Stephen Whitfield Swindal is an American businessman. He is the chairman of

Port Tampa Bay Port Tampa Bay, known as the Port of Tampa until January 2014, is the largest port in the state of Florida and is overseen by the Tampa Port Authority, a Hillsborough County, Florida, Hillsborough County agency. The port is located in Tampa, Flori ...

. Swindal was a general partner of the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

from 1998 through 2007, and in 2005 had been chosen as

George Steinbrenner George Michael Steinbrenner III (July 4, 1930July 13, 2010) was an American businessman who was the principal owner and managing partner of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees from 1973 until his death in 2010. He was the longest-serving own ...

's successor as head of the Yankees.

Biography

Early life and education

Swindal graduated from

Berkeley Preparatory School Berkeley Preparatory School is a Pre-K to Grade 12 independent, college-preparatory day school affiliated to the Episcopal Church located in Tampa, Florida, in the United States. On this 86-acre campus some of the notable features include: a 7 ...

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

, and the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

(UNC). He earned his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in history in 1976. He hoped to become a doctor, but was not accepted into

medical school A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, M ...

, and he then took postgraduate coursework in biology at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

. He returned to Tampa to work for his family's furniture wholesale company.

Career with New York Yankees

Swindal met Jennifer Steinbrenner, a UNC alum and daughter of

principal owner

, through a mutual friend in Tampa. They married in 1983. Swindal initially continued working for his family's business, but eventually joined the

American Shipbuilding Company The American Ship Building Company was the dominant shipbuilder on the Great Lakes before the World War II, Second World War. It started as Cleveland Shipbuilding in Cleveland, Ohio in 1888 and opened the yard in Lorain, Ohio in 1898. It changed ...

, owned by George Steinbrenner. He then ran a

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

company Steinbrenner owned until it was sold in 1995. Swindal then joined the Yankees

front office The front office is the part of a company that comes in contact with clients, such as the marketing, sales, and service departments. The term has more specific meaning in different industries. Types General offices The function of front office ...

. He became a general partner of the team and chairman of

Yankee Global Enterprises Yankee Global Enterprises, LLC, formerly YankeeNets, LLC, is an American limited liability company (LLC) which owns the New York Yankees baseball team, along with a plurality stake in YES Network and a 20% and 10% stake in New York City FC and AC ...

, including a financial stake. Swindal led the Yankees in negotiating a contract extension with

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Joe Torre Joseph Paul Torre (; born July 18, 1940) is an American professional baseball executive, serving as a special assistant to the Commissioner of Baseball since 2020. He previously served in the capacity of Major League Baseball's (MLB) chief baseb ...

in 2004. In June 2005, he was named by Steinbrenner to be his eventual successor as head of the Yankees.

Arrest and buyout

In February 2007, Swindal was arrested for

driving under the influence Driving under the influence (DUI)—also called driving while impaired, impaired driving, driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating under the influence (OUI), operating vehicle under the infl ...

(DUI) of alcohol. He had been driving to his boat, where he planned to sleep for the night. The following month, he and Jennifer released a statement saying that they were in the process of a divorce. The Yankees bought out Swindal's stake of the franchise in September;

Hal Steinbrenner Harold Steinbrenner (born December 3, 1969) is an American businessman best known as the Chairman and Managing General Partner of Yankee Global Enterprises, which owns the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball and minority shares of America ...

succeeded him as chairman of

. Swindal pled no contest to DUI in November, agreeing to a suspension of his driver's license for six months, a year of probation, and 50 hours of community service.

Post Yankees career

In 2007, Swindal became chairman of Marine Towing, a

business when he bought out the Steinbrenner family stake.

Charlie Crist Charles Joseph Crist Jr. (; born July 24, 1956) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 44th governor of Florida from 2007 to 2011 and as the U.S. representative for from 2017 to 2022. Crist has been a member of the Democratic ...

, the

Governor of Florida A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

, appointed him to the board of

in 2008. The next year, he opened a baseball academy in

Boca Chica Boca Chica is a municipality (''municipio'') of the Santo Domingo province in the Dominican Republic. Within the municipality there is one municipal district (''distritos municipal''): La Caleta. As of the 2012 census it had 123,510 inhabitant ...

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

, with Hans Hertell, a former

United States Ambassador to the Dominican Republic This is a list of ambassadors of the United States to the Dominican Republic. List of ambassadors See also * Dominican Republic – United States relations * Foreign relations of the Dominican Republic *Ambassadors of the United States Refere ...

, and Abel Guerra, a former Yankees front office executive. Swindal became vice chairman of the board of Port Tampa Bay. When the chairman resigned in 2013, Swindal succeeded him. Governor

Rick Scott Richard Lynn Scott ( Myers, born December 1, 1952) is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from Florida since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he was the 45th governor of Florida from 2011 to 2019. Scott ...

reappointed Swindal as chairman in 2018.

Family

Swindal has two children: Haley and Stephen Jr. Both graduated from UNC. Haley is an actress who has appeared on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

and Stephen Jr. works in the baseball operations department of the Yankees.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swindal, Stephen Living people New York Yankees executives Businesspeople from Tampa, Florida American business executives University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni Steinbrenner family Year of birth missing (living people)