Board and Staff

Our Board of Directors

Kevin Bedford (SPSM Board Secretary) of Camden, ME, is recently retired from twenty-one years of museum work at Owls Head Transportation Museum. His experience there spanned roles in IT, Operations and six years as Executive Director. His childhood days were spent in the tropical paradise of Miami, Florida, much of it on, or in the water - swimming, fishing, boating and surfing. The enchanting sound of moving water he experienced first as a child has continued to hold a special place in his heart. A few short years after receiving a Master of Fine Arts in Photography from Utah State University, Kevin had the opportunity to return to the shores of the Atlantic, this time to Rockport, ME, at the Maine Photographic Workshops. Eight seasons there led to ten in hospitality and retail sporting goods management. Kevin credits his long-held focus on Values Based Leadership in making a successful transition from the for-profit to the nonprofit world relatively easy. He is extremely excited by the opportunity to join the Board of Directors in support of SPSM’s continuing evolution and growth.

Jim Bowditch (Chair of Outreach and Development Committee) of Camden, ME, is a graduate of Yale University with an MA from Western Michigan U and a PhD from Purdue U in Industrial/Organizational Psychology). He is the great-great-grandson of Nathaniel Bowditch, James Russell Lowell, and Joseph Burnett. He is married with three children and six grandchildren. He cooks, sails, polishes floors, & plays golf badly. Now retired, his diverse professional background has included: adjunct professor, U of ME, Hutchinson Ctr, Belfast; Education for Ministry Mentor; Missioner for Stewardship & Planned Giving, Episcopal Diocese of Maine; Director of Development at Episcopal Divinity School; 31 years total Dean & Professor, Saint Joseph’s University, Haub School of Business, and Boston College, Carroll School of Management in organizational behavior. He has co-authored five books in multiple editions. Has served as a consultant to several banks, and rector search and conflict resolution consultant for the Diocese of Massachusetts. As an active community volunteer, he has served as: Former board member Coastal Family Hospice, past president of the YMCA Penobscot Bay Rockport, Former Chair of Trustees of Meadowbrook School, Weston, MA; Former Board of Trustees, Episcopal Divinity School; Former Executive Committee, Urban Bridges at St. Gabriel’s Church, Philadelphia, an urban ministry, former co-chair, Commissions on (ordained) ministry, Episcopal Dioceses of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, former vestry person at Church of the Holy Spirit, Wayland, MA, Church of the Good Shepherd, West Lafayette, IN, and Episcopal Church at Yale. He currently volunteers with MCH--Knox County Meals on Wheels (Secretary), Retiring co-senior warden & vestry person of St. Peter’s Church, Rockland, ME; Member, Camden Rotary (past president).

Dick Crossman (SPSM Board Vice Chair & Chair of the Collections Committee) grew up on Vinalhaven and is a graduate of the University of Maine with a Bachelor of Science degree in Education. He attended the US Army Artillery Officer branch school in Lawton, OK, and served 12 years in the US Army Reserves with the 76th Training Division In Lewiston, ME. He taught High School (History) for 5 years before entering the insurance business in 1979. His career started with W.C. Ladd & Sons in Rockland and he retired in 2019 from Allen Insurance in Camden. During those years his client portfolio included some of Maine’s most highly recognized boat builders, custom and specialty boat yards, marine contractors and shipyards; and he developed a unique understanding of the craftsmanship & competency unique to these firms as well as the multi-generational legacy many of these businesses represent. His past board service includes the Rockland/Thomaston Chamber of Commerce, Northeast Health/PBMC, Mid Coast Development Corp and Eastern Maine Development Corporaton in Bangor. From the period 1996 – 2006 he volunteered as Assistant Girls Basketball Coach at Camden Hills HS. He currently resides with his wife in Camden.

David Doub (Chair of SPSM Facilities Committee) of Camden, ME, grew up in Baltimore and learned how to sail on his family’s Lightning. He raced at Cornell and served as Captain of the sailing team. He continues to race out of Marblehead on his brother’s Swan 38, Blue Pigeon, competing in the 2019 Camden Classic. In the prior year, Dave helmed Valiant, a wooden 12 Meter that took top position in the regatta. He is a retired Professional Engineer having spent his career developing medical equipment for HP and Philips Medical in Andover, Massachusetts. Dave’s nonprofit participation has been ten years as an officer of the AMC Andover Chapter and eighteen years as a Board member of the Andover Village Improvement Society, a land conservancy. He also coached in the town’s boys’ lacrosse program for fourteen years. Dave has Bachelor and Masters of Electrical Engineering degrees from Cornell and an MBA from Boston University. He currently resides in Camden, Maine with his wife Kate. They enjoy hiking, gardening and exploring Penobscot Bay on their Wesmac 38, Actaea.

