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From The Seamens Church Institute - www.seamenschurch.org/442.asp
HOUSTON, TX MARITIME EDUCATION STAFF
 Captain Stephen Polk, Director
Captain
Stephen Polk is the Director of SCI’s maritime education facility in
Houston, TX. Before joining SCI, he was a Senior Port Captain for
Kirby Inland Marine, LP and managed several types of inland towing
vessels in the Canal Division. Captain Polk is a certified Crew
Endurance Management System (CEMS) expert and has taught several
courses. He holds a third issue of his 3rd Mates unlimited oceans
license and recently earned his Master of Towing Vessel and 300 ton
Master-Oceans endorsement on his license.
A veteran of
Operation Iraqi Freedom, Captain Polk served in the US Navy with two
patrol boat units. As a Lieutenant Commander (LCDR), he has worked in
various leadership and supervisory roles such as Tactical
Communications Officer, Training Department Head, and Operations
Department Head for both of the patrol boat units he was assigned to.
Captain Polk has also logged over 10,000 hours of tactical and underway
command experience while protecting ports and performing escorts of MSC
and Navy warships in and out of various harbors worldwide.
Captain Polk started in the maritime as an Able-Seaman (A.B.) for Polar
Tankers and as a Third Mate and working in the TAPS trade moving crude
oil from Valdez, AK to various ports along the west coast of the United
States. He is a 1997 graduate of Texas A&M University at Galveston
and holds a B.S. in Marine Transportation.
 Captain Henry E. Cummings
Captain Henry Cummings is an instructor at SCI's maritime education facility in Houston, TX. Prior to joining SCI, Captain Cummings was Senior Port Captain and an Operations Officer at XL Marine in Paducah, KY. For two years he was responsible for managing navigation and crewing concerns, supervising chemical tows on the Ohio River, and investigating all vessel incidents and reporting findings to management.
He went to Paducah after working for Kirby Inland Corporation where he started in 1999 as a Training Captain. Three years later, Captain Cummings was promoted to Port Captain and managed the Hot Oil Division by training crews in leadership and piloting skills. At Kirby he investigated all vessel incidents in the up-river regions. His reports on incidents to management included root cause analysis and he was responsible for reviewing corrective action with the crews. He received extensive crisis management experience working the Night Vessel Duty desk for over 150 vessels.
Captain Cummings started his maritime career at Chotin Transportation and served there for 23 years. As a Training Captain, he educated River Pilots and installed the company's radar program. A 1976 graduate of the National River Academy, Captain Cummings holds the sixth issuance of his Inland and Western Rivers Operators License. With over 31 years of maritime experience, Captain Cummings has over 100,000 hours of Underway Command Experience.
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