2015 Board Nominee Bios
2015 LCYC Nominee Bios
Bob Schumacher – Board of Governors – 1 year term
If you don’t know Bob you should. Aside from being one of the longer tenure members of LCYC (since 1973), Bob has served on the BOG multiple times, done a million other things for the club and knows more about boats, and more importantly how to fix boats, than just about anyone I know. Among his more esoteric but notable achievements, Bob was the holder of the world land sailing speed record for 10 years (1999-2009). Bob is an avid DN iceboat sailor and land sailor, traipsing all over creation each winter looking for good ice and sailing in the most recent NALSA World Championships in Nevada this past summer. On softer waters, Bob is co-owner, with Don Brush, of the Etchells “Senior Moment”.
When not roaming the western US in their RV, hiking, attending land sailing events and visiting their daughter in Oregon, Bob and his wife Barb reside in Hinesburg where he has the most awesome workshop/garage/barn imaginable, in which he can usually be found working on boats of his own or those belonging to friends or the Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center.
(Bio provided by John Harris as Bob and Barb were roaming the West when we went to press.)
Jean Sievert – Board of Governors and Treasurer – 3 year terms
Jean grew up sailing with her parents on Lake George and Lake Champlain and has also enjoyed a number of bare-boat charters in the BVI and the Stockholm Archipelago with her extended family over the years. She and her husband, Gunnar, acquired the first sailboat of their own, a Rhodes 19, in 2011 at which point they joined LCYC. Increasingly curious about the sailing adventures that lay beyond Shelburne Bay, they traded in the Rhodes for a yet-to-be renamed Tartan 3400 this past July. A hearty thank you goes out to all the club members who have offered encouragement and advice to the new boat owners!
Jean has thirty years of experience in financial analysis and investment management, including long stints at Putnam Investments, Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst and has a B.A. in Economics from Middlebury College and an M.B.A. in Finance from New York University. She is currently the Director of Research at Rock Point Advisors in Burlington. She and her husband reside in Shelburne
.
Scott Bowen – Board of Governors – 3 year term
Scott lives in Charlotte, Vermont with his wife Kendra, and three children, Jaeger (9), Hunter (8), and Grace (5). He is an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon, with his practice Maple View Oral and Maxillofacial
Surgery, located in Middlebury.
He grew up in Shelburne, Vermont and has fond memories of sailing from LCYC since 1971, when his father, Charles “Chuck” Bowen used him for ballast while racing his Tanzer 22. Scott enjoyed the junior sailing and racing programs at LCYC during his youth, even taking LCYC swimming classes. He served as an LCYC Steward for a summer during his high school years (the Nautilus was fairly new then), and worked from age 16 through 23 at Sailworks, a sailing specialty store that existed on the Burlington waterfront. He taught windsurfing for Sailworks, both at Burlington’s North Beach, and at Sandbar State Park in Milton, Vermont.
He has crewed regularly on his father’s boat Pass Auf!!, and has managed to keep his family’s Pearson 26, Jolly Holiday, afloat in recent years.
Marc Gamble – Board of Governors – 3 year term
I grew up in Baltimore (Go Os!!) and did my sailing on the Chesapeake Bay in Lasers and my father’s Ensign. I also spent my summers sailing a few miles from Bar Harbor on Frenchman Bay. Here, I sailed my grandmother’s 1926 Herreshoff S boat. For many summers my family would charter boats to cruise the islands and harbors of Penobscot and Blue Hill bays. Some of my fondest sailing memories are pre- Garmin navigating in the fog without radar or Loran. It was dead reckoning with a taffrail log for distance.
I attended Colorado College where I did not sail at all, but continued to enjoy sailing during the summer. In 2003, I purchased my Alerion 28 sailboat, Sagitta, while living in Chicago. There I was a member of the Chicago Yacht Club and moored my boat in Grant Harbor downtown. We moved to Vermont in 2005 and joined LCYC in 2007. Since then I have been an active Wednesday night racer, first in Sagitta and,
more recently, crewing on other boats in the fleet.
