R/C Anita F. Walker, JN

Anita serves as Chair of the National Leadership Development Committee, a Certified Instructor, and an Operations Training Program presenter. She teaches Instructor Development and the Public Boating Course. Anita has a BS in Economics from the University of Illinois and an MBA in Operations Management from Illinois Benedictine University. During her manufacturing/consulting days, Anita was on the national training team employee faculty for Johnson and Johnson, Coopers & Lybrand, Gemini Consulting and KPMG. Subjects included: Leadership Development, Team Building, Quality, Operations/Supply Chain Improvement, Organizational Structure and Strategy, Organizational Turnaround, Safety and other manufacturing/government topics.

P/R/C Peter H. Hames, AP

Pete is a past Rear Commander of the Leadership Development Committee, District 21 Operations Training Chair, and Chairman of Houston Sail & Power Squadron’s Leadership and Operations Training Committee. He is currently the Committee’s Leadership Training Administrator. Pete has been a USPS member for over 32 years. He assisted Anita Walker in developing LD 101, LD 102 and LD 103. He has a BS Degree in Marine Engineering from the United States Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point) and a MBA from Adelphi University. Pete is a certified trainer for a number of Total Quality Improvement courses and for the last 20 years he has been a Quality, Safety and Environmental Management System consultant and auditor working with clients in the Maritime Industry.

Stf/C Susan L. Darcy, JN

Currently, Susan serves as Asst. Chair of the National Committee on Nominations and previously served as Chair of the Leadership Development Committee. After the University of Massachusetts, with additional courses at MIT, Susan began her engineering career in the aerospace defense business. As a member of General Electric’s Defense Systems business, Susan was selected to attend various courses in engineering and leadership training leading to certification in facilitation. Using this skill set, Susan traveled extensively to various business locations within the corporation giving workshops on leadership along with technical skills. After a series of sales and mergers, Susan completed her career retiring from Lockheed Martin as a Senior Staff Engineering Project Manager and certified facilitator.

An avid single-handed sailor, Susan joined USPS® to hone her boating knowledge and is one course shy of a full certificate. Having been a member of USPS® for over 25 years, Susan has served Berkshire Sail & Power Squadron in many leadership positions including Commander. Tapped for the District 2 Bridge, Susan progressed thru the chairs and served as District Commander. Currently, she serves as district chair of Squadron Development. At the national level, Susan previously served as a Staff Commander for the Membership Committee before joining the Leadership Development Committee.

Stf/C Mary Dodd, SN Stf/C Mary Dodd, SN serves on the National Membership Committee, Member Benefit Committee and is serving as Staff Commander on the Leadership Development Committee. She is a Past District Commander of District 8, Past Commander of Palm Beach Sail and Power Squadron and is now serving as Secretary in Palm Beach Sail and Power Squadron. She is a certified instructor and has taught Operations Training. She served as District 8’s Membership Chair for about 9 years where she presented many presentations on Membership during the District 8 Conferences.

She grew up in Massachusetts, graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute as a Chemical Engineer. She worked as a pump engineer for a number of years in New Jersey. She moved to Florida and worked as an Environmental Regulatory Compliance Specialist at Palm Beach County Water Utilities.

She is now retired and in addition to being active with United States Power Squadrons, she is also a volunteer Park Ranger at Jonathan Dickinson State Park, in the visitor center, where she leads environmental interpretive programs, hikes and canoe tours and helps with prescribed burns.

P/D/C Edwin G. Kridler, SN

Ed is a member of the National Leadership Development Committee, and also serves as District 26 Secretary and District 26 Leadership Development Chair. He is a Past Commander of the Charleston Sail and Power Squadron, and a Certified Instructor. He has been teaching JN and N for 25 years and Weather for 5. He also served as Rear Commander of the Junior Navigation Committee. Ed is a Life Member of USPS.

Ed’s professional career before retirement was in Civil Engineering, receiving BS and MS degrees from Indiana Institute of Technology and West Virginia University. The majority of his career was spent in water and wastewater system design, construction services, system start-up and operation, and operation and maintenance training. He served as project manager for a number of projects, and worked in marketing as a member of several presentation teams.

P/D/C Joseph (Jeff) McKinney, JN-CN

Jeff first joined U.S. Power Squadrons in 2004, and is an active member of Rockville Sail & Power Squadron. He has served as their Safety Officer, Vessel Safety Check Chair, Membership Chair, Executive Officer, and Commander. Currently he serves as their Education Officer, VSC Chair, Medical Officer, and FAST Coordinator. He is a certified instructor and Vessel Examiner. He served as D/5 District Commander in the 2012 – 2013 watch year.

He is a member of the National Leadership Development DAO/SAO Instructor Staff. He is also on the National Safety Committee for CPR/First Aid. Jeff is an avid and experienced sailor, but currently between boats. He lives in Frederick, MD.

