Leadership Team

Brigs Youth Sail Training is lead by a talented number of staff and volunteer Board of Directors who commit countless hours to ensure youth have the ability to access our programs.

Board of Directors

The Board of Directors provide vision and direction for our organization. They work to create and maintain relationships with community agencies, develop relationships with sponsorship partners, and oversee the performance of our program and staff.

We are always looking for suitable candidates to join our Board of Directors. Should this interest you, please email your resume to [email protected]

Matthew Snell - Vice President and Interim President

Matt grew up in Toronto and started sailing at an early age on Lake Ontario. He was a trainee, Petty Officer and acting Watch Officer on STV Pathfinder during high school. Matt is a long time supporter of the Brigs. Matt now pursues his passion for sailing with his wife Kim on their Gemini Legacy Catamaran, S.V. Luna, currently located in Midland, for easy access to Georgian Bay and the North Channel. After more than 25 years practicing law in Ontario, Matt retired at the end of 2020 having spent the last 5 years as General Counsel at IBM Canada, where he had been part of the legal team for more than 20 years.

Michele Fraser - Secretary

Michele has been involved with Brigs since her two sons went through the program. She has volunteered extensively with us working with the crew, providing meals, helping out with maintenance and sailing with us when we need an extra hand. She comes to us with over 30 years of experience volunteering with various organizations. She is a strong believer in Brigs and the positive impact our program can have on the youth who access it.

Francis Clegg - Treasurer

Francis grew up in Richmond Hill and participated in the Brigs program during high school. After three years, he rose to the rank of Watch Officer. His background is in Mechanical Engineering, which he studied to a Masters level. Francis is an award winning lighting designer and founder of an international production design business which works with clients across the touring music, special events and corporate sectors. They have offices in Toronto and Manchester. When he's not volunteering for Brigs, which is almost a full time job, Francis continues to sail whenever and wherever he can.

Eugene Berezovsky

Eugene has long harboured a love of sailing and adventure. An alumnus of the program from his high school days, Eugene is now an event and project management professional. Eugene currently works a Manager of Event Operations in the Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, having served in a variety of progressive roles in non-partisan organization of the Government of Ontario. A proud Torontonian and a strong believer in the power of experiential learning to empower youth to fulfill their potential.

Ian Hamilton

Ian Hamilton is President and CEO of HOPA Ports (Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority). He assumed this role in 2017, after serving as the Port Authority’s Vice President of Business Development and Real Estate since 2008. Ian has been instrumental in developing working waterfronts in Hamilton, Oshawa, and Niagara by attracting new business and private investment, and creating an integrated marine network across Southern Ontario. Ian possesses more than 25 years of experience in international transportation and logistics in Europe and North America, and has held progressively senior positions in the liner shipping industry, including Transatlantic Trade Director (Europe) for CP Ships and Business Development Manager for Hapag-Lloyd. Ian is Chairperson of the Ontario Marine Transportation Forum Board of Directors, and holds positions on various other boards, including: Chamber of Marine Commerce, Association of Canadian Port Authorities (ACPA), The Hamilton Club, and Brigs Youth Sail Training. Ian holds an MBA from Aston University (UK) and a BSc in business administration and economics from the College of Charleston, South Carolina.

Rosemarie Enslin

Rosemarie Enslin has 40-plus years experience in the world of public relations in Toronto and Calgary. She has oodles of experience launching products, awards, openings, and promoting attractions, festivals, restaurants, causes, innovators, even countries. She has organized creative listing ceremonies for Canadian companies on the New York Stock Exchange. She is a well-experienced event producer too. Her work has won coveted awards. Rosemarie is an active volunteer supporting many organizations. Two Lt. Governors have honoured her for her volunteer work for The Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards in Ontario and Alberta. Rosemarie is a sailing enthusiast. Her articles about her adventures have been published in The Toronto Star, Globe and Mail and Aer Lingus inflight magazine. She is a long-time supporter of Brigs Youth Sail Training. She served on the Toronto Brigantine Board in the late 1980s and came back on board in 2020.

Tasha Hyndman

Tasha grew up in Toronto and sailed with Brigs from 2007-2010. A long time supporter of the program, she returned to Brigs in 2017 as the program coordinator after graduating from the University of Windsor Social Work program. In 2019 she made the difficult decision to step down as program coordinator and start a new role with the BroadReach Foundation as Program Manager. In addition to the facilitation of core programming, she assisted in the development and implementation of Project Ships2Shores. Today, Tasha has stepped away from sail training to pursue other opportunities. She enjoys knitting, sewing and other crafts in her spare time; is an avid reader, enjoys playing video games and relaxing with her cat and long time partner.

Colin Wu

My first exposure to Brigs (formerly Toronto Brigantines) was in 1992 when some friends and I chartered PATHFINDER for a weekend experience because we were starting to do War of 1812 re-enactments playing British sailors, and thought we should actually learn how to do it right. What we didn't realize was that a weekend wasn't enough! That weekend grew into a long love affair with sailing tallships and sailing in general. I have since sailed on a number of other tallships but what keeps bringing me back to the brigantines is that they are so much fun to sail while being just challenging enough that it's not boring.

But what I love the most about Brigs is watching the young teenagers grow and mature into responsible adults who contribute to their community and help the next generation to grow.

Staff

Emily Hine - Executive Director

Emily has been involved in the program since 2012 where she started as a trainee onboard the TS Playfair. She continued with the program into the position of Watch Officer on the STV Pathfinder. From then, Emily moved on to the University of Guelph and completed her Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Marketing Management. Throughout university she worked as the engineer and First Mate onboard the Tall Ship Kajama and Challenge in Toronto. Now, she takes on the role of Program Manager, through combining her hands on experience in the marine industry, and her academic knowledge, Emily is working hard to grow the program and empower youth within the Hamilton community through the medium of sail training!

Caedon Kingdon - Fleet and Training Manager

Caedon sailed with Brigs from 2012 to 2018, including 3 years as First Mate. As the Chair of Brigs' Operations Committee, she continues to work to ensure the program benefits young people in the future. Having recently started the illustration and graphic design company @beyondboundscreative with fellow creators, Caedon works as a lead illustrator creating images for scientific interventions and designing logos. Caedon's current role with Brigs as Fleet and Training Manager entails running our Winter Program and managing the maintenance of the fleet.