New England Science & Sailing Foundation, Inc (NESS) is pleased to announce the election of two new members to its Board of Directors: S. Carter Gowrie and Dr. Steven Adamowski. NESS Board Chair Jane Leipold stated: “We are very excited to have Carter and Steven join the NESS Board. Each will bring unique experience and perspective to NESS as we continue to expand our reach and deliver our accredited educational model focused on advancing K-12 academic outcomes through experiential learning.”   

Carter Gowrie is well known as the founding partner of the Gowrie Group, which he started in 1974. He quickly grew Gowrie Group to become one of the Top 50 insurance agencies and top marine insurance agencies in the nation. Carter was also the architect of the highly successful “Burgee Program” which is Gowrie’s specialty insurance for yacht clubs and sailing organizations and today they insure more than 1,000 clubs nationally.

Dr. Steven Adamowski is a career education leader who has a long record for creating equity, increasing opportunity, and closing achievement gaps for all students at scale. Steven is presently an Adjunct Faculty member of the Executive Leadership Program at The University of Connecticut, Neag School of Education. Over a distinguished career, Steven has served as Superintendent of Schools in both Hartford and Norwalk and he was the State of Connecticut’s Special Master for low performing school districts. He also served as Superintendent of Schools in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is also a Senior Fellow at the American Institutes for Research.

In addition to adding Carter and Steven as NESS Directors, the Board of Directors recently appointed Dr. Eric Isselhardt as Chief Executive Officer, succeeding Spike Lobdell. Concurrently, the Board named Spike Lobdell as Chair-elect to assume the role of Board Chair when Jane Leipold concludes her term at the end of the year.