Raymond Ashley

Dr. Ray Ashley is Executive Director and Curator of Ships for the San Diego Maritime Museum. Growing up in San Diego, he became director of the San Diego Maritime Museum in 1995, and in the time since has been fortunate to oversee a phenomenal period of growth in that institution. He holds a BA in Anthropology from UCSD, an MA in Maritime History and Museum Studies from East Carolina University, and a PhD in  History from Duke University, specializing in the history of science, technology and medicine. He teaches university courses in maritime history, underwater archeology, and museum studies for UCSD and USD. He has published papers in American Neptune and a number of other professional journals, is an author for the American Maritime History Project, and writes a quarterly column for the Maritime Museum’s peer reviewed journal Mains’l Haul.

Dr. Ashley has been sailing for most of his life. Since spending his senior year in high school at sea in the oceanographic research schooner Westward he has sailed tens of thousands of miles across oceans in vessels ranging from 25’ sloops to big square riggers. Before joining the museum he supervised the construction, restoration, and rigging of several large vessels and taught classroom and underway courses in sailing, navigation, and seamanship. He is a licensed captain for sail, steam and auxiliary vessels of 200 tons domestic (500 tons international) registry,  is the Star of India’s  navigator and sails as relief captain for the other vessels of the Museum’s active fleet including the State tallship Californian, steam yacht Medea, and Pilot.

Dr. Ashley is a member of many civic and professional organizations and serves on the Board of the Council of American Maritime Museums, Sea Education Association, North American Society for Oceanic History, American Sail Training Association, Cabrillo Festival, and the San Diego Port Tenants Association. Dr. Ashley is also a museums specialist consultant for Northwest Seaport in Seattle, a consultant on ship preservation and interpretation for the National Park Service, and in early 2006  was appointed to First Lady Laura Bush’s Preserve America Summit.

He lives in Chula Vista with his wife Carlynn (with whom he sailed a 25’ boat through the South Pacific) and daughters Brienne and Neva.

Daveneet Bakhshi

Born in Kenya and raised in Zambia, Davey is an avid traveler having studied and worked in over half a dozen countries as far a field from Hong Kong to Switzerland. Brought up in the heart of Africa and instilled with the spirit of adventure by both his Sikh heritage and by his parents, Davey has backpacked through Alaska, the Alps, China, Iceland, the Himalayas and Scotland. These experiences have allowed Davey to bring out his wacky sense of adventure and imagination through his latest book - The Stoney Rock Mounties - www.stoneyrock.com 

Professionally, with a foundation as a Derivatives Trader within various International Investment Banks and having consulted and served as a member of the executive board of director’s for a number of small to large corporations in a diverse array of countries (as far a field as Hong Kong, Finland, Switzerland to the UK), Davey brings to the table both cross functional and cross industrial experience (from Corporate Finance, Private Equity to Bio Technology, IT and Industrial Production). 

Davey's experiences in, amongst other areas, corporate development, organizational consolidation and turnarounds have provided him with the ability to learn, understand and acclimate to any business environment and effectively and efficiently lead and analyze business models to provide guidance for sustainable growth for enhanced shareholder value. Davey is a member of the National Association of Corporate Director's (NACD) in the US and a former member of the Institute of Directors (IOD) in the UK.

Currently Davey is in the transition of relocating from the United Kingdom to the US. Having created a base on Conanicut Island (RI, USA) with his wife Paula, son and baby daughter, Davey enjoys kayaking around the serene waters of Narragansett Bay. The quest for paradise and adventure never ceases in any capacity.

Les Bolton

Executive Director, Grays Harbor Historical Seaport Authority, a municipal non-profit, 501 (c) (3), chartered by the City of Aberdeen, Washington in 1986.
Captain Bolton has been around boats all his life, and has been involved in sail training since 1979 when he acquired a Swedish ketch built in 1896.  By 1981, he had a Congressional exemption from the Jones Act and US Coast Guard Certification for the vessel and began to charter her. 

He has been actively involved in every major maritime event in the Pacific Northwest since 1980.  In 1990, he was recruited to restart the Historical Seaport after an organizational collapse.  At that time, the organization had been closed for two months, and had an outstanding debt of nearly $700k.

