Port Tampa Bay hires former Tampa airport operations director to lead environmental affairs

TAMPA - Port Tampa Bay has named Sarah Brammell its director of environmental affairs, the port announced Nov. 3. The port says she brings more than 25 years of experience in environmental management, regulatory compliance, ecological assessments and transportation work.

Brammell comes to the port from the environmental consulting firm Verdantas, where she was a senior ecologist and client development lead, according to the release.

She was previously director of operations and emergency management at Tampa International Airport, where she led the airport's wildlife hazard management program, the port said. She also previously served as senior manager of planning and environmental compliance at the Lee County Port Authority, which runs Southwest Florida International Airport and Page Field, and managed environmental work at a 7,000-acre off-site wetland and wildlife mitigation park.

Earlier in her career she managed environmental programs at Lee County's Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve and worked at the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, the release says.

"We have a responsibility to ensure that growth and environmental protection advance in step," Port Tampa Bay President and CEO Paul Anderson said in the release. Brammell said she has come to see that "transportation infrastructure and environmental stewardship must coexist."

Brammell holds a bachelor's degree in biology from Susquehanna University and a Master of Public Administration in environmental policy from Florida Gulf Coast University, the port said. The release does not give a start date or say whom she replaces.

Source: Port Tampa Bay news release, Nov. 3, 2026, opened Nov. 4, 2026.