PORT HADLOCK — Betsy Davis, the executive director of the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building, is planning to retire.
Davis, who has been with the nonprofit since 2014, is planning for her last day to be in June.
“I feel so grateful to have been able to spend the last decade of my life doing this work,” Davis said.
Working in an environment where she is surrounded by engaged people, students, instructors, marine tradespeople and community partners has been imbued her time at the school with meaning, Davis said.
Davis will continue to push forward on project work in her remaining months. When a replacement is hired, she said she’s eager to engage the project of helping them acclimate to the work.
“I’m extremely enthusiastic about working with the new director who is selected by the board,” Davis said. “I kind of can’t wait. I’m going to put all of my effort into making it a really positive transition, both internally for the school and also for all of the people who are engaged with the school.”
Sonja Mathews, president of the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building (NWSWB) board, said the school has been aware of Davis’ retirement plan for about a year.
The school needs an executive director who appreciates the collaborative nature of local marine trades and the Olympic Peninsula, Mathews said.
“It is a small community that punches well above its fighting weight,” she said
Mathews said a candidate should work well with advisors, community partners, staff, marine trades employers, students and alumni in a way that considers a lifetime of interactions, not just a single transaction.
“We don’t necessarily — and this may be controversial — need them to know how to build a wooden boat or to wire a boat,” Mathews said.
They should, however, love wooden boats, she said. If they don’t when they’re hired, they will within a year, she added.
The school has launched a national search and has activated local networks. To view the position, go to https://nwswb.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/New_Exec_Director.pdf.
School growth
Davis said the school, started in a local boatyard, is a grassroots organization, but it’s achieved national recognition.
The school is recognized by the Department of Education, which means students can get student aid, Pell Grants and use their military benefits, Davis said.
“In February of this year, I was very enthusiastic to learn that the Maritime Administration (part of the Department of Transportation) recognized this school as one of 38 centers of excellence for domestic maritime workforce training and education in the whole country.”
Davis said when she first joined the school, the program advisory committee — composed of staff, alumni, board members and prospective marine trade employers — dug deep to envision the school’s direction.
One takeaway from employers was that the school should develop a Marine Systems program, Davis said.
“Not only did she institute this program, but she found an internationally famous person to run it in the form of Kevin Ritz,” Mathews said. “She stood that up, and not only that, but before you know it, it was also accredited.”
Ritz is recognized for his contributions to boating safety, Mathews said, but he is also a mad-scientist type who understands everything there is to know about marine systems, particularly electrical.
The current class will be the eighth cohort to graduate from the marine services program, Davis said.
The marine systems program will receive $1 million as a part of the $35 million in grants being distributed by the North Olympic Recompete Plan.
Davis said the school’s boat building programs’ curriculum is proven after 40 years. Current instructors persist in teaching traditional craftsmanship, she added.
“I’ve had graduates say, ‘I learned everything I needed to know at boat school, to build anything I ever want to build,’” Davis said.
Davis said she has heard it many times: “If you can build a traditional wooden boat, you can build anything.”
Davis said that, in 2025, a program directed by lead instructor Sean Koomen will see a group of students building two day sailors alongside each other, one with the traditional plank on frame building approach and the other with cold moulding, a modern approach.
Mathews described Davis as entrepreneurial. She said the school’s operating budget has grown exponentially since Davis came aboard. Davis has led fundraising efforts that have seen $5.5 million invested into the campus in recent years.
Multiple land purchases have expanded the campus to 8 acres. The classrooms have been rejuvenated. The campus has seen two solar power installations, Davis said.
One of the purchases included some historic cottages where students in need of housing may stay while attending the school.
Volunteers from the Food Bank Growers manage a property garden, which provides vegetables to students in need, Davis said.
Davis added that she has seen the school’s administration grow since she joined, including learning digital literacy and developing digital marketing.
Davis has a strong vision, Mathews said.
“She is able to look at the big picture and the smallest of details very, very quickly and use them to not only guide the school through change but also help her (nonprofit) partners through those things as well,” Mathews said. “She’s very generous as a leader.”
A great leader also knows when to transition, Mathews said.
“Now that she understands that the school is strong, that we have solid enrollment, that we have funding and multiyear projects and very good community support, that the staff is tenured and cross-trained, that it is now OK to move on,” Mathews said.
After spending the early part of career in project management for tech companies, Davis had a chance to reinvent herself and enrolled in a wooden boat building program in Seattle. In the program, she learned a great appreciation for the requirements of solving problems in the physical world.
While in the program, Davis’ 1914 boat “Glory Be” burnt in a marina fire along with a number of other boats. Her boat, which sank to the bottom of the marina, was rebuilt at her boat building program, she said.
Before she took the position at NWSWB, Davis was the executive director for the Center of Wooden Boats in Seattle for more than a decade.
Davis isn’t looking for another full-time position, but she said she still has some service in her.
Davis plans to sail her historic boat locally and up into Canada.
To learn more about NWSWB, its programs, admission process or history, visit https://nwswb.edu.
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@sequimgazette.com.
