Betsy Davis
Executive Director
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Betsy Davis brings nearly 40 years of management experience in corporate, small business, and non-profit leadership roles to her service as Executive Director. Decades after graduating from Stanford University, she attended Seattle Central College’s boatbuilding program, then served for more than a decade as Executive Director of The Center for Wooden Boats, the Northwest’s hands-on maritime museum. She is the owner of a century-old wooden boat named Glorybe.
Ace Spragg
Education Director & Title IX Coordinator
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Carolyn “Ace” Spragg grew up on the Chesapeake Bay, messing about in boats. Her first boat was a raft, which went through many upgrades over 5 summers of glorious adventures. Her love of the water became the basis for her teaching and camping career, which spanned 20 years as a camp Waterfront Director and Program Director. Relocating to the Puget Sound in 2000, she moved aboard a sailboat and found her way back to teaching – adults this time – who were afraid to dock their boat. This led to 11 years with the Northwest Maritime Center as an instructor, Sailing Director and Program Director.
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, and happily cruised the beautiful waters of the Salish Sea. She also speaks at various seminars on Docking, Anchoring, Navigation, Tides and Currents and Trip Planning. Somewhere in her twenties she ended up landlocked at Kansas State University and got a MS in Biomechanics (hurray for physics!), but has mostly stuck to the coastal waters of the continent, where her addiction to boats is understood and encouraged.
Christina Ruben
Deputy Director & Communications Lead
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Originally from sunny Florida, Christina once navigated a world of fluorescent lights and white lab coats as a microbiologist. She joined the Boat School crew in 2015 as the Development and Communications Manager, diving into donor relations, fundraising, and digital communications. After that, she switched gears to help incoming and enrolled students through the admissions process and campus life. These days, Christina is a versatile problem solver. You might catch her managing the school’s digital marketing campaign, giving a tour, or chatting with scholarship funders about all things Boat School. After her husband graduated from the Boatbuilding Program in 2013, they fell head over heels for the community and stunning natural beauty of the Olympic Peninsula and decided to stick around. Christina is passionate about horses, a lover of gummy bears, and is diving into the adventures of off-grid living, chicken-breeding, and child-rearing.
Heidi Blehm
Compliance Manager
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Heidi grew up in the Pacific Northwest on boats, fishing recreationally with her family on the Columbia River and canoeing 120-miles down Utah’s Green River. She earned a BS in Mathematics from Colorado State University and led a diverse professional career, including a management role with Merrill Lynch and running her own productivity and organization business. After living abroad in Copenhagen and Prague she moved to Port Townsend in 2015 and began working with the school. Her expertise with data organization led to development of the school’s new online institutional archive and, in 2018, to her role as Admissions and Student Services Manager before her transition to Compliance Manager.
Katie Whalen
Financial Aid Officer & Title IV Coordinator
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Katie moved north from Morro Bay, California in 1991 with a friend who was attending the Boat School. She fell in love with the Pacific Northwest, transplanted, and built her own house through a cooperative neighborhood building program. Katie has more than 25 years of experience as Business/Finance manager for non-profit organizations. She is passionate about keeping the Boat School on an even keel and helping students live their wooden boat dreams.
Kristin Potter
Admissions Manager
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Kristin grew up in New England and is a recent transplant to the Pacific Northwest, having relocated from Maine a few years back. She earned a B.A. from Connecticut College where she studied Theater, Film, and Marine Biology. She then joined a professional theater company on Cape Cod assisting with marketing, development, and event planning, and also supported theater productions backstage. She quickly learned that the magic that happens behind the scenes is just as important as what happens onstage. Her theater background has inspired her to find roles with organizations where she can be part of a team, meet new people, and bring folks together to share education and celebrate what inspires them. This has led her to customer service positions with varied organizations, including wineries, colleges, market research firms, and nonprofits, as well as another boatbuilding school on the East coast – which was her first opportunity to do a deep dive into the marine industry. She loves living near the ocean and the mountains, and feels lucky to be on the Olympic Peninsula and enjoy the best of both worlds.
