Cynthia has been the President of the Board of Directors since 2021. She is an avid kayaker and hiker, as well as skier and snowshoe trekker, when the snow is good. She spends part of the year encircled by water on an island in the northern Great Lakes region. She retired from Michigan State University in 2019, where she was on the faculty of the Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, engaged for over 20 years in development and training projects in Africa and elsewhere. Her interest in the Society began with the Quiet Water Symposium as a volunteer and speaker, sharing paddling experiences in Africa and in Ireland. She loves being able to bring people together to connect and is always looking for new adventures and learning among the friends, old and new, at QAS.
Gary served as chair of the Quiet Water/Adventures Society Board of Directors from 2014 to 2022. He presented the River Guardian Award to Verlen Kruger at QWS 2003 and made a presentation on kayaking in the Great Lakes at QWS 1996. In 2014, he and Linda De Kock paddled a tandem kayak from source to sea on the Mississippi River (2,291 miles in 70 days). In 2018, they canoed the Missouri River from Three Forks, Montana to St. Louis (2,341 miles in 86 days). These and other trips have been used to raise funds for communities worldwide that lack safe drinking water and adequate sanitation. In 2023, they were honored to receive the annual Verlen Kruger Award for these and other contributions to paddlesport.
Pat has been active on non-motor transportation since hit by a school bus while commuting in 1976. Having participated in 40 DALMAC bicycle tours, with 20 as a volunteer organizer for Tri-County Bicycle Association, Pat also has been active in recreational paddling volunteerism for over 20 years and co-organized such events as The 2010 Grand River Expedition and MGROW.org’s Hugh Heward Challenge. Pat has a collection of Sawyer solo canoes and has been involved with Lansing Oar & Paddle Club since the mid 1990’s.
Emma is an enthusiastic outdoorswoman and lover of all things nature. With a background in the arts & education, Emma is passionate about combining her creativity with her love of the outdoors. Emma now works in outdoor retail, helping to bring outdoor products and opportunity to Mackinac Island. Helping people of all backgrounds and experience levels get outdoors is a great passion of hers. Emma began volunteering with the Quiet Adventures Society for the 2024 Symposium and joined the Board of Directors shortly thereafter.For Haley, getting outside and experiencing nature, be it a walk in the park around the corner here in Lansing or a 6-month backpacking trip, is a key piece of the puzzle in our desire to protect, preserve, and care for the natural spaces of this world. As she noted in joining the Board, the experiences you have in the outdoors and the relationship you make with the things around you are what drive your connection to these spaces. Your connection to these places drives a desire to ensure spaces are taken care of. She brings professional experience and personal strengths in a key aspects of project management, team leadership, with a customer service background, and excellent organizational skills. Using these skills to partner with other passionate individuals in helping to further the mission of QAS is why she joined the QAS Board. Like many of us at QAS, she enjoys helping people of all backgrounds and experience levels get outdoors, explore new lands, and meet new friends.