Today the Historical Seaport owns and operates the Tall Ships Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain, 3 jollyboats, 2 longboats, a 214-acre site that includes the Seaport Learning Center a 28,000 square foot maintenance facility where we provide hands-on educational opportunities for at-risk, emotionally and behaviorally disturbed youth.  They also operate The Spar Shop, which includes the largest spar and mast making lathe in North America, two sawmills, and a number of specialty tools.  They have 27 full-time paid staff and as many as 50 people working on any given day.

They are currently working on the design and engineering for a new $5.9M waterfront development.  Seaport Landing will include the cleanup of a degraded industrial waterfront and the restoration of a historic shipyard to its original capabilities.

Captain Bolton currently serves as co-chair on the Technical Committee. He also serve on the Race & Rally Committee, Planning Committee, and Executive Committee.

Michael Brown

Mike Brown's tall ship experience started on the Bill of Rights in 1974 as part of an early ASTA sail training program. It was this early experience that lead him to later serve as a board member of the Providence Maritime Heritage Foundation and as President & Vice President from 1998- 2003. This non-profit organization operates a replica of the continental Sloop Providence.

Mr. Brown's company Packaging 2.0 provides front-end design services, manufacturing and global logistics for delivery of innovative environmentally friendly packaging products including SmartCycleTM “Made from Bottles” plastic packaging.

Terry Davies

Mr. Davies has had the opportunity to found five operating schools offering curricula from middle school thorugh College and University. He has owned and operated a shipyard, designed and built a Class A Vessel, operated an education consulting firm and is currently working for a subsidiary company, The American Foundation for Education Under Sail Inc., located near Charlotte, North Carolina. He sits as a volunteer on five boards, each related to education and/or sail training and has acquired some relevant experience in effective governance models. Mr. Davies is married, has four children, one grandchild (as of last week!), and is an amateur aviator, sailor and more.

Dexter Donham

Mr. Donham was born in Cambridge, MA & brought up in New England.  As an adult he lived for 25 years in California, both San Francisco & Los Angeles.  He returned to the Boston area in 1998, and currently resides in Dover, MA, with his wife, Joan and daughter, Katie.  He has two older sons living in San Francisco and Pittsburg, as landscape architect and graduate student, respectively.

Mr. Donham has been a lifelong sailor, both inshore and offshore, in boats big & small, on the East & West Coasts, and the Great Lakes.

He is a graduate of Harvard where he majored in English Literature and of the Harvard Business School, where he concentrated in Marketing.

Mr. Donahm was commissioned through the Officer Candidate School in Newport, RI. and served the USN on USS Mars, AFS-1, as a Damage Control Assistant in the Engineering Department, in the Western Pacific. He served as Chief Engineer on USS Garrett County, LST 786, in the Mekong Delta and completed his service as Maintenance Officer at Naval Inshore Operations Training Center at Mare Island Naval Station in Vallejo, California.

Mr. Donham has worked in Marketing & Brand Management at the Clorox Company and Levi Strauss & Co., as Director of Research & Planning at Sitmar Cruises, Director of Marketing at Princess Cruises, Vice President & General Manager at Cruises of Distinction, a large retailer of vacation cruises, and Vice President of Marketing at Elderhostel, Inc., a large not-for-profit educational travel organization.  He founded Sailing Ship Adventures, a specialty booking agent for sailing vessels, as sole owner/manager in 2004.

Volunteer work has included board service with the San Francisco Chapter of the American Marketing Association and with the Southern California Chapter of the Direct Marketing Association, as well as being for the past 4 years, a member of Church Council, the governing body of the Dover Church. Mr. Donham has served on the ASTA Board since 2002 and currently hold the position of treasurer.

Kevin Dykema

Kevin Dykema has lived in Michigan his whole life with the  exception of three years in Georgia when he was a child. He has spent  his entire working life in the newspaper business for the Kalamazoo  Gazette (11 years), the Grand Rapids Press (11 years) and the Bay  City Times 16 years).

Mr. Dykema has been a recreational sailor for 25 years  on lakes Michigan and Huron. In 1998 he formed the non- profit BaySail  organization in Bay City which then acquired the schooner Appledore  IV to do environmental education for school groups. In 2001 they acquired a second vessel, Appledore V and added a sail training program.

