Rear Admiral Mary E. Landry serves as the Commander of the Eighth Coast Guard District and Commander of Task Force 189.8, headquartered in New Orleans. As District Commander, Rear Admiral Landry is responsible for U.S. Coast Guard operations covering 26 states, more than 1,200 miles of coastline and 10,300 miles of inland waterways from Florida to Mexico and including the entire navigable lengths of the Mississippi, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, and Tennessee River systems.
Rear Admiral Landry arrived in the Eighth District having served for the last two years as the Coast Guard’s Director of Governmental and Public Affairs stationed at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, DC. Rear Admiral Landry has served the majority of her career in the Marine Safety field. She has held various assignments on the East Coast, West Coast, Gulf Coast and Hawaii. She was the Executive Officer of Marine Safety Office (MSO) Boston during the 9/11 attacks and during her tour as Commanding Officer of MSO Providence, Rhode Island, she oversaw the federal response to the Buzzard’s Bay oil spill in southeastern Massachusetts.
Rear Admiral Landry completed Officer Candidate School in 1980. A native of Buffalo, New York, Rear Admiral Landry graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1978 and worked for the city’s mayor prior to joining the Coast Guard. She also has a Master of Arts in Management from Webster University and a Master of Marine Affairs from the University of Rhode Island. Rear Admiral Landry is a National Security Fellow, earning this distinction at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in 2000. She received an Honorary Doctoral Degree from Hilbert College in Hamburg, New York in May 2009.
In 2006, Rear Admiral Landry was honored as the Maritime Person of the Year by the Propeller Club of Narragansett Bay.
Her military decorations include the Legion of Merit (three awards), Meritorious Service Medal, Coast Guard Commendation Medal (three awards), 9-11 Medal, and Achievement Medal.