The house behind the brokers.
A brokerage holds money, vessels and trust that belong to other people. These are the people who handle that side of it — finance and closing, operations, security and the yard work — so the broker whose name is on a transaction can stay with the client.
Who keeps it running.
Asked what an epic brokerage house comes down to, Christopher Cooke gives four answers: proven leadership, epic clients, epic brokers, and epic staff. This page is the first and the last of them.
Christopher Cooke
President/Owner
Christopher Cooke has spent his life around the water. He learned to sail as a boy at the Crescent Yacht Club on Lake Ontario, right down the street from the summer cottage he grew up in, and has made his living in the marine industry since 1995. He has held a bonded Florida yacht and ship broker’s license since March 2000.Christopher carries the Certified Professional Yacht Broker (CPYB) designation, held by a few hundred brokers in North America, and is a member of the International Yacht Brokers Association. He also holds a 100-ton USCG Master’s license with towing endorsement, earned at the Chapman School of Seamanship. He has run the vessels he sells, and it shows in how he reads a survey, a sea trial, and a maintenance history.Before any of that he served as an infantry platoon medic with the 1st of the 87th, 10th Mountain Division, with combat tours in Somalia, Africa, and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He was honorably discharged in 1995 with more than fourteen decorations, among them the Combat Medical Badge and awards for valor and for humanitarian service. Years later he co-authored a book about his time in the military, Behind the Gun. The work changed; the job did not. Christopher has spent his adult life looking after people at moments that matter to them — first under fire, now across a closing table. Spencer Christopher Yacht and Ship is a veteran-owned business.His brokerage career started in Buffalo, New York, while he was attending D’Youville University, with a part-time job at Obersheimers Sailing Supply and then Seven Seas Yacht Brokerage. From there he moved to MarineMax in North Palm Beach and Boone & Howell Marine Group in North Carolina. As General Sales Manager for Erwin Marine Sales in Nashville he ran seventeen staff and more than $25 million in annual sales, and became the youngest general manager to earn an Ambassador dealership — an outcome he credits to attention to detail and the standard he holds on every file. While at Erwin he continued his education, earning a business degree from Trevecca Nazarene University.In 2009 Christopher founded the Spencer Christopher Division in Stuart, Florida, and helped build it into the largest division of United Yacht Sales, roughly 36 brokers at its prime. Always looking for a better way to do the work, he formed Spencer Christopher Yacht and Ship as the independent house that grew out of that division.How Christopher works with clientsChristopher handles his own clients from the first conversation to the closing table: the valuation, marketing and photography, negotiation, sea trial, survey coordination, escrow, and closing documents. His name is on all of it, and he answers for all of it. Nothing goes out under the company name that he has not read himself or is not aware of.That standard sets who he hires. Christopher keeps the house to elite brokers, because at the end of the day he answers for their work the same as his own. He believes that a house built of amazing people who share the same goals and the same values, and who put their clients first, takes care of the rest on its own. Teamwork makes the dream work.Sellers get an honest number rather than a flattering one, with a written case for how it was reached. Buyers get the vessel as it stands, including what a survey is likely to find and what it will cost to put right. No one is moved toward a deal that does not serve them. A brokerage holds money, vessels, and confidence that belong to other people, and that obligation comes before the commission.Spencer Christopher Yacht and Ship is built on quality rather than quantity. Christopher is content to let other firms claim the title of largest brokerage in the world. What he measures is the quality of the inventory and how well every client behind it is represented.Two companies and a chandleryChristopher owns two companies. Spencer Christopher Yacht and Ship is the brokerage.Christopher also owns a yacht management company, Spencer Christopher Yacht Management. His wife, Linzey, runs the management side as CFO with a group of department directors over captains and crew, mechanical, electrical, and shipwright work, specialty detailing, and the wash teams. An owner who buys through the brokerage can hand the vessel to the same people the day after closing.The Stuart office also houses Six Bells Chandler House, the retail arm — curated nautical goods, local art, antiques, and branded merchandise, with the brokerage behind a glass partition at the back. Six Bells is ship’s time, three hours into a four-hour watch. It is also a private dedication: Linzey and the five “Cooke” children, the whole crew.Christopher is based in Stuart, Florida, with brokers up and down the Eastern Seaboard, in the Bahamas, and in Central America. He is a supporter of the Coastal Conservation Association, a past board member of the Maritime and Classic Boat Museum of Florida, and coached youth lacrosse for seven years.Anyone who spends five minutes with Christopher hears the passion he has for the work. He will say he has never worked a day in his life, because he does what he loves and his job is his hobby. He enjoys nothing more than helping people and helping his brokers get better. He likes to train, he likes to support, and his standing question — to clients and to his own house alike — is what he can do to help.He works as hard as anyone in the business and takes little of the credit. Asked what accounts for the success, he gives one answer: he is never the smartest person in the room. He sees the job as conducting the orchestra. He knows who to call, who has the right answer, and who ought to be the smartest person in the room on a given question — and it is never him.He owns Spencer Christopher Yacht and Ship, and he will not call it his. Asked how it came about, he describes wanting a brokerage house that clients and brokers alike would be proud of, built to serve them. He compares it to a luxury Airbnb: the owner builds it and keeps it right, but it exists for the people who stay in it. It was never about him.By his account, an epic yacht brokerage house comes down to four things:Well-seasoned, proven leadershipEpic clientsEpic brokersEpic staff
