging a sense of loyalty to the Coast Guard. While CGMA works closely with the Coast Guard, it is an independent nonprofit charitable organization
Millard shared several examples of how the organization helped Coast Guard families through providing disaster relief aid after storms, loans, and government shutdown support. She described how such circumstances as relocation can be a difficult challenge for Coast Guard families. In such cases, CGMA can provide a grant to help cover upfront costs a relocating family could not manage on their own.
“CGMA seeks to ensure every family has the support they need to thrive, wherever service calls,” said Millard.
During 2025, CGMA delivered $3.1 million in grants and $8.5 million in loans. CGMA does not receive any government funding and is entirely donor-funded. For more information, visit mycgma.org.
Thank you to our Commerce Club sponsors!
Annual Table sponsors:
Callan Marine • Chevron/Kirby • Enterprise Products Partners • Kinder Morgan • Houston Pilots • Intercontinental Terminals Company • Moran Shipping Agencies, Inc. • Pemex • Port Houston • Targa Resources • TGS Cedar Port Industrial Park • WGMA
October Table sponsors: