Board of Directors

Chairman
Ernie Parizeau is a venture partner at Norwest Venture Partners, a venture capital firm. He joined the firm in 1984 and opened its Boston office in 1989. Ernie is also an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at Babson College and the Olin College of Engineering. He is a trustee of the Noble and Greenough School, the Charles River School, and the Newton Wellesley Hospital. His daughter Kate attended The Island School in Fall 2003 and went on to Dartmouth, where she pursued environmental interests, while also serving on The Island School Alumni Advisory Board. Ernie’s son Doug attended Island School in Spring 2006, and has secured his 50-ton offshore captain’s license. His daughter Molly recently attended The Island School in Spring 2010. Ernie competes with the Boston Sledgehammer rowing team.

Vice Chairman
Mary Kate Barnes began her business career in the reinsurance industry in New York and Chicago. She came to The Lawrenceville School in 1991 and at the conclusion of their first campaign, was appointed director of alumni and development, and a member of the Head Master’s senior staff. In addition, she has served on the Bowdoin College Alumni Council, as a class agent and reunion volunteer. She joined the Cape Eleuthera Foundation board in 2010. Mary Kate lives in Lawrenceville, NJ with her husband, Dave, and their three daughters, including Emma, a Spring 2009 alumna of The Island School.

Secretary
Ken Beall has been a partner at the law firm of Gunster, Yoakley, et al. in West Palm Beach since 1964. He is the director of the Whitehall Foundation and the Wells Family Foundation. His daughter Baret attended The Lawrenceville School during Chris Maxey’s tenure there, and Baret worked at the Deep Creek Middle School during its first two years.

Dr. Daniel Benetti is a professor and the director of aquaculture at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, where he was the chairman of the Division of Marine Affairs and Policy from 2004 to 2009. He has over 30 years experience in aquaculture worldwide focusing on innovative research to ensure that seafood production through mariculture is wholesome, environmentally sustainable and economic viable. He has over 100 published articles in aquaculture science and technology and has been a consultant for private and government sectors in Latin America, U.S., Europe, Asia, Caribbean and Australia. In 1995, he was the advisor and mentor of Chris Maxey during his graduate studies at RSMAS while working on his thesis.

Meg Bunn

Nick Del Vecchio is a degreed engineer, specializing in energy efficiency in the built environment. As a senior associate at EME Consulting Engineering Group, Nick developed a team of energy modeling analysts that advised project teams on cost-effective energy efficiency and sustainability design elements, focusing on the design and construction of high performance buildings. He attended The Island School in the fall of 2002 and is currently pursuing a MBA at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Ande Frost

Elaine (Winky) King has been involved with horses for over thirty years and is currently involved with fundraising for Lovelane Special Needs Horseback Riding Program in Lincoln, MA. She is on their board as well as working with the kids and the horses. She is also involved with fundraising for the Cotton Bay Foundation, which raises money to help support the communities of South Eleuthera. Her family has spent the past ten years visiting South Eleuthera on a regular basis. Winky lives in Dover, MA with her husband and they have three children.

Peter Meijer graduated from Columbia University in 2012 after deploying to Iraq with the US Army. He attended The Island School in Spring 2005 and has served as Cacique, Class Agent, and a member of the Island School’s Alumni Advisory Board. Peter is also on the Board of Directors of Student Veterans of America and active in governmental affairs, development, and strategic partnerships. He works as a veteran advocate in New York in between assignments as a team leader for Team Rubicon, a veteran disaster response and humanitarian aid organization. Peter most recently led a medical mission in a South Sudanese refugee camp.

Wendy Siegel is an engineer by training, with degrees in electrical and mechanical engineering. Her daughter Cassie attended The Island School in Spring 2006. Wendy and her husband Stephen have contributed significantly toward medical research, establishing the Stephen B. and Wendy Siegel Fund for Pediatric Asthma and Allergy Research. Wendy has served on the board of several organizations, including the National Jewish Medical and Research Center, a pediatric foundation at NYU Medical Center called “KIDS”, Big Apple Circus, and the Horace Mann School.

Thatcher Spring is Founder & CEO of GearLaunch, a San Francisco based e-commerce services company.  He also serves as a Class Ambassador for Georgetown University and an Associate for Nantucket Conservation Foundation.  Thatcher previously founded a nationally distributed wholesale apparel brand, and has worked at J.P. Morgan and Mars.  He has been a life long competitive sailor, and was a lead member of the National Champion Sailing Team at Georgetown University where he completed his undergraduate studies.  He earned an MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler.

David Taft

Tricia Vanacore graduated from Dartmouth College in 1985 with a B.A. in Economics. She worked for 10 years in sales and marketing management for high tech firms. She has served on the board of trustees for Greens Farms Academy for over 6 years and is currently the chairman of the board. She has also served on the board of trustees for The Children’s School for over 6 years and is currently the Vice President of the board. Tricia lives in Darien, CT with her husband and four children, three of which attended The Island School.

Margaret Wilson earned her AB degree in 1976 from Wellesley College.  She received an MBA from The University of Chicago in 1983 while working at The Northern Trust Company.  In 1984, Margaret and her husband Loyal moved to Cleveland where they have lived for over 26 years and raised 4 daughters.  For over 25 years, Margaret has been an active civic volunteer in the greater Cleveland area. She is a past chairman of the board of Young Audiences of Greater Cleveland, and a past trustee of The Cleveland Music School Settlement. Margaret has also contributed her time to The Cleveland Museum of Art Women’s Council, The Western Reserve Land Conservancy, and The Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights, Ohio in various volunteer, fundraising and event planning capacities. Margaret and her husband Loyal live in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. They have four daughters, including Annie who attended The Island School in Spring 2005, and Catherine who attended in Fall 2009.

