Dee Kraley

Senior Charter Manager

Dee's enthusiastic personality was a perfect fit for her 10-year plus career as a licensed Commodities Trader with Merrill Lynch until 1989 when Hurricane Hugo prompted her to follow her dream career in yachting. Merrill Lynch immediately flew Dee down to St. Croix to assist in re-establishing client relations after their office there suffered devastating damage. While in St. Croix, a chance meeting with a yacht captain led Dee to take a two year sabbatical from trading commodities to sailing the high seas. Needless to say, Dee fell in love with the yachting industry and began her yachting career on a 60 ft. wooden charter yacht built in Portugal; from there, she worked her way up to Chief Stewardess on a 200 ft. charter yacht based all year round in Antibes. After seven years of travelling primarily in the East & West Mediterranean, the Bahamas and Caribbean, as well as New England, Dee decided to lay down roots in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida after she was offered a Charter Management position with Bob Saxon & Associates. Dee's position with CNI began in 2002 when CNI purchased BSA. Dee's yachting career has spanned 22 years and her first-hand knowledge of working on charter yachts, combined with extensive travel experience, has been instrumental in the success that Dee enjoys today as a CNI Charter Manager. When possible, some of her outside activities have included horseback riding (primarily show jumping), working with and rehabilitating abused horses, rescuing animals in distress and spending time with her rescue greyhound Ariel and two cats.