He have served  as the chairman of Tallship® Celebration Bay City which has hosted the  ASTA TALL SHIPS CHALLENGE® series in Bay City in 2001, 2003 and 2006.

Mr. Dykema lives with his wife Betsy and has a 25 year old son Peter in Virginia Beach, and a recently graduated  22 year old daughter Jane in Ann Arbor.

Robert Frost

Mr. Frost has spent 45 years  actively involved in the international business community, including  three years in the US Navy  as a supply and fiscal officer on a destroyer;  eight years as a business journalist and commentator with The New York Times, Business Week and the British Broadcasting Company; nearly 30 years as an consultant with specialties in finance, marketing and business strategies.

Mr. Frost has served over 400 companies worldwide through ECOM  Consultants, an international firm which he founded, and five years as an investment advisor and portfolio manager. 

Over the past  25 years Mr. Frost has served on more than a dozen boards of directors.

Mr. Frost did his undergraduate work in international relations at the University of Pennsylvania and graduate work in international economics at New York University.

He has been an avid sailor for more than 30 years.

Susan Geiger

Susan Geiger is an attorney who has provided services to the maritime industry for 23 years.  Since graduating from Georgetown University Law School, she has handled questions relating to compliance with U.S. maritime laws, conducted internal investigations relating to allegations of violations of those laws, and represented companies before regulatory agencies and Congress on a variety of issues.  Prior to her my legal career, she was a senior staff member of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget where she was involved in the review of regulatory proposals issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Jim Gladson

For 32 years, Jim Gladson worked as a science teacher for the Los Angeles Unified School District. You would think that this would have entitled him to a break, but rather than sink into retirement, Gladson, an accomplished sailor, founded both the Los Angeles Maritime Institute and the Top Sail Youth Program to help give at-risk youths a one-of-a-kind learning experience.

In taking at-risk youths from the Los Angeles area out on tall sailing ships, Gladson challenges them to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required for sailing, things which they would not be able to learn in the traditional classroom. More than 40,000 at-risk students have participated in the programs, bringing to life lessons in science, math, physics, biology, geography, world trade, economics, history and literature when they are out on the water.

As a result, many of these student's teachers have reported improved grades and bigger smiles. The programs operate under the philosophy that "lessons presented with dignity, respect and unconditional confidence" can bring about life changing experiences. Gladson believes that our next generation is the one resource we truly cannot turn our backs on.

Dick Hawkins

Dick is proprietor of the Columbia Trading Company, the retailer of used, rare and new maritime books and related nautical art and antiques on Cape Cod.  Previously, he was employed in commercial and investment banking for twenty-five years by Bank of Boston/Fleet Bank.  During much of his career as both line officer and manager, he specialized in domestic and international transportation companies (shipping, trucking, air, etc.).  Prior to joining the Bank, Dick worked for the Sea Education Association in Boston and Woods Hole during the first four years after its founding.  He has served on SEA’s Board during most of the years since then; he was Treasurer for nearly twenty years and Chairman of the Board for four years.  He is a graduate of Yale University and the Harvard Business School, and he served as an officer in the US Army from 1968 to 1971.  Dick is married and has four children.

Deborah Hayes

Captain Hayes has worked in sail training for twenty years in various capacities on a number of different vessels- Oceanography Instructor, deckhand, mate, cook and captain. Vessels she has worked for include Spirit of Massachusetts, Westward, Corwith Cramer, Californian, Rose, Niagara, Bill of Rights, Tole Mour and Clearwater. For the last six years she has been Program Director and Captain for the Geronimo program at St George's School in Newport, RI. She has a BS in Zoology, specializing in Marine Invertebrates.

Karen Helmerson
                                                                
Professional Field: Electronic Media Art and Community-Based Media Arts and Education.