Alisha Vazquez
Project Director/Broker Liaison
Alisha’s love for boating began with a little sunshine, a big family adventure, and a move to beautiful Jupiter, Florida! In 1989, her family traded the quiet farmland of Ohio for palm trees, warm weather, and life near the water after her parents sold their successful GM dealership. A few years later, in 1994, they purchased their first boat—a Sea Ray 180 Bow Rider—and a whole new chapter of family fun began. Weekends quickly became filled with cruising the Intracoastal Waterway, snorkeling, waterskiing, tubing, fishing, and plenty of laughter along the way. Just as her father had taught her to drive and understand the mechanics of cars and dirt bikes, he soon taught her the ins and outs of boating—from docking and engine care to confidently maneuvering through choppy water. Before long, Alisha was taking the boat out with friends, and spending weekends on the water became one of her favorite ways to enjoy Florida life.Family remains at the heart of Alisha’s world. She married her best friend, Jamie, and together they share three wonderful children who keep life exciting, inspiring, and full of personality. Their two sons are proudly continuing the family’s automotive tradition and pursuing their ASE certifications, while their daughter, currently in high school, dreams of becoming a screenwriter and has a wonderful passion for reading, writing, and creativity. When Alisha is away from work, some of her happiest moments are spent making memories with her family. She has also developed a love for art, which gives her a fun and relaxing outlet to express herself, explore new ideas, and let her creativity take the lead.Professionally, Alisha brings more than a decade of experience as an Executive Assistant, supporting leaders and teams across the nonprofit, real estate, aviation, and marine industries. She loves that her career has given her the opportunity to learn something new at every turn while building a diverse skill set centered around organization, communication, relationship building, and creative problem-solving. Throughout her career, she has enjoyed being the person who helps keep the many moving pieces moving—serving as a trusted liaison among executives, clients, sales teams, business partners, and most recently, yacht brokers. Alisha brings a calm, positive, and detail-focused approach to her work and genuinely enjoys a good challenge, especially when it gives her the opportunity to think outside the box and find a solution.Today, Alisha is thrilled to bring together her professional experience and her lifelong connection to boating as part of Spencer Christopher Yacht and Ship. The company’s commitment to exceptional service, trusted relationships, and creating connections that can last for generations strongly reflects the values she holds both personally and professionally. She believes business is at its best when great service is paired with genuine relationships, a little fun, and people who truly love what they do. For Alisha, joining a team of marine professionals who share her enthusiasm for boating, the water, and taking great care of clients feels a bit like coming full circle—from those unforgettable weekends aboard her family’s first Sea Ray to helping others create boating memories and adventures of their own.
Beth Bodah
Executive Vice President of Finance
Beth Bodah’s love of the water began long before her career in finance — growing up in New York’s Thousand Islands region, where boats weren’t a luxury but a way of life, and summers were spent on the St. Lawrence River. That early connection to boating and the marine lifestyle has stayed with her ever since, and now finds its natural home in her role as Director of Finance at Spencer Christopher Ship & Yacht Brokerage.Beth brings more than 30 years of financial and lending expertise to the position. She spent 21 years as a Senior Lending Optimization Consultant with TruStage (CUNA Mutual Group), where she served as the organization’s Military Credit Union Subject Matter Expert and built deep expertise across major financial platforms. Earlier in her career, she was a District Manager at Citigroup, ranked #1 nationally within her first six months. She is Prosci ADKAR certified in change management and holds professional credentials from Cornell and Georgetown.Beyond her corporate career, Beth has always been a hands-on investor and business owner — co-owning a restaurant, managing a multi-property rental portfolio, and navigating real estate deals from the ground up. That owner’s instinct for cash flow, risk, and value gives her a practical edge in overseeing the financial side of high-value vessel transactions, trust accounting, and brokerage operations.Today, Beth calls Wilmington, North Carolina home, where she lives with her husband and has traded the Thousand Islands for the Intracoastal Waterway. Still, the pull of the water never left — and neither has her eye for a good boat. When she’s not managing the numbers at Spencer Christopher, she can be found golfing or enjoying life along the North Carolina coast.
