In summer 2024 Clearwater convened a Business Model Task Force to review Clearwater’s current business model and determine a path to short-term stability and long-term financial resilience. This effort was advised by a core group of advisors with education, marketing, business, and maritime expertise to participate in the review and planning process. The Task Force met from summer 2024 through spring 2025 producing a multi-year plan for actionable change to Clearwater’s business model which was then adopted by the Board of Directors on May 8, 2025.
The task force comprised business, education, and maritime specialist volunteers Bill Braine, Peg Brandon, Dean Lentz and Helen Pashley; Clearwater Board members Samantha Heyman Hicks, Peter Capek, Steve Stanne, and Julia Wilson; and Clearwater staff David Toman, Jen Benson, Erin Macchiaroli, Emily Marcet, and Meg Mayo.
Join Clearwater’s Next Chapter
Hudson River Sloop Clearwater’s long-term success depends on an engaged and committed community. As the organization begins to implement its new Business Model Plan, public support will play a critical role in ensuring its programs, advocacy, and the historic sloop continue to serve the Hudson Valley for generations to come.
Business Model Planning Advisors
Clearwater is grateful to our Business Model Planning Advisors for sharing their expertise, contributions, and collaboration has been invaluable throughout this process.
Bill Braine is a marketer, product manager, and writer with extensive experience promoting world-class brands to consumers, businesses, and governments. Because of his interests in local government, small business, social welfare, and sustainability, he is also a twice-elected Trustee of the Village of Cornwall-on-Hudson. He has helped complex, world-class companies (Mastercard and Sotheby’s), small municipalities, and nonprofits meet their disparate goals: win business, build brand, improve the constituent or customer experience, achieve and promote sustainability best practices, manage expenses, improve infrastructure, and encourage economic activity. Bill is a former Trustee of the Hudson Highlands Nature Center, and was Chair of the Town of Cornwall Economic Development Advisory Committee. Bill has volunteered with and sailed on Clearwater for well over a decade, performing on-shore maintenance work, crewing for a week on the Mystic Whaler, providing office assistance, and bringing family and colleagues along to help. He most recently staffed Clearwater’s table at the Cornwall-on-Hudson Riverfest in June.
Dean Lentz is a seasoned business leader and entrepreneur with a proven track record guiding world-renowned organizations to harness technology for competitive advantage. He co-founded Cyber City, a leading Managed Service Provider based in New York City, in 1998. Under his leadership as CEO, Cyber City pioneered IT solutions tailored for small businesses, including support, off-site backup, private cloud, and security services. Dean implemented robust information, financial, and business operations systems, ensuring procedural integrity, optimal resource utilization, knowledge sharing, and sustained profitability. His focus on strategic relationships expanded market reach and cultivated new business opportunities, contributing to the company’s consistent year-over-year growth, culminating in its successful acquisition in 2020. Following the sale of Cyber City, Dean assumed the role of Managing Director at Netsurit (Cyber City’s new parent company), overseeing the seamless integration of the two companies. He developed and implemented a successful integration model setting the standard for future acquisitions. During his tenure, Dean played a pivotal role in driving unprecedented profitability and expansion for Netsurit’s New York presence.
Peg Brandon is a nonprofit maritime leader and educator with extensive experience building and leading complex operations on a regional and global scale. Peg recently retired after serving as the President of the Sea Education Association and spent eight years teaching at the Maine Maritime Academy. She received key early career inspiration and professional experience during six years as Clearwater captain and crew.
Dr. Helen Pashley holds a PhD in Estuarine Ecology and built a reputation as a workshop facilitator, and curriculum developer with the P/NW BOCES Science 21 program and many school districts in New York. She is a Past President of the Science Teachers Association of New York State (STANYS) and Co-Facilitator of the New York State Science Education Consortium, an advisory group working closely with NYSED on implementing NYSP-12SLS Standards. Helen began volunteering with Clearwater in 1985 and has served as a member of the Board of Directors and as President and currently serves on the Education Committee.