Ms. Helmerson is the Electronic Media and Film (EMF) Program Director at the New York State Council on the Arts. She oversees funding for non-profit media arts organizations in support of independent film, video and new media throughout New York State. In 2002 the EMF Program initiated Strengthening the Media Arts in New York State, an ongoing effort to address advocacy and representation for NYS media arts organizations and independent media makers. As a member of Grantmakers in Film and Electronic Media (GFEM) Steering Committee, and GFEM Media Policy Working Group (GFEM-EMP), Ms. Helmerson is focused on the intersection of content and media policy in support of creative expression and critical thinking through media policy in the public interest.  Helmerson is also a former board member of the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture (NAMAC). 

Jim Hiney

Mr. Hiney's background is in private practice law specializing in technology law which included building new companies around new ideas and technology. He is an IP lawyer as well.

Mr. Hiney was the General Counsel, Vice President of a NASDAQ company in the 1990s and before that a partner in a multi-state firm in Washington, DC.     He worked on creating the gasohol movement and did litigation in various capacities.   He holds an engineering undergraduate degree and is CEO of a cattle vaccine business with joint ventures around the world. Mr. Hiney was an engineer for Westinghouse and Ingersoll Rand, was an attorney for Boeing in Seattle, has at times been a registered lobbyist, was a guest lecturer at Virginia Tech, Darden School of Business at UVA, Purdue, and at other professional functions, and a partner in two multi-state D. C. law firms.  Mr. Hiney created the non-profit American Gasahol Association in the 80s and ran it for the first year.   He presently sits on the incubator advisory board for the University of Maine in Orono, and still litigates occasionally.  

Mr. Hiney crews regularly on the Elizabeth II out of No. Carolina and occasionally on the Godspeed and the Pride II. 

John Jamian

John Jamian has extensive experience in international transportation, trade development, and the maritime industry. He presently is a principle partner in Jamian Fahmy LLC, an international maritime, energy and security consulting firm based in Washington, D.C. and Michigan. He also serves as the President of the Seaway Great Lakes Trade Association based in Michigan.

Most recently, Mr. Jamian served in the Bush Administration as the Acting Maritime Administrator and Deputy Administrator for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration. His responsibilities included promoting the environmentally sound integration of marine transportation with other modes of transportation, and with other ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes uses.  He was instrumental in creating the Cabinet Level Committee on Marine Transportation and served as a member of the Presidents National Presidential Security Directive (NSPD) in creating our national maritime security initiative.

Mr. Jamian oversaw the daily operations of the Maritime Administration, its 900 employees, and 276 ship assets under MARAD purveyance.

Commencing in 1991, John was elected to the Michigan legislature, where he served for six years.   Mr. Jamian chaired the House Task Force Committee on Port and Maritime Affairs, the House Health Policy Committee and the United States Canada Relations Committee for the Midwest Council of State Governments, focusing on the mutual goals of the two nations who share the world’s largest lake and transportation system.

Mr. Jamian authored numerous articles in national publications on the shipping, transportation and tourism industries, paving the way for greater understanding of these complex issues.

John also served as the Executive Director of the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority. Under his administration, the Port Authority introduced many new programs including restoring the Great Lakes cruise ship industry.  He also served as Chairman of Sail Detroit, the largest waterfront public event in Michigan’s history, and Chair of the American Great Lakes Ports. He also was a member of the Board of Directors of the American Association of Port Authorities and the Michigan District Export Trade Council.

On November 15, 2001, Mr. Jamian was appointed Executive Director of the Armenian Assembly of America, the largest Washington-based, Armenian-American association. While serving as Executive Director, he spearheaded efforts with the Department of Defense, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Jordan’s Queen Noor on demining efforts in the Caucus region of the Middle East.

Mr. Jamian also was selected by Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and the Joint Chiefs of Staff to participate in the Defense Department’s Joint Civilian Orientation Conference to survey the Nation’s military capabilities—both at home and abroad.

Mr. Jamian is a graduate of Oakland University. He lives with his wife, Cynthia, and two children in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Patrick Kennedy

Patrick J. Kennedy is serving his sixth term in Congress as the representative from the First District of Rhode Island. In January 2001, Patrick assumed his seat on the influential Appropriations Committee, where he and his colleagues examine the needs of communities and determine where limited federal dollars are most needed. He utilizes this committee membership in order to bolster economic growth and to improve the standard of living in Rhode Island in many areas such as health care, education, and jobs. His Subcommittees on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education, and on Commerce, Justice, State, and Judiciary, also determine how to fund vital agencies such as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute of Health, and Head Start among others.

