Our Mission
The mission of the Corinthian Sailing Foundation, Inc. is to promote national and international amateur sailing, competition, and maritime education by encouraging an interest in sailing education and competition and the maritime arts and sciences, especially among youths in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and to do all other things permitted by Mass. Gen. L. Chapter 180 and Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code for non-profit corporations.
The Foundation will support this mission by providing financial support, in the form of eligible grants in accordance with IRS Code Sec. 4942, to qualifying organizations and programs that provide training activities, outreach programs, sailing equipment, facilities or education, and by encouraging participation in local, national, or international sailing and other competitions and activities.
Board of Directors
The Corinthian Sailing Foundation’s Board of Directors members are committed to promoting amateur sailing, competition, and maritime education.
Patrick Donegan, President
Patrick is a member of the Corinthian Yacht Club and has served on Nominating Committee, Race Committee and Competitive Sailing Sub-Committee. Patrick is an active member on the Corinthian Team Race Team and regularly competes nationally representing the club.
Patrick grew up at Hyannis Yacht Club on Cape Cod, MA and was the 420 Race Team coach at Hyannis and an assistant coach post-graduation at Georgetown University.
A graduate of Georgetown, where he sailed for the Coed Varsity Sailing Teams all four years including multiple Team Race & Coed National Championships. Patrick is Managing Director of SEI, a management consultancy that partners with clients to drive digital transformation.
Miranda Bakos, Board Member
Bakos grew up sailing in Marblehead and has since returned to the harbor as a member of the Corinthian Yacht Club, where she serves on the Sailing Committee and chairs the annual Thayer Trophy. Miranda can be found racing in the local Saturday Series in a J70, competing in national and international events in dinghy team racing, as well as women’s and co-ed keelboat team racing regattas for the CYC.
Sailing is a huge part of her life, and she is thrilled to be a part of this foundation to enable others to find meaning in the sport. Miranda is the VP of Process Transformation at Pneuma Systems Corporation of Portsmouth, NH, providers of novel fluid and information controls to improve the process of IV therapy.
Karl Renney, Board Member & CYC Vice Commodore
Originally from Southern California, Karl moved to Marblehead in 1995 and joined the Corinthian Yacht Club in 1999.
He is an avid sailor and actively races in the Rhodes 19 fleet. Professionally, Karl is a Senior Vice President and CRA Officer for Eastern Bank where he has worked for nearly 30 years. In addition, Karl is the Chair for the Partnership for Financial Equity; a non-profit that facilitates the collaboration between financial institution and community groups to better serve the needs of underserved communities within the commonwealth.
Karl is also the founder and Board Member of the St Michaels Historic Preservation Foundation. Personally, Karl is married with three college plus age kids and a lover of Archie the Airedale. When not sailing, Karl is either playing tennis, badminton, or skiing at Sugarloaf.
Jim Taylor, Board Member
Jim Taylor has been lucky enough to spend a lifetime “messing about in boats”. Home was on the tidal part of the Delaware River and heaven was vacationing on a Rhode Island salt pond.
He sailed a variety of small boats (and rowed after the sailing models that he built) in both places, and he landed a job in Ted Hood’s design office that amounted to ‘yacht design grad school’. He started his own design business here in Marblehead in 1979 and almost 50 years later his work still allows him to continue to enjoy “simply messing... about in boats — or with boats”.
He has sailed with the likes of Ted Hood, Buddy Melges, Ted Turner, and Russel Coutts, and he especially enjoys racing with his adult son Nat. He has been a Corinthian Yacht Club member for over five decades, and he works to share his love of boats and sailing with others through the Corinthian Sailing Foundation.
Joan Thayer, Board Member
Joan began sailing in an after-school program in the fourth grade and continued at the Pleon Yacht Club. Joan enjoys one design racing and has owned a 210, Shields, Sonar and a Rhodes 19.
Over the years, Joan has been involved with sailing at the local, regional and national level. She is a member of the Corinthian Yacht Club and the race committee. She was part of the 1964 CYC team that won the US Jr. Sailing Champion with Robbie Doyle as skipper. Joan chaired the Centennial Marblehead Race Week in 1989. She was inducted into the Marblehead Yacht Racing Sailing Hall of Fame in 2014.
Joan has been active in the Women’s Sailing Foundation/National Women’s Sailing Foundation since 1995. She retired from board presidency in 2018. She has been chairing an annual AdventureSail day for underserved girls at Courageous Sailing Center since 1996 . Joan chaired the NWSA Women’s Sailing Conference at the CYC from 2001 through 2019.
Lisa Keith, Board Member
Lisa is a Managing Director at BDO as a tax attorney defending federal and state credits and incentives.
She grew up sailing in Marblehead out of the Pleon Yacht Club. She went on to become Commodore at Pleon for two years before heading off to Tufts University where she sailed on Mystic Lake everyday.
Lisa has been fortunate to win several National and World championships in dingies and teamracing, but her greatest success was meeting her husband through sailing in Detroit at a national team racing championship.
She now spends most of her time on the water with her two kids and has been actively involved in several sailing organizations through the years.
She has been a Corinthian member her whole life and is eager to share her love of the water and sailing with others.
