Board of Directors
SLYC's 2024/25 Board of Directors is a “working board,” made up of 15 volunteers:
ASLC Liaison - Kelly Kennedy
Commodore - Beckie Bart
Communications - Sarah Gallienne
Membership & Operations - Andrew Parker
Member at Large (Data): Amy Jacobs
Member at Large (Legal): Kevin O’Callaghan
Member at Large (Strategic Planning): Peter Macdonald
Past Commodore: Greg Plant
Property - John Elliott
Junior Sailing - Dave Anderson
Secretary - Erin Binnie
Tennis & Pickleball - Alex Brooks-Hill and Jody Scotchmer (co-Directors)
Treasurer - Kelly Wells
Past Treasurer (non-voting) - Michele Macpherson
To reach any of our Board members, please email slycinfo@gmail.com
Following is the “Stony Lake Bio” for some of our board members to help you get to know us a little better.
Amy Jacobs - Member at Large
Growing up, our family of six and our dog packed into a station wagon and drove ten hours to spend July at our family cottage on Eaglemount. “The kids” - my brother Ron, my sisters Katie and Meg, and I - would spend hours swimming, playing cards, and roaming our property. We watched no TV at the cottage, and we never missed it. Our imaginations would flow from one activity to the next.
When we weren’t on Eaglemount, we were on Juniper. Swimming lessons, movie nights, square dances, tennis round robins, and, once we were old enough, sailing. Sailing was new friends, cool instructors, a fun, new skill, and lots of laughs. When I was a teen, I was lucky enough to have summer jobs - instructing sailing, running weekend races, and delivering papers - that kept me busy and coming back to Stony.
I married a “non-laker” and thanks to an inclusive Stony community and men’s tennis, Stony is as much his as it is mine. We moved into our own cottage in 2014 so that we could spend more of our summer at Stony. Now our kids - Jack (16), Cate (14), and Anna (13) - love Stony as much as we do. We are all our best selves at Stony - carefree, active, and grounded. We spend our Stony summers soaking up as much friend-and-family time, tennis, sailing, swimming, and cards, as we can. And, we all spend a lot of time on Juniper!
I’m honored to be serving as a Member at Large for the SLYC, following two terms as SLYC/ASLC liaison. Both organizations have played an integral part in our family’s summers, and it is my pleasure to give back. The Stony Lakers who serve on these boards are dedicated, smart, and care deeply about Juniper and Stony Lake. I feel fortunate to be working with them.
Beckie Bart - Commodore
My summers on Stony Lake began in utero, when my mom Marty Welsh was 9 months pregnant with me and still running the Juniper Island Store with my Dad, Rob Welsh. The day before I was born, she (well, we...) took a little canoe trip up to Eel's Creek. So it's safe to say that Stony Lake is in my blood! As a child I enjoyed playing tennis and sailing at the SLYC and eventually became a Sailing Instructor and then Race Coach. Subsequently, I followed in my parent's footsteps and ran the store with Hilary Zimmermann in 1992 and 1993.
Dave and I got married in the Pavillion in 1997 on a night when there was record rainfall across the country! We were lucky enough to find our own cottage on Dodworth Island several years later. We are still in the same amazing bay and now enjoy watching Bobby, Johnny and Annie experiencing life as a carefree kid on Stony Lake. There is nowhere else any of us would rather be.
This will be my second tenure on the SLYC Board of Directors, with the first being in the mid 90's under the commodore-ship of Phil Walton. I look forward to contributing to a fantastic organization with a competent board.
Dave Anderson - Junior Sailing Director
About a decade ago, my wife Heather and I purchased a cottage on Clear Lake with our twin daughters Charlotte and Rachael. We quickly fell in love with Juniper Island movie nights, square dances, tennis, yoga, sailing and all the amazing people we’ve met along the way. In 2018, we were lucky to find a special piece of land on Eagle Mount Island and we got to work building the cottage we’re in today.
