PortMiami Director Juan Kuryla quitting for a cruise line job. National search begins

Juan Kuryla, longtime director of Miami-Dade County’s PortMiami, is leaving his $398,000-a-year post to become an executive at a cruise line, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced Wednesday.

Head of the county port since 2014, Kuryla presided over significant growth on both the cargo and cruise side of the county facility. That included negotiations with cruise lines for $1 billion in new passenger terminals with a mix of private and public dollars, and replacing former industrial structures with glass-walled facilities that remade the view over the MacArthur Causeway.

He also managed PortMiami during its greatest crisis, as cruiselines continued trips in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and the port became home to crew members temporarily trapped on boats off the Miami coast and at the port’s docks. Kuryla also led talks that resulted in COVID-19 rent relief that saved the cruise companies more than $200 million in minimum payments called for in their original county deals.

Kuryla is leaving his county post to become head of port development for Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, which operates out of PortMiami. A company release said Kuryla will hold the title of senior vice president for commercial development, construction, and private island operations. He’ll report to Daniel Farkas, NCL’s executive vice president and general counsel.

“I have had the privilege to work closely with Juan over the years and I am confident that he will be a tremendous asset to the Company,” Norwegian CEO Frank Del Rio said in a statement. “Throughout his impressive thirty-plus year career with Miami-Dade County, Juan has proven himself to be a strategic leader with a long track record of success and innovation.”

In her memo, Levine Cava called Kuryla an “outstanding” port director. She named the port’s deputy director, Hydi Webb, as interim director and said the county will conduct a national search for Kuryla’s permanent successor.

Kuryla started in Miami-Dade government in 1987 with a position in the parks department, and worked his way up through various administrative posts. He was transferred to PortMiami in 1998, and named director under then-Mayor Carlos Gimenez.

This story was originally published December 22, 2021 at 5:40 PM.