Lauren Cennello
Student Services Manager
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Lauren comes to us with a vibrant career background, including over 20 years of experience in customer service, administration, and sales. Some of her previous roles ranged throughout industries such as agriculture, craft beverages, healthcare, natural wellness, and more. She now operates as our Student Services & Admissions Coordinator and is passionate about bringing a high level of care and compassion to student advocacy.
Hailing originally from Monterey Bay, California, Lauren has been fortunate enough to live most of her years near the ocean and has called the Olympic Peninsula home since 2010. An avid lover of all things water, you can find Lauren enjoying the splendor of our local beaches, rivers, and lakes with her partner (and NWSWB alumni), Arthur, and their 3 sweet dogs. Some of her greatest passions include desert flora, Thai food, travel to exotic destinations, and glasses of bubbly with best friends.
Kate Lore
Administrative & Development Assistant
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Kate grew up in the small coastal town of Pacific Grove, California, where she developed a lifelong love for the sea, coastal forests, and marine biology. Kate earned a bachelor’s degree in social philosophy from U.C. Santa Cruz and a master’s degree in theology from the University of Chicago. Throughout her career as an urban minister, Kate was known for her unwavering commitment to social justice and human rights. She opened and directed Portland’s firstshelters for homeless families, managed an extensive system of services for survivors of domestic and sexual violence, and spearheaded a social justice program addressing hunger, homelessness, human rights, and climate change. Kate retired from the ministry in 2023 and recently shifted her focus towards supporting non-profit organizations. She enjoys supporting the incredible staff and students who have chosen a unique and admirable career path. When not working at the office, Kate enjoys boating, hiking, reading, writing, and spending time with her family.
Jim Argites
Operations Manager
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Jim brings to the table 20 years of experience sourcing materials and equipment, researching suppliers, managing shipping and receiving, and overseeing daily financials for Pygmy Boats, a small boat manufacturing business. Before his management position, Jim successfully ran his own cabinet making business where he used a similar mix of knowledge and technical expertise.
Mo Gibson
Maintenance Manager
Class of 2020 & 2021
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Following six years in the U.S. Air Force, Mo worked as a kayak and SCUBA guide and purchased a Cape Dory 28 sailboat in Portland that he sailed down the Columbia River and up the coast, eventually ending up in the Puget Sound where he enrolled at NWSWB. “After finishing both the boatbuilding and marine systems programs, I wasn’t quite ready to leave the amazing community that revolves around the school,” says Mo, so he joined the Boat School staff as Facilities Crew Member. He lives aboard a 38′ 1968 wooden troller (Port Orford Cedar planking and White Oak steam-bent frames) that was converted in the late 90’s to a comfortable cruising boat by extending the cabin over the back deck.
Beverly Moore
Librarian
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Beverly grew up on a small farm in Sequim, spending her youth riding horses in the foothills of the Olympics, and fishing and swimming at the family’s cabin on the beach near Mats Bay. A YACC job at the Visitors Center for Olympic National Park, which included sorting out the Park’s research library, sparked a passion for connecting books and people. Years later, after a move to Alaska, she was hired as the first paid “librarian” at the tiny Delta Junction Library. At that time the Alaska State Library, in conjunction with University of Alaska Fairbanks, offered a degree program for rural/bush “librarians”, which fit perfectly with her rural lifestyle. Moving “home” after 20 years in interior Alaska, a brief volunteer moment led to an opening at the Port Townsend Public library and 21 years of inspiring work of connecting people to books and so much more! She is now grateful for the opportunity to join NWSWB as librarian, and continue to connect students to resources that enhance and inspire their education.
Rita Frangione
Veteran Specialist
rita@nwswb.edu
Rita is the Veterans Outreach Coordinator for Vet Connect, a local veteran service group associated with Olympic Community Action Programs. Rita has more than 30 years of experience as a vocational rehabilitation counselor working in medical, industrial, private, and non-profit settings. She is retired from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs where she counseled disabled veterans in their planning for education, training, and employment. Rita has an MS degree in Vocational Rehabilitation from the University of Wisconsin-Stout, and she is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor.
