R.J Nelson retired as CEO from the Hammond, Indiana Port Authority in 2005. He is a former Superintendent of Special Services and Director of Harbors for the Chicago Park District, Vice President of the historic Grebe Shipyard on the Chicago River, a University of Chicago administrator of Court Theater, and a chaplain at Cornell University. He has sailed across the Atlantic, up the Labrador Coast to the Artic, through the Caribbean islands and all the Great Lakes. He has degrees in English and Theology. Mr. Nelson lives in the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago.