Meet the Foundation crew
WBF staff don't just work at the foundation. We live the mission by spending a portion of every day promoting wooden boat culture, skills and heritage in our community. Committed to our past and future, each of us serves a dual role at the Northwest Maritime Center where funds we raise are used for expanding education programs for youth and adults.
Jake Beattie
Executive Director
jake@nwmaritime.org / (360) 385-3628, ext 105
Jake Beattie has been tied to the water for most of his life. Growing up in Bellingham, he took his first command of an El Toro at age 7 and spent summers sailing through the San Juans. After graduating from George Washington University, Jake pursued a life at sea that took him through 3 years of tall ship sailing, 3 years instructing in Outward Bound's Seamanship programs, and stints in sailing commercially on coastal freighters and tugboats. Before coming to the NWMC Jake worked as Executive Director of a bicycle education non-profit and as Deputy Director at The Center For Wooden Boats in Seattle. At CWB, he spent much of his time developing programs and creating collaborations with partner maritime organizations. In his personal life, Jake is currently between boats. Those who know him think that this is probably a temporary condition.
Len Manranan Goldstein
Managing Director
len@nwmaritime.org /(360)385-3628 ext. 111
Len was born and raised in the Philippines, and has lived in Hawaii, New York, Washington, D.C., and New York (again). Now that she has discovered Port Townsend, she hopes that she won't have to change addresses for a long, long time. After teaching Communication courses at the University of the Philippines Baguio for five years, Len left for Hawaii on a graduate degree fellowship from the East-West Center. She attended the University of Hawaii School of Communications in Manoa. Despite a hectic schedule of international student group parties, an East-West Fest (which she co-organized) and almost-weekly snorkeling, Len managed to complete her M.A. in Communication and receive two Distinguished Service Awards to boot. After that, she worked as a diplomat's lackey at the Labor Office of the Philippine Embassy for two years, then moved to New York to be with her husband and their sailboat, a Pearson Alberg 35 they named Quickbeam. She also discovered fundraising in New York, and worked for over two years as the Manager of Institutional Giving of the Kaufman Center, an arts education and performance non-profit.
Eileen Johnston
Finance Manager
eileen@nwmaritime.org/ (360)385-3628 ext. 107
Experienced in non-profit accounting, Eileen spent 8 years at a large human services organization, where, as Director of Finance and Chief Financial Officer, she successfully managed A133 audits with no adverse findings within the complex environment of federal, state, local government, foundations corporations and private donor funding. Conducting board of director and staff trainings focused on internal controls and compliance issues, she has guided executive level and program management in making sound decisions to meet organizational and programmatic goals.
Native to the Northwest, Eileen has lived in Jefferson County since 1995. Having recently received a research certificate from Boston University, her interests include family history, historic preservation and Port Townsend maritime history. She is active in the Jefferson County Genealogical Society and is a Trustee for the Jefferson County Historical Society.
Leigh Kennel
Grants Manager
leigh@nwmaritime.org / (360)385-3628 ext. 111
Leigh is responsible for grant related annual and capital fundraising. Her experience includes more than 20 years of grant writing and administration in non-profit organizations and local government. Her love of the waters of Puget Sound comes from her time living aboard a 35-foot sailboat and as a planner working on watershed and shoreline issues for the City of Bainbridge Island. She has lived in Port Townsend since 2001 and has a BA in Geography from the University of Washington.
Kaci Cronkhite
Advisor: (former) Director, Wooden Boat Festival & NW Maritime Spring Boating Symposium 2002-2011
kaci@womanofthewind.com
Kaci, a self diagnosed Woman of the Wind, sailed more than 60,000 bluewater miles before dropping anchor in Port Townsend just prior to 9/11. Born an Oklahoma cowgirl, she didn't see the ocean until she was 21 and didn't sail until a she was 31. That happened on a weekend visit to Port Townsend and the wind blew her back after a research project, then a job with Nancy Erley and Tethys, teaching women to sail around the world from 1995-2001. A few months later, Kaci took the helm of the Festival for a decade, growing educational programs, financial return for year round programs and international connections. In addition to her role with Festival, she served as Interim Executive Director of the WBF in 2004, on the Integration Team for the NWMC and WBF merger in 2005 and as Managing Director of NWMC & WBF from February 2006-September 2009. She holds a 100-ton Master's license; writes, presents and promotes women in boating; has a BS in Management, an MA in Social Sciences and an Ab.D in Gender and Cultural Studies. In 2007, she and her partner found Pax, their 1936 Danish Spidsgatter, now her office in Boat Haven marina.
