PORT TOWNSEND — The Northwest Maritime Center has selected a new executive director to replace Stan Cummings, who shepherded the facility through its last four years.
Jake Beattie, the 34-year-old executive director of Seattle nonprofit BikeWorks, will take over the helm of the facility, formed to educate people about traditional and contemporary maritime life with a variety of programs and events.
“I am really excited about this opportunity,” Beattie said.
“I am very passionate about ships and the sea and going on the water, so this is a perfect fit for me.”
About 100 people applied to succeed Cummings, who announced his retirement in May at the age of 65 after wrapping up a $12.8 million capital campaign.
Beattie was one of five finalists who visited the facility and met with the board and staff.
All the skills needed
Beattie was selected because he did not force a choice between a candidate with maritime experience and one with strong organizational capacity-building, budgeting and fundraising skills, said Steve Oliver, board president, in a statement.
Beattie is familiar with Port Townsend, having lived in the city while in his 20s, and has attended the last eight Wooden Boat Festivals.
“Port Townsend has long held a place in my heart as hallowed ground in terms of maritime industry and heritage — the venue best positioned for the maritime experience to enthrall new audiences and to solidify the engagement of those already converted,” Beattie wrote in his application for the position.
Maritime center board member Kris Morris declined to disclose Beattie’s salary, saying only that it was not an increase of that received by Cummings.
“The salary is competitive with other nonprofits of our size in the region,” she said.
Beattie said he does not have a specific agenda, other than acquainting himself with the community and the maritime center’s programs.
“I will dive right in and meet people in order to develop strong relationships,” he said.
Healthy future
Beattie said he is aware of the “difficult fundraising environment” resulting from the lean economy but forecasts a healthy future for the maritime center.
“Many nonprofits have closed down recently, but the maritime center will survive because it tells compelling stories and has powerful programs that are of value to the community,” he said.
Beattie, who lives in Seattle with his wife, Jean Scarboro, plans to relocate to Port Townsend.
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 fundraising campaign.
Cummings, who was to step down at the end of the year, said in May that he and his wife, Sigrid, expect to stay in Jefferson County and that he would remain available to work with his successor to ensure an orderly transition.
He said he hoped to have at least volunteer ties with the maritime center after he leaves.
Among the unfinished projects he said he wanted to help complete was 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.
The Northwest Maritime Center is a nonprofit organization established in 1999 to improve public access to maritime trades — both traditional and contemporary — culture and recreation.
In 2005, it merged with the established Wooden Boat Foundation.
It began construction of two new buildings in 2008.
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.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