He retired from active military duty in 2011 after 30 years of commissioned service with the U. S. Air Force and U. S. Public Health Service. During this time his career included over 20 years as an ICU and ER nurse, Advanced Cardiac Support Instructor, volunteer firefighter/paramedic, and senior paramedic instructor. Jeff is currently employed as a Clinical Systems Analyst with Frederick (MD) Memorial Hospital.

Stf/C Miguel “Mike” Lugo, JN

Miguel (Mike) Lugo joined the San Juan Power Squadron in 2002. Since then, he has participated in many activities, as Proctor, Cooperative Charting, and VSE. In 2003 he was selected as Assistant AO. Since then he has served as AO, XO, and in 2006 was elected as Cdr. He has served as D/Vessel Safety and Coop-Charting Chairman. At this time he is on his second year as D33 XO. A member of the National Squadron Development Committee, he was recently selected to serve as Faculty and Member of the National Leadership Development Committee. In addition, he serves as D33 Point of Contact for LDT.

Mike was born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico and is a graduate of the University of Puerto Rico with a BA in Science and Air Sciences. He received his commission as 2nd Lt in the USAF in 1964, and served as a Minuteman Missile Combat Crew Commander at Minot AFB, ND. He was Honorably Discharged as Capt. in 1969. He completed Graduate Courses in Education and Industrial Management from the University of North Dakota.

After he left the Air Force he started working for IBM where he was a Systems Engineer and Marketing Representative. He taught System Analysis and programming languages, and designed programming systems for numerous industries. He left IBM in 1979 and worked for different industries as Information Systems Executive.

He is now retired and devotes his time between his family and his D33 squadrons. He is in the process of completing the requirements for JN. He and his wife Teresita, who also shares his love for cruising and the USPS, have piloted their powerboat, “Mitere III” throughout the Virgin Islands for the last 18 years.

D/C Kenneth O. Manning, APKen is currently the District 21 District Commander, chairman of the D21 Boating Activities Committee, Galveston Bay Sail and Power Squadron Safety Officer, and member of the D21 Leadership and Operations Training Committee. He has been a USPS member for 7 years and holds 6 merit marks. He is a Past Commander of the Galveston Bay Sail and Power Squadron and a certified instructor and Vessel Examiner. He has been teaching ABC3 course and USPS seminars in GBSPS and District 21.

Ken was born in Dequeen, Arkansas and after serving 4 years in the US Navy Submarine Service during the Viet Nam Conflict left the Navy to attend the University of Arkansas where he graduated with a BS in Chemical Engineering. His love for the ocean never left and when he moved to the Houston area he bought his first sail boat (an Erikson 25+) then upgraded to a Hunter 31. He currently has moved to power boating with a 19’ Bayliner Cuddy Craft named Island Girl III on which he and Dale can be seen touring around Clear Lake and Galveston Bay.

Ken spent his career in the Petrochemical Industry as a Process Engineer, Plant Engineer, and Health Safety and Environmental Engineer. Currently Kenn is the Corporate Safety and Human Resources manager for Phoenix Industrial Services in La Porte, TX, and he is a certified instructor for Mine Safety and Health Administration training, OSHA Certification training, and National Center for Construction Education and Research Master Trainer and Administrator. Kenn has a long history of service to many organizations including 25+ years adult leadership in the Boy Scouts of America, past member of the Civil Air Patrol, member American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and University of Arkansas alumni.

D/C Andy Hyman, SN-ACNAndy is a member of the National Leadership Development Committee and currently serves as the District 26 Commander. A member of USPS since 2005, he served Lake Murray Power Squadron as Commander, Executive Officer and Squadron Education Officer. Andy is an Instructor, a Vessel Safety Examiner, a member of the National Boat Operator Certification (BOC) Committee. He is a BOC Certified Inland Navigator (IN), Coastal Navigator (CN), and Advanced Coastal Navigator (ACN). Andy is also a BOC Certified Trainer for Inland Navigation, Coastal Navigation and Advanced Coastal Navigation. Andy has taught Public Boating, Seamanship and Piloting courses, On-the-Water (OTW) and Practical on the Water (POWT) courses, various Seminars and has conducted OTW training in several USPS Districts. He has 9 Merit Marks. Andy is also a licensed 100T Masters Captain by the United States Coast Guard.

Andy presently owns an industrial packaging company serving the southeastern United States. As a retired senior operations manager in the telecommunications industry, he enjoyed a successful career with BellSouth Corporation and AT&T. He has a history of serving many civic organizations and volunteer activities supporting boating and on the water safety. Andy attended Georgia State University and is a graduate of the Executive Management Institute at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Andy enjoys boating with his family and friends on beautiful Lake Murray and on the many lakes and coastal waters of South Carolina.