James Genco of Owls Head, Maine, is a retired lawyer who now enjoys pursuing his first interest: history. A native of Michigan, he holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with a history major from Principe College in Illinois and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Toledo in Ohio. His career was spent as an Assistant United States Attorney in Detroit and Hartford where he prosecuted a wide variety of criminal cases. Never losing his passion for history, James has done volunteer work as a curator for historical societies in Michigan and Connecticut, and the Maine Lighthouse Museum in Rockland. He also served for many years on the State of Connecticut Museum Advisory Board. He is a founding member and past President of the New England Antique Arms Society and has over 40 years of experience working identifying and preserving antique American militaria and maritime artifacts.
He is the author of two books on the Civil War: To the Sound of Musketry and Tap of the Drum (1983) and Into the Tornado of War (2012).

Clyde B. “Chip” Holmes III A native of Belfast, ME, Chip and his wife, Mena, now reside in Camden. After a post-college stint in the U.S. Army, he returned to Belfast and his family’s business, Eastern Maine Towage Co. Upon the company’s sale, he worked in marine construction in FL, then returned to U Mass for a BA in economics. His diverse career continued in the Boston real estate market and then to manufacturing as he began Prime Vinyl in Woburn, a window manufacturer and building products distribution company. From there he worked for Michel Assoc, a Boston based national affordable housing equity provider. In 2017, he moved back to Maine and established Marshall Wharf, LLC, in Belfast while continuing a consulting relationship with Michel Associates. Active in local nonprofits and a member of numerous Yacht Clubs over the years, Chip and Mena are avid boaters with a keen interest in the restoration and maintenance of classic boats.

George Orestis of Camden, a board certified and licensed Occupational Therapy Assistant, has lifelong experiences in boating and waterfront management. With over 20 years of voluntary nonprofit Board participation, Orestis was a Trustee of the Kennebec Valley Community College (KVCC), Kennebec Valley Foundation Board of Trustees, has served as the Alumni Board Chair, and was a member of the OTA Program Board. He has held multiple offices and positions in the US Coast Guard Auxiliary, including Flotilla Commander and seamanship instructor. He formerly served as Assistant Harbormaster for the Town of Camden.

Pete Orne (SPSM Board Treasurer) of Camden currently serves as the Business Manager of Camden-Rockport Schools and Five Town CSD. Prior to that held the same position for the Rockland Area school system. Before shifting to the public sector, Pete owned a bicycle frame manufacturer in northern Maine and worked many years with his dad (same name) at the local radio stations WRKD and WMCM. His roots to the area go back generations. He has spent summers in Maine as far back as he can remember. His great-grandmother, Helen Augustus Knowlton, was the first female attorney in Maine, practicing law here in Rockland. His grandfather, Arthur Orne, was a founding member of several local museums including the Shore Village and the Owls Head Transportation museums. Pete’s son was a sailing instructor for many years at the Apprenticeshop. He earned a BA in Economics from Kenyon College and a MS degree in Forensic Accounting from Southern New Hampshire University. He currently serves on the Camden Budget Committee and is the Board Treasurer for Maine School of Science and Math, one of the top 10 public high schools in the country. He has served in multiple volunteer positions through the years, including: Camden Rockport School Board, 20 years with PeoplePlace Cooperative Preschool, the Maine Lobster Festival, Maine Coast Skaters, and local Cub Scouts. If time allows (sadly, not that often), he can be found sailing his Rhodes 19 with his wife Charlene, who literally landed in Maine in 1995 on the Schooner Roseway (but, that's another story).

Captain Jim Sharp (SPSM Board Chair and Co-Founder) of Camden, Maine, was born in Philadelphia in 1933 and has spent a lifetime afloat. From “going down to the boat” with his father, he migrated from chartering in the Bahamas to becoming addicted to Maine traditional schooners as well as antique tugboats, freight vessels and European barges. He has owned more than thirty elderly commercial marine conveyances including four of the largest of the schooner fleet of Maine and possesses an unquenchable bent for maritime preservation. His book of memoirs "With Reckless Abandon" tells the tale. Now, in questionable retirement, he is director and founder of the Sail, Power, and Steam museum of Sharp’s Point South in Rockland.

Meg Sharp, (SPSM Co-Founder) of Camden, Maine, was raised in Pennsylvania. Meg migrated to Maine in the 70s to complete a Master's program in Special Education at the University of Maine at Orono. With that degree she taught in the resource room at the South School in Rockland for 15 years. The introduction to a Maine Sea Captain ended her teaching career and Meg traveled extensively all over the world with her husband, Captain Jim and is, of course, ironically back in the South End of Rockland, now one of the principals of the Sail, Power, and Steam Museum.

Robert D. Williams, Jr. of Vero Beach, FL, and Christmas Cove, ME, is an active member of the board of the Youth Sailing Foundation of Indian River County. His career started at the Martha’s Vineyard Shipyard, and he spent 40 years at the Dwight S. Williams Co., Inc, 22 of those years as President. He served from 1974-1990 as the Chairman of the board of trustees of The Storm King School. Sailing/racing since he was 15 and with 18 years of ocean racing behind him, he is also past president of the CCIA Club in Christmas Cove, Maine. Bob was instrumental in the founding of the Midcoast Sailing Center at the SPSM and was the inspiration for our free youth sailing program.

