The after-dinner program will feature three speakers, each one discussing activities at Maine Maritime Academy (MMA).
First, MMA President Craig Johnson will discuss workforce development including the program with the US Navy. In September 2024, the U.S. Navy established the Maritime Industrial Base Program to revitalize the country’s shipbuilding and repair capabilities to build and maintain surface ships, aircraft carriers, and submarines. In April 2025, an executive order was issued prioritizing the restoration of the United States’s maritime workforce in the interest of national security. MMA is heeding the call to train a new generation of skilled laborers by establishing the Maritime Industrial Workforce Training Center in Brunswick, Maine. The facility will increase the Academy’s capacity to train students in welding, shipfitting, pipefitting, naval architecture, electronics, and marine engineering.
The second speaker will be Captain Alexander Peacock, the current Master of the Arctic schooner Bowdoin. Captain Peacock will discuss the schooner Bowdoin’s 2024 voyage of more than 4,500 miles to the Arctic, during which the vessel crossed north of the 70th parallel off the west coast of Greenland.
Finally, Club Board Member Cheryl Coviello, Associate Principal at GZA GeoEnvironmental, will offer an update on the MMA Pier Upgrade Project. In the fall of 2025, MMA will receive its new National Defense Reserve Fleet training vessel. The vessel will require new mooring and berthing structures as well as pier upgrades. Cheryl will discuss work-in-progress for upgrades and pier rehabilitation.