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.
Stan Cummings
Executive Director
Northwest Maritime Center & Wooden Boat Foundation
stan@nwmaritime.org / (360) 385-3628, ext 105
Stan brings more than 30 years of maritime education experience to the helm. As CEO of The Ocean Institute in Dana Pointe, California, he developed sustainable maritime programs for all ages, including hands-on exhibits, K-12 curriculum, teacher education programs, two tall ships, a research vessel and partnerships with regional marine partners. Those programs still serve 80,000 school children and teachers annually. Originally from New England, with a Tallship Captain or two in his bloodline, Stan holds a Ph.D. from Stanford in Science Curriculum & Teacher Education. He and his wife moved to Port Townsend in January 2007 with an apple press, an Old Town Canoe, a great library and a locker full of memories from the Tallship Pilgrim.
Kaci Cronkhite
Managing Director, Northwest Maritime Center & Wooden Boat Foundation
Director, Wooden Boat Festival
kaci@nwmaritime.org / (360) 385-3628, ext 106
festival@woodenboat.org
Kaci sailed more than 60,000 bluewater miles before dropping anchor in Port Townsend. Born an Oklahoma cowgirl, she didn't see the ocean until she was 21 and didn't sail until a she was 31 - on a weekend visit to Port Townsend. That experience sparked a research project, then a job with Nancy Erley and Tethys, teaching women to sail around the world. They finished the circumnavigation in 2001. Kaci then took the helm of the Festival. She served as Interim Executive Director of the WBF in 2004 and on the Integration Team for the NWMC and WBF since 2005. She holds a 100-ton Master's license; produces women's sailing events (International Women Sailing Network); 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.
Jerauld Fry
Manager, Wooden Boat Chandlery
jerry@nwmaritime.org
shop.woodenboat.org / (360) 385-3628, ext 101
Jerry manages all Chandlery operations and is your "ask him anything guy" on all things wooden boat. A lifelong wooden boat addict, Jerry built a 28 foot ketch and a Pygmy Coho, restored a 20 foot sloop, then restored it a second time
when he found it sitting derelict at a dock where he'd sold it to go to graduate school. Retired from a career split between Human Resources work and retail management, Jerry and his wife gratefully moved to Port Townsend from Sacramento - for the views, the wooden boats, the people and pace. He works closely with wooden boat builders, shipwrights, suppliers and a host of local experts (like Adam Henley at Edensaw Woods and Marty Loken of Island Boatshop) to maintain and grow the chandlery as we make plans for the new facility. Stop by and visit, or better yet volunteer to join him in the Chandlery!
DeeAnn Nelson
Internal Operations Manager
deeann@nwmaritime.org / (360) 385-3628, ext 108
DeeAnn is the first person you see upon entering Cupola House, juggles Wooden Boat Festival support, Maritime Library and NWMC Program registrations in addition to her work with our IT and office systems. A native South Dakotan, DeeAnn moved west seeking trees and mountains and has worked on the Olympic Peninsula since 1996. She took her first sailing and rowing lessons summer 2007, successfully completing the courses with humor and panache. Rumor has it that she is a distant relative of Lord Nelson, so hail her appropriately with your questions!
Janeen Armstrong
Membership CoordinatorNorthwest Maritime Center & Wooden Boat Foundation
janeen@nwmaritime.org / (360) 379-2629
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.
Rob Sanderson
Waterfront Programs ManagerNorthwest Maritime Center
rob@nwmaritime.org / (360) 385-3628, ext 103
Rob has been teaching and developing maritime programs at WBF & NWMC since 2004. He is a US Sailing and ASA Certified Instructor, holds a 100-ton USCG Masters License and is First Aid and CPR trained. Rob started, then taught sailing in Maryland's Chesapeake waters before joining on as 1st mate and engineer on three Tall ships - from Maine to the Caribbean. Next, he drove chase boats for Oracle, an America’s Cup team in New Zealand. He is passionate about sailing and creating a love for sailing for students of all ages. He and his trusty chocolate Lab, Miles, are responsible for Learn to Sail youth and adult programs, Thunderbird charters, Messing About in Boats Sea Camps, creative maritime curriculum and Sail Training programs on Schooner Martha and
other regional tallships.
Andrew Gale
Puget Sound Explorers Program ManagerNorthwest Maritime Center
andrew@nwmaritime.org / (360) 385-3628, ext 110
Andrew (aka Andy) Gale took the helm of the highly successful Puget Sound Explorer longboat programs in early 2008. A lifelong sailor originally from Vermont, Andy joined the crew after a decade of running his own business on the Port Townsend waterfront (PT Outdoors), completing
two Masters degrees (one in education, the other in business) and starting a family, with wife Tara. As a father, sailor, manager and educator his role is to balance and expand the profound leadership and education goals of individual students and teachers with the long term opportunities these incredible boats - longboats - provide for a growing number of schools, businesses and tourism partners. For team-building, leadership training, community values, self-respect and profound experiences in our maritime world, longboats can't be beat.
