NORTHROP & JOHNSON EXPANDS CREW SERVICES TEAM

Northrop & Johnson is pleased to announce the expansion of its Crew Services team in the Fort Lauderdale office as two experience, dedicated crew services associates, Christine Hodgson and Sarah Bester, join the team.

Christine moved to sunny South Florida soon after graduating from school in Michigan. With a love of travel, the ocean and meeting new people she found her way into the yachting industry. Starting out first as Stewardess, she soon realized that her true passion was cooking and attended culinary school. Christine returned to the yachting industry and for the next 18 years, cooked for several well-known celebrities and owners all over the world on both charter and private yachts. After briefly leaving yachting for a few years, Christine realized how much she missed the excitement of the industry and started her career as a crew placement coordinator.

Christine’s previous experience of being a crewmember has given her a great asset in the ability to understand the crewmembers point of view, as well as the ability to deal with sometimes extremely demanding owners and employers. Over a decade later, Christine still states that the best part of her job is seeing the happiness on a crewmembers face when they get offered that perfect position that they have been dreaming of.

Sarah was born in Arizona, but her family relocated to Florida during her childhood. A fitness enthusiast from an early age, Sarah got her first personal training certification while still in high school. She went on to study marketing and digital media at university before reverting to sports medicine and nutrition. Sarah worked for a number of years in the fitness industry as a trainer and yoga instructor before transitioning into the non-profit sector, working for two years as the marketing director for a social service agency in South Florida.

Eventually, the yachting industry landed on Sarah’s radar and in 2007 Sarah joined her first yacht, a 167-foot expedition motor yacht, as a stewardess/personal trainer. She spent the next 10 years at sea cruising extensively. In 2011 she met her future husband on board 142-foot Palmer Johnson LADY J. Together they carried on working as a team on several other motor yachts until Sarah retired from yachts in 2017, moving ashore to begin working in crew placement.

Sarah enjoys sharing her passion for mentoring crew and building meaningful relationships within the industry. Throughout her career she has developed strong bonds with captains and yacht owners, utilizing her skills and experience that she garnered as a crewmember to help place the right crew aboard the right yachts.

For more information, please email PR@northropandjohnson.com.