James Kerr

Mr. Kerr is counsel in Davis Polk & Wardwell’s Litigation Department. His practice includes general commercial litigation, banking litigation and securities litigation. He has advised and represented a number of U.S. and foreign banks, including foreign central and government banks, in a variety of domestic and international controversies, with a focus on litigation and advice involving sovereign immunity and act-of-state questions, cross-border provisional remedies and the enforcement of judgments, sanctions questions, foreign bank secrecy questions, cross-border securities custody questions, letters rogatory, and letters of credit and bank guarantees. During the past several years he has been actively engaged in matters involving issues arising in a private banking context on behalf of several financial institutions, and in litigation arising in the context of the emerging markets, the swap markets, and sovereign debt restructuring.

He is a member of the New York City Bar, and was a member of its Banking Law Committee from 1991 to 1992. He is also a member of the American Bar Association, and is the co-chairman of the International Banking & Finance Subcommittee of the ABA’s International Business Law Committee. He recently served as a special advisor to the Letter of Credit Committee of the New York State Bar Association in connection with the proposed revisions to Article 5 of the NYUCC, and previously served on Ad Hoc ABA Committees with respect to the UNCITRAL Convention of International Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes, and the UNIDROIT Convention on International Financial Leasing. He is a member of the bar of the United States Supreme Court and of several federal district and appellate courts, and appeared before the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal.

Mr. Kerr joined Davis Polk in 1972.

Mr. Kerr graduated from Yale College in 1964 and, after serving in the U.S. Navy, received his J.D. in 1972 from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a member of the law review.

Norman Lemley

Mr. Lemley has 40 years extensive marine safety and maritime security experience.  Throughout his career he has been a leader in developing national and international marine safety and security standards to facilitate commercial interests while meeting the need for safety, environmental protection and security.  He served on Government delegations to the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization (IMO) over a period of 38 years including the Assembly, the Diplomatic Conference in London that developed the International Maritime Security Treaty finalized in 2002, the Maritime Safety Committee, the Marine Environment Protection Committee, Flag State Implementation Sub-Committee on Fire Protection, Sub-Committee on Design and Equipment, and Sub-Committee on Lifesaving Appliances, London (as Chair 1980 – 1986, selected by 40-nation conference). Member of government delegation to the IMO MSC and MEPC 2005 sessions at IMO HQ.

Mr. Lemley served with the U.S. Coast Guard for 36 years, retiring both as a civilian as a member of the Senior Executive Service and as Captain, USCG Reserve.  During the 25 years in senior positions, he was a driving force in nearly every major marine safety, security and pollution prevention initiative. In USCG Reserve assignments he concentrated on port security and mobilization planning serving in field assignments, USCG HQ and the Pentagon.

Ken Neal-Boyd

Ken Neal-Boyd is the executive director and co-founder of Call of the Sea, a young San Francisco Bay sail training organization operating the Schooner Seaward.  Before returning to San Francisco two years ago, Ken was with the Sea Education Association of Woods Hole, MA for many years, most recently as Marine Superintendent and faculty captain.  His worked in sail training has been both ashore and at sea, including captain of a variety of vessels, including Seaward, Corwith Cramer, Westward, Robert C. Seamans, Spirit of Massachusetts, Harvey Gamage, and Californian.  Ken’s work with ASTA focuses on San Francisco’s involvement in 2008 Tall Ships events, promoting ASTA in California, and the Ship Operations and Safety Committee.

Jed Pearsall

Jed Pearsall is president of Performance Research (Newport, Rhode Island), a company specializing in research, measurement, and strategic planning for corporate sponsorship of sports and special events.  The firm's consulting and evaluation work affects over $500 million worth of sponsorship investments each year.  A partial list of corporate clients includes Allstate, Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, Kodak, Masterfoods, UBS, and Visa.  Property clients include Disney, Indy Racing League, NASCAR, NFL, Major League Soccer, and the Women's Tennis Association.   (Performance Research does not find sponsors for properties or events, but rather evaluates the marketing impact for corporate sponsors once the relationships are in place.)