John Zweig is chairman of a group of companies owned in whole or in part by WPP. Prior to joining WPP, John was president and co-founder of CommonHealth. Before entering the advertising business, John had a successful career in marketing and management with Procter and Gamble, where he was product and category manager for a variety of consumer brands. He served in the United States Navy during the Vietnam War on a destroyer and patrol gunboat. He attended both Washington University and the University of the State of New York where he earned a bachelor’s degree. Prior to entering business, John was a professional jazz guitarist and studio musician. He continues to perform in New York area jazz clubs. John’s board service has included The National Council of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Foundation, Morristown Memorial Hospital, Elderhostel, Far Brook School, and the International Leadership Center on Longevity and Productive Aging, an affiliate of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. He lives in Maplewood, New Jersey with wife and son.

Chairman & Secretary
David Green is the founder of Archipelago Equities, a real estate and small business venture firm based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. David has been involved in a variety of businesses, including automotive, sports, marketing and specialty food importation. His involvement in The Bahamas spans over 20 years, serving as Managing Director of the Cape Eleuthera Resort. David and his wife Rae have two children, Jacq (S 04) and Alec (S 11), who “grew up” at the Cape. David and Rae have recently established a women’s residential addiction recovery center at Sanford House, a Civil War era home in Grand Rapids.

President
Chris Maxey founded The Island School in 1999 while serving as a residential house master and teacher in the Interdisciplinary department at Lawrenceville School. After graduating with a BA in history from Yale University, Chris served six years as an officer in the US Navy SEAL community. While at Lawrenceville he received a Joukowsky Fellowship and holds an M.A. degree in Marine Studies from the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. He is the director of the Cape Eleuthera Foundation, and in addition to supporting The Island School team, he is responsible for overseeing the Deep Creek Middle School, and the Cape Eleuthera Institute.

Treasurer
Stephen Holowesko and his wife Alessandra have 4 kids & 3 dogs and live in Nassau, The Bahamas. His family has roots in Eleuthera, stretching back to the early 1700′s. Stephen is a graduate of Portsmouth Abbey School in Portsmouth, RI, and from Georgetown University in Washington, DC. His career stops include teaching English in Japan, Television Tokyo’s Washington, DC bureau, and Goldman Sachs, in New York and London. Stephen is currently a partner at a Nassau-based hedge fund. He and his sister co-founded the Ride for Hope Bahamas, a cancer-related charity in The Bahamas.

John Norris Carey

Francesca Forrestal is a doctoral candidate in Marine Biology and Fisheries at the University of Miami and holds an MSc in Marine Affairs and Policy. She attended The Island School in Fall 1999 and returned to work as a SCUBA instructor in Fall 2001. She served on the Cape Eleuthera Foundation Board from 2004 until she joined the CEIS board in 2012. Francesca lives in Miami with her husband.

Leita Voss Hamill is a retired member of the faculty of The Lawrenceville School, who also is currently a trustee on The Lawrenceville School board. In addition, she serves as a trustee of The Oliver Scholars Program, an organization that creates opportunity for talented black and Hispanic teenagers to attend independent schools in New York and New England, and of the Ausable Club Preservation Foundation. She is the mother of three grown children and resides in Princeton, New Jersey, with her husband, William H. B. Hamill.

Lori Lowe has an established legal practice in Nassau specializing in real estate and related areas. Graduating from Northfield Mount Herman School a member of the cum laude society, she went on to represent The Bahamas at the Seoul Olympics in 3 meter springboard diving while obtaining a degree in Philosophy from University of Toronto and ultimately obtained an Honours Law degree from University of Buckingham, England.  The grand-daughter of a master boat builder who hailed from Hope Town, Abaco Lori is an avid sailor who has regularly represented The Bahamas at world and regional events.  As current President of the Bahamas Sailing Association she is part of a program seeking to introduce Bahamian children from all walks of life to this integral aspect of the Bahamian heritage while also teaching the core values of discipline, self-sufficiency and respect for both mankind and the environment.

Charles Murphy

Dave Philipp and his wife, Julie Claussen, have sent daughter Madison (Fall 2011) and son Mickey (Spring 2010) to The Island School program. Dave is the principal scientist at the Illinois Natural History Survey, a professor emeritus at the University of Illinois, and co-founder and a director of the Fisheries Conservation Foundation. Dave is involved in a number of the flats ecology research projects underway at CEI and throughout the Bahamas, supervising graduate students working on several of them. Dave also co-chairs the CEI Scientific Advisory Committee.

Johann Scheidt

Ben Snyder is head of the upper school at the Noble and Greenough School, which has sent more students to The Island School than any other school since 2000, with Ben’s direct support and leadership. His daughter Abby attended the Island School in Spring 2006. He helped launch both a software technology start-up and a new college in California before ending up in Massachusetts, and brings his perspective and expertise at dealing with clients in the high-expectations environment of a selective school. His love for breaking students out into the world as part of their high school experience is evident in the increasing commitment he has fostered on the part of Nobles to international learning. He has personally has led student trips to many places; Vietnam and South Africa among them.

David Verdier and his wife Beverly have sent daughter Renee (Spring 2003) and son Travis (Spring 2005) to The Island School program. Dave is a doctor of ophthalmology in private practice in Grand Rapids, MI. He is a member of several medical associations and serves in an advisory capacity to many community-based organizations including the East Grand Rapids Schools Foundation, Macatawa Park Cottagers Association, and the Grand Rapids Art Museum.