PORT TOWNSEND — After taking the helm of the Northwest Maritime Center and the Wooden Boat Foundation 3 ½ years ago and wrapping up a $12.8 million capital campaign this spring, Executive Director Stan Cummings plans to step down at the end of this year.
Cummings, 65, announced his pending retirement to the nonprofit’s board of directors Thursday.
He said he and his wife, Sigrid, expect to stay in Jefferson County, and he will remain available to work with his successor to ensure an orderly transition.
“With the successful completion of the capital campaign and with the new Northwest Maritime Center open and functioning in nearly all respects, the reason I was brought to Port Townsend and my motivation for coming are fulfilled,” Cummings said.
“I will forever cherish the memories and find satisfaction in the role I played on the team that made this all happen.”
Hopes to continue to help
Cummings said he hopes to have at least volunteer ties with the maritime center after he leaves.
“We love the community, we love our house and we plan to be here for the duration,” he said Friday.
“I expect to stay with the maritime center as a volunteer or for special projects, if the board wants to head that way.”
Unfinished projects Cummings hopes to help complete include the center’s Pilot House, a room that will be modeled to look like a real ship’s bridge, complete with navigation and weather equipment.
Cummings’ departure is effective at the end of the year or sooner at the discretion of the board.
“I’ve committed to the end of the calendar year, and I will continue give my all until then,” he said.
Maritime Center and Wood Boat Foundation board President Steve Oliver said the not-unexpected news of Cummings’ retirement comes at an exciting time in the nonprofit organization’s trajectory.
“The organization is financially strong, working toward sustainability and poised for long-term success,” he said.
“Stan has led us to this point, and now it’s a logical time for a transition.
“His legacy will be having overseen the completion of both our capital campaign and the actual construction of our beautiful facility.
“He worked very, very hard and the outcome has just been tremendous.”
Search committee
A search committee chaired by Oliver has been formed.
It is composed of longtime board members Kris Morris, vice president, and David King, past president, and Lisa Vizzini, treasurer and Wooden Boat Foundation director.
Morris co-founded the retained executive search firm, Morris & Berger, in 1984 and has recently retired, remaining as counsel.
The firm specializes in service to the nonprofit sector and has been named one of the 50 leading retained executive search firms in North America.
Morris said she expects a national search, which typically take four to six months, and is confident the organization has the time and resources to conduct a thorough search and attract strong candidates.
“We are looking forward to this next stage of institution building,” she said.
“The NWMC and WBF have benefited over the years from robust, engaged and thoughtful leadership. We now have an opportunity to build on that inheritance.”
Cummings was hired in November 2006 to succeed the longtime executive director, Dave Robison, who became the maritime center’s building project manager, and to close out the maritime center’s decade-long fund-raising campaign.
Cummings had previously managed a $16.5 million capital campaign for the Ocean Institute in Dana Point, Calif., where he held the top leadership post for two decades.
Fundraising
Cummings this spring pulled out all the stops to ensure the maritime center met a recent $1.1 million fundraising challenge offered by the Kresge and Bill & Melinda Gates foundations.
His team of board, staff and volunteers succeeded in raising more than $1 million from private donors in the final six months prior to the March 31 challenge grant deadline.
With all venues officially open to the public as of May 1, the Northwest Maritime Center features public open spaces, a rebuilt deep-water pier, and a 27,000-square-foot “green” facility built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, gold standards.
The Chandler Maritime Education Building and the Maritime Heritage & Resource Building house a boat shop, chandlery, maritime library, classrooms, meeting rooms, coffee shop, boathouse and offices.
There is no admission fee and there is always something going on in the boat shop, which is open to the public seven days a week.
The Northwest Maritime Center’s resources and activities aim to engage and educate people of all generations in traditional and contemporary maritime life.
The center is also the home of the Wooden Boat Foundation, well known for staging Port Townsend’s annual and acclaimed Wooden Boat Festival — now in its 34th year.
For more information on the center, see www.nwmaritime.org.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