Pearsall holds a doctorate in sports management from Temple University and completed undergraduate work in psychology at Dartmouth College and pre-doctoral studies at the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania.  Pearsall has been a featured speaker for the past 20 years at IEG's annual conference on event marketing (Chicago), and for five years at the Sport Business Conference of Sponsorship, London.  Pearsall is the author of the “Measurement” chapter of the ANA’s (Association of National Advertisers) Event Marketing Management Guide.  Prior to founding Performance Research, Pearsall was a faculty member at Temple University specializing in Sociology of Sports. 

Cal Pifer

Cal has been sailing on ASTA member vessels since he was sixteen. He has served as crew on Niagara, Elissa, Providence, Bounty, and Concordia. Additionally, he spent two seasons with Thompson Island Outward Bound as a Lead Sailing Instructor. He also spent a short stint teaching for an Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound (ELOB) middle school in Boston.

Passionate about experiential education, Cal has spent the last five years working with various groups to bring progressive education reform to the traditional classroom. In addition to presenting at numerous education conferences, he has served on various committees and capacities for the Coalition of Essential Schools in San Francisco, the National Service Learning Partnership in Washington and the Kellogg Foundation in Detroit.

A true believer in the power of sail training for young people, Cal attributes much of his success in high school and college to his time spent crewing on tall ships. This fall he will bring that experience to more young people as the Shipboard Director onboard the Frederyk Chopin – Class Afloat’s Gap Year vessel.

Doug Prothero

Doug Prothero has spent the past twenty five years in the business of operations, ownership, and construction of ships (including four tall ships). He hails from a family tradition of marine historians and work boats. Prothero holds a Transport Canada Masters license for the operation of passenger and sail training vessels. He has participated in over 75 tall ships events as a ship operator and/or event organizer. His formal education was in Marine Studies (both undergraduate and graduate levels) and he also holds a degree in music (with an emphasis on jazz studies). Doug is President and CEO of Tall Ship Silva Inc. and Canadian Sailing Expeditions (both of Halifax), and is Vice President and COO of West Island College Class Afloat. He is the Chairman of the Canadian Sail Training Association, Vice Chair of the American Sail Training Association, and is a founding Trustee of Sail Training International. In addition to activities in the sail training community he serves on a private sector advisory board to the Minister of Tourism for Nova Scotia.

Mike Rauthworth

Mike Rauworth has a career of over thirty-five years at sea and at law.  He holds an unlimited Coast Guard license as master of sail, steam, motor vessels, with several pilotage endorsements in the waters of three different states.  He has sailed as master on more than half a dozen commercial vessels and as deck officer on more than twenty in all.  His sea time runs the gamut from sail training vessels (including Eagle, Sea Cloud, Spirit of Massachusetts, and Westward) to deep-sea cargo vessels to tugs & barges and military vessels.  He retired from the Coast Guard Reserve with the rank of Captain after commanding seven military units and serving as commander of U.S. Naval Forces Haiti during Operation Restore Democracy in 1994.  He heads the admiralty practice at the litigation firm of Cetrulo & Capone LLP in Boston.   He has served as an elected member of the school committee in his town and as an appointive member of the school building committee, and serves on the board of several historic preservation non-profits.  He first joined ASTA’s board in 1992, drafted the joint venture agreement with ISTA for Tall Ships 2000, served as ASTA’s liaison to Sail Training International, and currently serves as the chair of ASTA’s Board of Directors.

Bert Rogers

Mr. Rogers grew up inthe midwest and sailed competively in M- and C-class scows on inland lakes in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri. He studied philosophy/religion/anthropolgy/liguistics as a combined major at Beloit College, Beloit WI.

Mr. Rogers first went to sea in 1978 as volunteer aboard brigantine Romance, under capt Arthur Kimberly.  He sailed in her and worked up to ship’s sailmaker for circumnavigation, 1979-1980. He has sailed/worked in other ships and schooners, variously as bos’n, rigger, mate, and Captain, including Regina Maris, Sea Cloud, Elizabeth II, Mayflower II, Lindo/Alexandria and Spirit of Massachusetts.