Mark Zinn
Vice President of Corporate Actions
Mark stays pretty busy in his everyday. Still having a passion for the water and a long standing friendship with Christopher Cooke, Mark offers his business expertise and mentoring on running such a large organization and helping promote the calculated growth of the organization. Mark helped found Battea Class-Action Service in 1998 and continues as a partner. Mark Zinn is a Director of Battea – Class Action Services, LLC.Previously, he built and managed multiple professional trading operations for Pax Clearing in Chicago, New York and Florida. While at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, he established relationships with the top 100 businesses in Florida and executed for hedge funds. He has also raised capital for managed accounts and private placements, as well as managing multiple successful private offerings.Mark began his career with LF Rothschild & Oppenheimer Co. An alumnus of New York University Stern School, he has obtained his General Securities Principal Series 24 certification, as well as Registered Investment Adviser Series 65, 7, and 63 certifications.Mark is a business builder expert and works in conjunction with Christopher as a mentor and sounding board to uphold a vision of building the best brokerage house.
Evan Hawthorne
Chief Information Security Director/Cybersecurity
Bio classified due to present military affiliation.
Spencer Christopher Patrick Cooke
Head of Maritime Security Compliance and Client Protection
Bio classified due to present military affiliation.
Melissa Chase
Director of Operations
Melissa Chase brings a practical, detail-driven approach to business operations. She takes the time to understand how things work, identify opportunities for improvement, and put effective solutions into action. Organized, adaptable, and hands-on, Melissa focuses on creating structure, improving processes, and keeping things moving forward.
Amber Curry
Director of Retail Operations, Six Bells Chandler House
Amber is a motivated and dedicated professional with more than 16 years of experience in the retail industry. Throughout her career, she has developed extensive experience in customer service, sales, and working with people from many different backgrounds. Her years in retail have helped her build strong communication, organization, leadership, and problem-solving skills. She takes pride in being hardworking, dependable, and attentive to detail while always striving to provide a positive experience for customers.With over 16 years of retail experience, Amber has gained a strong understanding of day-to-day business operations and what it takes to create an inviting and enjoyable environment for customers. Her professional experience has taught her the importance of building relationships, understanding customer needs, and maintaining a strong work ethic. She enjoys being creative, taking on new challenges, and continuing to grow both personally and professionally.Outside of work, Amber enjoys spending time outdoors, especially being on or near the water. She also loves traveling and experiencing new places, as well as gardening and caring for plants. Most importantly, Amber values spending quality time with her daughter and family. Whether traveling, enjoying the water, or simply spending time together, family is an important part of her life. She enjoys creating memories with the people she loves while maintaining a healthy balance between her career, personal interests, and family life.
Linzey Cooke
CFO & Owner
Linzey serves as CFO of Spencer Christopher Yacht Management, where she has spent the past five years maintaining the operational and financial backbone of the company. She handles the work most owners never see — billing, reporting, compliance, and vendor administration — though the part she enjoys most is the client side, and the relationships that come with it.She also serves as CFO and co-owner of Spencer Christopher Yacht and Ship. There she works alongside her husband, Christopher, and the brokerage team, stepping in wherever she is needed — administrative groundwork, client follow-through, and the details that keep a transaction moving quietly. She also lends a hand at the Six Bells Chandler House storefront, which suits the part of the work she likes best.Linzey is married to Christopher Cooke, owner of both companies, and together they have five children, her three daughters and Christopher’s two sons. She is happiest outdoors and near the water, whether that means combing a beach for sea glass or landing somewhere she has never been. She tends to come home from those trips with new ideas and new friends.
Captain Tommy Newnam
Executive Director of Yacht Management
Capt. Tommy Newnam serves as Yacht Management Director for Spencer Christopher Yacht Management, where he oversees the in-house crew and subcontractor network handling mechanical, electrical, and shipwright work across the fleet. He is the point of contact owners rely on when a vessel needs coordinated care rather than a single trade.Tommy joined Spencer Christopher Yacht Management a little over three years ago, following his tenure as captain of Georgia Girl, an 81-foot Paul Mann. He earned a strong reputation in that role, and it has followed him ashore. Clients consistently note the care he takes with their vessels and the lengths he goes to on their behalf. He treats every boat in the program as though it were his own. If it needs to be done on a yacht, Tommy knows how to do it, who can do it, and he makes the complicated look easy. Tommy and Christopher work hand in hand like brothers making sure clients come first.Tommy is a devoted husband and father of three, and his family is what matters most to him. His time away from work is filled with boating, fishing, and enjoying the company of family and friends on the water.
Need something other than a broker?
Billing and closing paperwork, documentation, yacht management or the chandlery — say which and it goes to the person who handles it rather than round the houses.