Board of Advisors

BOARD OF ADVISORS

Peter Y. Gevalt

Founder/Managing Partner, Wells Hill Partners, Ltd.

As a principal, Mr. Gevalt has acted as general partner and limited partner in the development and acquisition of over five hundred million dollars of real estate projects during the last thirty years. Mr. Gevalt was Chief Warden of Trinity Church in New York City, where he continues to serve on the Vestry, and he is a past member of the Board of Trustees of the Hotchkiss School. Mr. Gevalt has sailed since he was a child, when his family summered on the Connecticut shore of the Long Island Sound. He is a former Commodore of the Nantucket Yacht Club, and races actively in several one-design classes. His sailing credentials include winning the North American Championship in the International One Design Class, and having competed in a number of major offshore events, including the Bermuda Race. Mr. Gevalt received a BA degree from the University of North Carolina. He resides in New York City with his wife Lori.

Robert Constable

Executive Director, Cushman & Wakefield, Inc.

A 30-year resident of New York City, Bob is a also a lifelong competitive sailor and enthusiast for all things nautical. He has had extensive involvement with numerous non-profit, including serving as a trustee of the East Side House, a community service center in the South Bronx, and co-founding Nantucket Race Week, one of New England’s premier racing events, which benfits Nantucket Community Sailing. Bob is the former Commodore of the Nantucket Yacht Club, and is Executive Director at Cushman & Wakefield, Inc., a global leader in commercial real estate.

Steve Benjamin

Sales Manager, North Sails East

Serves as the Chairman of the Yale Sailing Associates, the alumni funding and supervisory board for the Yale Sailing Teams and Yale Corinthian Yacht Club. Experienced in every aspect of making sailing boats go fast including hull preparation, rig tuning, sail design, sail setting, crew training, and steering. Member of Larchmont YC, New York YC, Seawanhaka Corinthian YC, Yale Corinthian YC, Storm Trysail Club, and the Imperial Poona Yacht Club. Certified Marine Surveyor. Instructor for North University Racing Seminars and frequent lecturer to yacht clubs, sailing organizations, and corporations. Olympic silver medalist, three time world champion, collegiate sailor of the year, and multiple class national champion.

Ian Kelley

Attorney, McCanliss & Early LLP

Ian L. Kelley is an attorney. He is a commercial and transactional lawyer with a broad range of experience across industries, including technology, real estate, energy, international trade, alternative investments, professional services and the creative arts. Mr. Kelley is an active community advocate. He serves as a board member of Citizen’s Union and Brooklyn Boatworks. He is the former President of the Board of the National Center for Creative Aging at George Washington University in Washington DC, as well as the former President of the Atlantic Avenue Local Development Corporation in Brooklyn, New York. Mr. Kelley is a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the Brooklyn Bar Association. Mr. Kelley was educated at St. Ann’s School in Brooklyn, New York; Middlebury College in Vermont and Fordham University School of Law in New York City.

Paul McLoughlin

President, The McLoughlin Company

Paul McLoughlin was born in Brooklyn, Jesuit-educated at Xavier and Georgetown, served in Vietnam, returned to receive an MBA from Columbia and became a senior manager at Columbia, Cornell, and Salomon Brothers. He sailed out of Cohasset Yacht Club as boy, where he was Jr. Commodore, Sailing Instructor and a national champion. His first big boat race was on Ondine, Miami-Montego Bay in 1966. He has since competed in the SORC, raced at Cowes and in the Med, done the Fastnet and BA-Rio, crossed the Atlantic twice, first on Salty Tiger in 1971 and on Whisper in the 2005 Rolex Transatlantic Challenge. He has lived on the Upper West Side for 40 years and, with his wife, has raised two remarkable children, each of whom has taken them places in academe, the arts and politics never imagined. HRCS offers an opportunity to give back for a full and fortunate life.

Joe Azzaro

Joe is a Director at Stonehaven, a leading capital raising firm focused on alternative investments. Joe manages institutional investor relationships, and has significant experience in credit and security analysis. Joe earned a B.S. in Finance from the University of Scranton. Joe is a CFA charter holder, and member of the CFA Institute, and New York Society of Security Analysts (NYSSA). Currently, Joe holds the Series 7, 31, and 63 registrations with FINRA. In his free time, Joe enjoys squash, snowboarding, traveling, art, and ping pong. Joe added sailing to his ever growing list of hobbies after catching the sailing bug on an Americas Cup 12 meter boat. Joe looks forward to becoming an avid sailor, and continuing his nautical education at HRCS.

Arie Toporovsky

Arie is a long-time supporter of HRCS and can be found many weekends skippering one of its J24s around New York Harbor as part of its adult sailing club. Having learned to sail on the Hudson as an adult, Arie is an enthusiastic advocate of HRCS’s core mission of community sailing and youth development. Professionally, Arie is a member of an investment team at a publicly traded company that finances, invests in, and develops real estate related projects. Arie has degrees from the University of Chicago (BA) and Columbia University (MS, MBA), and enjoys working with HRCS to build awareness and achieve its goals.

Emory O’Mealia

Emory has been involved with HRCS since 2011, specifically helping to coordinate the annual Dark ’N’ Stormy fundraiser. She was an Event Chair in 2013, 2014 & 2015, as well as a benefit and host committee member in prior years. Emory has worked in media for 10+ years, and is currently an Advertising Sales Account Executive at AMC Networks, responsible for selling TV advertising on AMC and SundanceTV. She holds a degree from Boston College (BA), is a member of Mantoloking Yacht Club in New Jersey, and grew up sailing duckboats and optimists on the Barnegat Bay.