Mr. Rogers was the captain and program director for Spirit of Massachusetts 1985 – 1993 and was the program director for Sail Adventures in Learning, of Bath, ME 1993 – 1996.  

For SAIL, Inc., he purchased and refit schooner Harvey Gamage and created new programs  still running today:  Seafaring Camp, Maine Island Youth, the flagship program, and the Ocean Classroom high-school semester at sea.

In 1996, along with Alix Thorne he created the Schooner Harvey Gamage Foundation (renamed Ocean Classroom Foundation in 2000), with Alix as Founder and President, and Mr. Rogers as Executive Director.  Ocean Classroom Foundation currently owns and operates the Harvey Gamage, Spirit of Massachuesetts, and Westward and from time to time also operates programs on other ships including Lettie G. Howard, HMS Rose, Liberty Clipper, Ernestina, and Edna.  

Chris Rowsom

A lifelong sailor, Captain Christopher Rowsom grew up on the eastern end of Long Island surrounded by water.  After attending Hobart College, he embarked upon an adventure sailing to the Caribbean on board a passenger schooner which resulted in a career in traditional sail.  His travels at sea have taken him to all three coasts of the US, the Great Lakes, transatlantic to northern Europe, and the Caribbean Sea.  Captain Rowsom has sailed on many traditional vessels of note including a four year association with the original Pride of Baltimore.  In 1986, Captain Rowsom joined the crew that built the schooner Lady Maryland for the Living Classrooms Foundation.  He subsequently became the vessel’s skipper and Fleet Captain for LCF.    In 1999, Captain Rowsom came ashore and accepted the position that he currently holds as Executive Director of the USS Constellation Museum supervising the vessel’s interpretive, preservation, and restoration programs.    Captain Rowsom is a board member and past chairman of the American Sail Training Association, is a vice-chair of the Greater Baltimore History Alliance, and is a member of the board of the Baltimore City Heritage Area Authority.  He lives in Bel Air, Maryland, with his wife of 18 years.

Dan Stetson

President and CEO of the Ocean Institute in Dana Point, CA since June of 2005.  Prior to that Chief Operating Officer since 1992.  Responsible for operational management of award winning programs in marine science and maritime history.  Programs service approximately 100,000 students annually.  Oversee all operations in Dana Point, Cleveland National Forest and Catalina Island.  The Institute operates the brig Pilgrim, the schooner Spirit of Dana Point and its floating laboratory, the R/V Sea Explorer.  The paid staff consists of more than 120 people with 400 volunteers and a budget of more than $9.1 million. 

Mr. Stetson worked as the Oil Spill Crisis Manager for the Law Firm of Pillsbury Madison & Sutro, Los Angeles, CA. In January 1991, the largest oil spill in the history of Los Angeles closed the harbor and devastated numerous businesses.  More than two thousand vessels were covered with oil.  In his capacity as Crisis Manager, Mr. Stetson designed and implemented a comprehensive disaster compensation plan for private and commercial concerns.  He managed combined adjuster and office staff of more than thirty.  He discovered and exposed a third party liability cover-up attemp, provided expert witness testimony in Criminal Court and played a pivotal role in the client’s recovery of damages.  Mr. Stetson developed a compensation risk management model for future spills and rescued and reversed what was a public relations disaster.

Mr. Stetson worked his way through college as part-time sailing instructor.  Upon graduating, he started own sailboat charter/school in Ventura as franchise operation.  He relocated to Newport Beach in a corporate merger and advanced to vice president and general manager.  Under his watch, the operation grew to be the largest charter management company on the West Coast with operations in San Diego, Newport Beach, Marina del Rey, Ventura and Mammoth.  Mr. Stetson's cope of responsibilities included management of marinas and commercial properties (retail, office, restaurant and ski condos), a charter fleet of over 70 boats, sailing schools at all locations and a membership based sailing association with ongoing educational activities.

Mr. Stetson is a graduate of California State University at Fullerton with a
Bachelor of Arts in English and an M.B.A from the University of California at Santa Barbara. He is a licensed Master, US Coast Guard (100 tons), Captain of Pilgrim and R/V Sea Explorer, and served in the United States Coast Guard Reserve.