Board Emeritus

Tom Goettel, is originally from Rochester, N.Y. After graduating from Cornell University with a degree in wildlife biology, he started his career with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He worked at several national wildlife refuges in the northeast and in 1984, he became the first refuge manager of what is now the Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge, where he initiated many of the seabird management and habitat protection and management programs that form the core of the Refuge’s mission today. After serving as refuge manager at Eastern Neck NWR in Maryland, he transferred to the Regional Office in Hadley, MA and became the first Regional Chief of the Office of Refuge Law Enforcement. He then retired from that position in 2008 when his wife, Beth, became the refuge manager of the Maine Coastal Islands NWR. Tom was a volunteer at the Sail Power and Steam museum for 10 years, working on both Persistence and Blackjack, as well as a member of the Board of Directors. He was also treasurer of the Friends of Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge for nine years. Tom lives in Bar Harbor, Maine.

In Memorium

Captain Ken Barnes of Rockland, ME, was a dedicated member of the Board of the Sail, Power and Steam Museum. A six year veteran of the US Air Force, his education and career took him on a creative path in Theatre Design, winning awards and working at universities such as Washington & Lee University in Lexington, VA and Florida State University. From there, Ken's love of history and design gave vent in the form of the art of blacksmithing where he worked with museums and historic restorations. In 1976, Ken and his wife Ellen discovered historic schooners in Maine. One week of sailing, and they were hooked, purchasing the Schooner Stephen Taber, America's oldest merchant sailing vessel in continuous service. Under the Barnes's watch, the Taber was restored to her original pristine condition and was recognized as a National Historic Landmark vessel. She still sails out of Rockland, ME, today with Ken's son, Noah, at the helm.

Staff

Amy Brautigan, Community Outreach and Engagement Coordinator, is originally from York, Maine. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics from Boston College and recently relocated to Rockland after serving in the Air Force in Oklahoma, Colorado, Utah, and Louisiana. After the military, Amy began volunteering and working with nonprofit and conservation organizations. Over the last ten years she has focused on community engagement and outreach. Amy earned her Master's degree in Science Writing through Johns Hopkins University and is currently enrolled in the Johns Hopkins Nonprofit Management Master's degree program. She is excited to share Maine's rich maritime heritage with the public -- locals and visitors alike.

Jen Feeney, Waterfront Programs Director, of Camden, ME is a long time experiential educator and USCG Captain who graduated from Hampshire College with a degree in International Education and Community Development. Jen spent a number of years developing educational programs with the World Affairs Council and Mercy Corp before joining the crew of the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School for a long stint as an instructor and Program Manager. Jen has spent more than two decades designing and facilitating sail training programs on ships large and small across the globe. Working as a captain with organizations such as Offshore Sailing School, Wharton Business School’s McNulty Leadership Ventures and as captain of American Promise with the Rozalia Project. Alongside her time at sea, Jen has also been working with governments, NGOs and other enterprises in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas designing experiential programming, from the creation of U.N. sponsored job skills training for displaced people in Africa, to creating training opportunities for development of 10,000 female entrepreneurs in the Middle East and North Africa

Michael Lyle, Fleet and Facilities Manager, joins us from Lincolnville, Maine. Mike brings over 20 years of experience in managing waterfronts and educational facilities to the Sail, Power, and Steam Museum. In addition to managing the maintenance for many land-based structures and maritime fleets, Mike has also developed and run many educational programs for youth and adults. He was the program director for "Rippleffect," an Island-based school in Casco Bay. He has extensive sailing and maintenance experience on a variety of vessels, including an Atlantic crossing and running his own sailing charter business out of Portland. We are so happy to have Mike and his broad array of skills as our teammate!

Robin McIntosh, Executive Director, is a long-time Midcoast resident. She has worked as Development Director at the Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Island Institute, worked in membership development at Hurricane Island Outward Bound School, served as Marketing Manager at Portsmouth Regional Hospital in Portsmouth, NH; and is Program Facilitator for Midcoast Leadership Academy. She is a graduate of the University of Maine, Leadership Maine, Leadership Seacoast, and Midcoast Leadership Academy. An active community volunteer, she has served on Camden’s Budget Committee, Camden’s Economic and Community Development Advisory Board, Rockland’s Economic Development Advisory Board, Rockland Maine Street, Inc.’s Economic Restructuring Committee, as well as a number of local boards and committees. A longtime owner of the a 60' wooden schooner, Appledore (the first one), she and her husband, Capt. Rick Bates, and their two Doodles (Bosun and Riggin), now cruise the waters of Penobscot Bay and beyond in their Albin Trawler, Sun Dog.