Board of Directors

Maggy is the Managing Director of the Ecology Action Centre. Before becoming a professional environmentalist she worked for many years in the field of community economic development as a business counselor, manager, facilitator and entrepreneur. Maggy has a BA (Philosophy) and BSc (Biology) and has spent time chasing strawberry poison-dart frogs in the Costa Rican rain-forest, and teaching English on rooftops in China. Her passion for the NS Sea School emerged while on a Sea School professional enrichment trip and has only deepened as she has gotten to know the organization.

Educated at RMC and Dalhousie University and having been awarded the designation Certified Management Consultant, Mr. Robertson is a Professional Engineer with qualifications in other fields, including Management Consulting.

Mr. Robertson's career includes a variety of business management positions and consulting in addition to having started, owned and operated many businesses of his own in the fields of plumbing and heating, real estate development, manufacturing of hardware for electric utilities and energy management consulting. His energy management consulting has been international in scope and includes work on 5 continents since 1981 and led to hundreds of millions of dollars in reduced energy consumption. His utility pole line hardware business (Enerscan Engineering Inc) has grown consistently and rapidly since 1998, with sales throughout North America and a presence in South America, Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe. Dale is or was a member of several boards and committees, including the Halifax Regional Development Agency, the Greater Halifax Partnership, the Mayor's Economic Strategy Committee and Kings View Academy. He has served as President of Engineers Nova Scotia and as Vice Commodore of the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron.

Dale sailed briefly in university but then purchased a J24 sailboat in about 2002 and has never looked back, participating in hundreds of races in Canada, USA and Bermuda. His love of sailing, plus the impact the Sea School has on the development and enrichment of teenagers in their pursuit of keeping out of trouble and finding themselves are what has inspired him to participate on the Sea School Board.

Crane grew up by the water in New York and Massachusetts, sailing and rowing small wooden boats. Being near water always makes him happy. He discovered as an adult that being around teenagers makes him happy too. So in 1994 he combined these joys with the aspiration to do something useful and founded the Nova Scotia Sea School.

Crane has a Masters of Architecture degree from Harvard University and practiced architecture in Boston for 8 years. In 1990 he took time off to pursue his interest in the study and practice of meditation.

However after this Crane returned, not to his architectural practice, but to his childhood love of wooden boats and sailing. He served as deck officer and seamanship instructor on tall ships in the US and Canada, including HMS ROSE, PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II, CORWITH CRAMER and others, and earned his US Master¹s license as captain of sailing vessels up to 200 gross tons.

In 1994 he settled in Halifax, the best move of his life. He says that Nova Scotia is a sane and decent place, and that his life has really blossomed since moving here, and that the Sea School is the fruit of it.

In 2003 Crane was awarded the Queen's Jubilee Medal for the Sea School's contribution to the Canadian community.

Crane is now taking what he has learned at the Sea School into the business world, with his recent book, “Keep Your People in the Boat – Workforce Engagement Lessons from the Sea,” which is filled with Sea School stories.

Ella McQuinn is a business coach and management consultant with a special interest in working with organizations focused on sustainable and people- focused strategies. She has extensive experience in tourism planning and marketing across Canada and Eastern US and more recently has been working in a variety of sectors with business leaders committed to change. She is Chair of the St. Margaret's Bay Stewardship Association focused on building a strong quality of life, sustainable community development and coastal management, including protecting islands in the bay. She has been on the Sea School board since 2004 having previously consulted with the organization. She has also seen the remarkable impact the Sea School has first hand as the parent of a participant. Ella can attest to the profound and positive impact life at sea aboard the Dorothea with trusted instructors and crew can have on the life of a young person. Her own passion extends to the sea having grown up in a sailing family in Nova Scotia.

Laura Barkhouse lives in Lunenburg County and is an avid boater with her family in Mahone Bay. For the past 15 years, she has worked as the Trails and Open Space Coordinator for the District of Lunenburg, and enjoys working closely with volunteer groups.

Dayle is an Operations and Policy Manager in the Faculty of Medicine at Dalhousie University and holds a Bachelor of Communications from Boise State University (2002) and a Masters of Public Administration from Dalhousie University (2011). Her professional background includes fund development and project management work in the not-for-profit sector. Her passion for supporting youth led her to join the Sea School Board in 2014.