When not sailing, I am a corporate instructional designer specializing in online education. Recently, I have been developing K-12 educational apps for the iPad. I live in Shelburne with my wife Becky and our three sons Nathan (16), Josh (14) and, just off to college, Noah (18).
Gerry Davis – Board of Governors – 3 year term
I got converted to sailing at age 18 when visiting Norway when my Uncle Harald took me cruising on the Oslofjord aboard his vintage 1900 Colin Archer 35’ coast rescue cutter. Little time was had on the water for the next 10 years, but after moving to Vermont in 1970 opportunities to sail on Lake Champlain became more frequent. The Davis family bought a San Juan 21 (Tomten) in 1976, then a Mirage 24 (Tango), and a J-29 (Lightshow), all sailed out of the Malletts Bay Boat Club. In 2004 we joined the Marcy family in our 32.5 foot C&C 99 (Altair), and in 2011 we moved from Malletts Bay to LCYC. We enjoy weekly club races, the longer weekend race events, sunset supper sails with friends, and the occasional overnighter.
My wife Karin and I live in an 1856 brick house in Williston. Our son Tim, daughter-in-law Martha, and children Sophie and Luke live in North Ferrisburgh. I have just retired after 40 years at UVM and Fletcher Allen Health Care working as a Pulmonary and Critical Care physician with special interests in pulmonary fibrosis, lung cancer, and occupational lung diseases. When not sailing, I enjoy photography, fly fishing, skiing, SCUBA diving, classical music, and family events.
Robert Finn - Auditor – 1 year term
Bob lives in Shelburne with his wife Kathleen. Children: Rob (27) and Molly (23), both work in Boston; and Annie (21) is a senior at Denison in Ohio. He joined LCYC in 2007 with their Eastern 19, and 2 years ago commissioned a 30 year old J-27, Kinsale, to formalize his return to active sailing and racing.
He began sailing at Plymouth YC in Massachusetts on a Beetle Cat and Bullseye, spent 2 summers on the waters of Penobscot Bay with Outward Bound, and later on his father’s Newport 29 on LI Sound and Buzzards Bay. Starting in the late ‘70s he crewed on IOR boats in 5 Bermuda Races, Marblehead Halifax (2), SORC/St Pete-Ft Lauderdale, many Block Island and Vineyard Races, NYYC Cruises and one long cruise to Newfoundland. Before moving to Shelburne in 1995 he lived in New York where he was a member of NY and Sewanhaka YCs.
While starting a career in the paper and printing businesses in NYC, Bob earned his MBA at night at New York University (1980). Now, member of a global paper distribution firm based in New York, Bob represents paper manufacturers in NA and Europe, marketing their products to clients in the US and Canada. Having had the good fortune to sail the east coast of North America, and the western Mediterranean, motor canals of France, and work his way to and from Australia on a merchant ship, he is delighted to say that nothing beats our sweet and spectacular home waters of Lake Champlain.
Randy Rowland – Auditor – 3 year term
Randy grew up in a sailing family in New Jersey. He was a member of the Malletts Bay Boat Club from 1978 until 1993, where he served on the Afterguard and as Treasurer. Upon moving from Colchester to Shelburne in 1993, he and his wife Ginny became members of LCYC. Randy has owned and raced Lasers, Lightnings, J-24s, and a J-27. Upon moving to LCYC, Randy bought a powerboat and now races only occasionally on other people’s boats.
Randy and Ginny have three children: Scott, Mark and Anna. Anna races for the CVU Sailing Club and Scott raced for the Middlebury College club. Cycling and skiing are also favorite sports for the family.
Randy graduated from Middlebury College, and has an MBA from UVM. He started his professional career as a CPA, moved to management roles and became a small business owner. He has served on the boards of several for-profit and not-for-profit corporations. He now consults on organizational communication, and works with organizations in transition, sometimes as an interim CEO or Executive Director. Randy is a member of the Professional Responsibility Board of the VT Judiciary, and auditor for the Charlotte Congregational Church.