He is married to Roxanne and together they enjoy tennis, scuba diving and sailing.

Alix Thorne

Alix Thorne has been a member of ASTA since 1985, and has served on the board since 1988. Alix came into sail training through work on the ELISSA in Galveston beginning in 1984 and including sailing her longest voyage (4 months), from Texas to New York for the Statue of Liberty parade in 1986 and home via Bermuda. Ahe has been involved with the Harvey Gamage since 1992, which evolved into starting Ocean Classroom Foundation (officially founded in 1996).    Ocean Classroom Foundations has progressed to owning 3 vessels – Harvey Gamage, Westward and Spirit of Massachusetts, sailing from Newfoundland to South America with over 2600 kids carried on board in 2006.

For several years, Alix worked as an AB and a mate on the “HMS” Rose for earning a 1600 T Near-coastal Mate and 100 T near-coastal Master license. Alix still sails every spring for the Elissa daysail series and in 2002, she was given the “Spirit of ELISSA” award in appreciation of her on-going support.  

Since 2000, Alix has focused her time on being the President of Ocean Classroom, and serving on the boards of Mystic Seaport Museum and ASTA. She lives in Camden, Maine in the winter and Islesboro, in the Penobscot Bay in the summer.

Tim Warburton

President - West Indies Management Company
Marketing and Sales - Property Management & Rentals - International Relations
Software Development

Racing Navigator - Yacht "Nirvana"; 20 years.
2 Trans-Atlantic Passages -  as one as Sailing Master and one Skipper on Black Pearl.
Director - Newport Music Festival  
Trustee - Black Pearl Sail Training Fund

F.C. “Bunky” Wichmann

I am in the real estate asset management business.  I have acquired and developed real estate in the Charleston area over the past 25 years.  I manage my own assets as well as investors and friend’s properties.  I also have a small construction company that deals mainly in renovations and maintenance of my properties.  When my children asked me, a couple of years ago, “Daddy, what do you do every day?  I told them that I spend my day going from being an arsonist to a fireman.  I am either lighting fires or putting them out.  I solve problems.  I am of the firm belief that all problems are solvable if given the proper attention they require.

Meghan Wren

Meghan E. Wren is founder and Executive Director of the Bayshore Discovery Project. A student of literature at the University of Pennsylvania and later of environmental studies at Stockton State College, she interrupted her degree work to create the Bayshore Discovery Project in 1988 at age 23. Her youth spent on (and in) the water, her deckhand experience on the 1877 barque ELISSA and others, her work as a crabber and shipwright on Delaware Bay and her passion for things old and the cultural landscape of South Jersey inspired her to transform a decrepit hulk of an oyster dredger into a living voice for Delaware Bay. With a commitment to community involvement, volunteerism and consensus building, Ms Wren built the organization and amassed the financial, technical and human resources necessary to restore the 1928 schooner A.J. MEERWALD. Throughout the eight year, million dollar restoration, the organization grew into a well-respected educational institution in the Delaware Valley serving nearly 50,000 people annually. In addition to its shipboard programming, BDP delivers shore-based field trips from the 1904 Oyster Shipping Sheds and Wharves (currently undergoing a $4 million restoration), operates the Delaware Bay Museum and hosts Delaware Bay Days , a free festival attracting 12-15,000 attendees. In 1998, the A J MEERWALD was designated New Jersey’s official Tall Ship. Bayshore Discovery Project has received numerous awards, including: excellence in historic preservation from the New Jersey Trust for Historic Preservation; Watershed Awareness Education by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Governor’s Heritage Tourism Award and ASTA’s 2005 Sea Education Program of the Year Award. In addition to her work with BDP, Ms Wren served for eight years as CoChair of the Citizen’s Advisory Committee of the Delaware Estuary Program, was a founding board member of the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, South Jersey Land Trust,  and South Jersey Bayshore Coalition, serves on the Cumberland Empowerment Zone Advisory Board, American Littoral Society board and is currently president of the Port Norris Rotary Club. In 2003, Ms Wren married Captain Jesse Briggs of Lane Briggs/Norfolk Rebel legacy and in 2005 they welcomed Delbay Wren Briggs to the family.