I grew up on the St Lawrence River and spent every summer sailing at the Brockville Yacht Club. From racing to instructing, I developed a lifelong love of sailing and I’ve been to more dingy and keelboat regattas than I care to admit. I’m thrilled that Stony has such a strong sailing history and that my love of the sport can continue with friends and family here on the lake.
I’m looking forward to sitting on the SLYC board and working with this great group of volunteers to build on existing programs and to bring new and exciting activities to Stony Lake.
Greg Plant - Past Commodore
Back in 1997, Sandra and I discovered Stony Lake on our first camping trip together as newlyweds. We navigated the Trent in our 12' Zodiak from Peterborough to Georgian Bay and back, camping at the lock stations. Cruising up from Clear into Hell's Gate, we immediately fell in love with Stony, for me because it reminded me of some of my favorite spots in my birth province of BC.
When the kids came along, we started renting on the lake for one-week summer breaks and later in 2011 purchased our place on Davis Island. We began primarily as weekend cottagers but the kids participated in the Regatta, got their Can Sail 1's and 2's and later both worked on Juniper. Jacquie did registration for the ASLC for two seasons and Chris worked his way up on on the tennis court from Junior Pro to Head Pro over six summers.
We are so grateful for the Stony Lake community and what it has done for our family in the short time we've been on the lake and I'm proud to have the opportunity to give back as a volunteer.
Kelly Kennedy - ASLC Liaison
I have been fortunate to spend my childhood summers on Stony Lake doing all things Juniper: swimming, paddling, tennis, sailing, racing, teaching sailing and even becoming the head instructor. In 2010, my husband (Joel) and I were married at St. Peter’s-on-the-Rock and I am pretty certain our vows had something to do with “all summers will be spent at Stony.” We now have three children, Gwen, Sam, and Maddy, who are running around Juniper just as I once did.
When we are not on Juniper, you can find us on our island property, Boscobel Villa, in the Boschink Narrows. You may recognize it by the little yellow boathouse where kids frequently jump from the roof to the lake for the boats passing by.
My family has been part of the Stony Lake community for five generations, helping in various capacities with both the SLYC and ASLC boards over the many years. I feel honoured to continue the family tradition by joining the SLYC board. I hope to help continue the growth of our amazing club.
Kevin O’Callaghan - Member at Large
My first introduction to Stony was in 1996 in the fall, through my wife Joanna (Sloane). We married in 1999 at St. Peter’s, with our reception in the Pavilion. After the wedding, I took Joanna out west to Vancouver (for which the Sloane’s still haven’t forgiven me) — but the deal was that every summer must include a pilgrimage to Stony Lake. We usually stay at the Sloane’s island (near Ronnie Hawkins’, just before Black Rock), but have rented all over the lake as well.
Our kids have never missed a summer and are avid members of the Juniper Island community — Bronwen was Race Coach for a number of years, Finlay was on the race team and worked at SLYC during deep COVID, and William had his second year on the race team this past summer. They all come by it honestly, as Joanna in her day was Head Instructor.
For myself, I came into my own on the tennis court (or perhaps more aptly in the après-tennis festivities) and was an early convert to the Men’s Tennis Clinic not long after it started. Even in years where knee surgery prevented playing, I still came for the beer. The lake is gorgeous, no one could argue, but it is the connections to people that my family has made on Juniper that keep us coming back.
Michele Macpherson - Past Treasurer (non-voting)
I grew up spending summers and Thanksgiving on the lake with my grandparents at their place in Burleigh. I learned how to do a front somersault into the lake off a diving board with something that looked like a styrofoam football strapped to my back.
I have enjoyed the last few decades at the lake making so many friends, playing tennis, helping our kids participate in off lake sailing and regattas, square dancing and enjoying this very special community and place.
I was previously on the SLYC Board as Director of Membership/Operations and on both SLYC and ASLC boards as the ASLC Liaison.
Alex Brooks-Hill - Tennis and Pickleball
I have spent time on Stony Lake almost every year since I was born (I missed one for pregnancy out west!). Stony is my favourite place in the world. I am thankful for all of the people who have worked hard to make Juniper and the lake a wonderful place. I am keen to do my part to contribute to our amazing community.
