SAN PEDRO, Calif. — Capt. Stacey Crecy relieved Capt. Ryan Manning as the Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach sector commander during a change of command ceremony Friday at Coast Guard Base Los Angeles/Long Beach.
Rear Adm. Andrews Sugimoto, the Eleventh Coast Guard District commander, presided over the ceremony.
As sector commander, Crecy is now in charge of more than 550 active-duty, reserve, and civilian personnel and 1,200 all-volunteer Coast Guard Auxiliary members. Fourteen field command and supporting units are located within the area of operations, covering 350 miles of the central California coast from the San Luis Obispo county line to the north and the San Diego county line to the south.
Crecy previously served as the deputy sector commander for Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach, the commanding officer of the Pacific Strike Team in Novato, California, the Response Department Head at Sector Detroit, Michigan, at Coast Guard Headquarters Office of Marine Environmental Response in Washington, D.C., the Coast Guard’s Fourteenth District in Honolulu, Hawaii, at Sector New Orleans, Louisiana, and onboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton (WHEC-715) out of San Diego, California.
Crecy graduated from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 2002 and earned a Bachelor of Science in Marine Environmental Science and a Master of Marine Affairs from the University of Washington.
The change-of-command ceremony is a military tradition that formalizes the transfer of authority and responsibility for a unit from one commanding or flag officer to another. The passing of colors, standards, or ensigns from an outgoing commander to an incoming one ensures that the unit and its members always have official leadership and a continuation of trust.