DeeAnn Nelson
Internal Operations Managerdeeann@nwmaritime.org / (360) 385-3628, ext 108
DeeAnn juggles information technology and facilities manament in addition to to her work with Wooden Boat Festival registrations and support. A native South Dakotan, DeeAnn moved west seeking trees and mountains and has lived on the Olympic Peninsula since 1996. She took her first sailing and rowing lessons during summer '07, and loves playing outside, especially hiking and kayaking. Rumor has it that she is a distant relative of Lord Nelson, so hail her appropriately with your questions!
Janeen Armstrong
Communications & MembershipNorthwest Maritime Center & Wooden Boat Foundation
janeen@nwmaritime.org / (360) 385-3628 ext. 112
Janeen moved to Port Townsend from Seattle where she used to gaze longingly at the sailboats on Lake Union from her downtown office window. Her varied work life has included teaching English in Mexico, managing an urban gourmet take-out food shop and writing an online parenting column for single moms. Most recently she performed a wide variety of administrative and support tasks for a national managed health care company in Seattle. As part of the development and membership team for the NWMC/WBF Janeen is responsible for, among other things, database upkeep and acknowledgements for members and donors. Last summer she took the first step in fulfilling her lifelong dream of learning to sail by taking the NWMC beginner’s class.
Ace Spragg
Waterfront Programs Manager
ace@nwmaritime.org / (360) 385-3628 ext. 103
Carolyn "Ace" Spragg grew up on the Chesapeake Bay, messing about in boats. She built her first raft at age 6, learned to sail at age 8, and has spent more than 30 years teaching on the water. She taught swimming, sailing, canoeing, and waterskiing at summer camps back east, and was the Waterfront Director and Program Director for 15 years. After moving to the Pacific Northwest in 2000, she started teaching sailing and cruising skills on her Yorktown 39, s/v Fraid Knot, which she lives aboard.
Ace has her USCG 50 ton Master's License, International Sail and Power Association Yachtmaster Offshore teaching certification, US Sailing teaching certification, and is a US Maritime Academy Captain's License Instructor. She's skippered her boat to Hawaii and back with all-women crews. She's been teaching adult sailing classes at the WBF and NWMC since 2008 and also speaks at various seminars on Docking, Tides and Currents and Trip Planning. This is her dream job!
Nancy Israel
School Program Coordinator
Northwest Maritime Center
nancy@nwmaritime.org / 360-385-3625 ext. 109
Nancy has worked
at NWMC/WBF since 2006 when she started as a Captain Instructor with the Puget
Sound Explorer Program. Nancy brings extensive maritime and
environmental education experience to her role coordinating, captaining and
teaching school programs at NWMC. She originally moved to Port Townsend from the
east coast to work aboard the schooner Adventuress in 1995, where she worked as
an Educator/Deckhand and then Education Director. She became a licensed Captain
in 2002. Working for the Outward Bound Seamanship program as an Instructor and
Skipper aboard Longboats out of Anacortes is what eventually brought her to work
for NWMC/WBF. She also honed her skippering skills as Captain aboard the yawl Carlyn for Salish Sea Expeditions. Nancy has a
degree in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in Maine. Nancy also has worked as a
Naturalist/Instructor for several programs including Olympic Park Institute,
Olympic National Park and the Massachusetts Audubon
Society.
Scott Jones
Boatshop Manager
scott@nwmaritime.org / 360-385-3628 ext 123
Scott attended the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building from the Fall of 2008 thru the Summer of 2009 a full 12 month course. The first three months he was blessed to learn from Richard Wilmore in beginning projects. The next six months he found himself learning the art of blending wood, epoxy and fiberglass from Bruce Blatchley. His main focus in those six months was on a Caledonia Yawl built for the Four Winds camp up in the San Juan Islands. The last three months Scott studied under Jeff Hammond and built new cabinets for the classroom galley and helped Adventuress get new focsle berths.
