News

Published in the Newport Daily News

A number of local residents are among the 38 members of the America’s Cup World Series Host Committee announced by Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee.

The committee will coordinate marketing, business outreach, public support, event logistics, traffic, public safety and public infrastructure preparations for the preregatta that will take place at Fort Adams in Newport from June 23-July 1. The state’s Economic Development Corp. has estimated that the event could create hundreds of new jobs and pump more than $70 million into the state’s economy.

“This host committee … will help to coordinate important preparation efforts to ensure that this exciting event is thoroughly successful,” Chafee said in making the announcement Friday. “Its members have strong ties to the sailing world, marine trades, hospitality and tourism, and a number of other relevant fields. What they all share is an understanding of what it will take to make the America’s Cup World Series a success for Newport and the state of Rhode Island.”

The committee, established by executive order last month, will be led by chairman Brad Read, executive director of Sail Newport.

Committee members include: Keith Stokes, executive director of the EDC; Robin Wallace, David Elwell and David Holley from the Rhode Island State Yachting Commission; Evan Smith, president and CEO of the Newport & Bristol County Convention & Visitors Bureau; Martha Sheridan, president and CEO of the Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau; Jody Sullivan, executive director of the Newport County Chamber of Commerce; Michael Keyworth from the Rhode Island Marine Trades Association; Paul Costabile, representing Rhode Island’s commercial shipping industry; Jane Howington, Newport city manager; Bruce Keiser, Jamestown town administrator; Shawn Brown, Middletown town administrator; Richard Nagele, president of the board and interim executive director of the Fort Adams Trust; Terry Nathan, president of the International Yacht Restoration School/Museum of Yachting in Newport; Halsey Herreshoff and Dyer Jones from the Herreshoff Marine Museum/America’s Cup Hall of Fame in Bristol; Trudy Coxe, executive director of the Preservation Society of Newport County; Eli Dana of Newport Shipyard; Alison Eichler of Dutch Harbor Boat Yard in Jamestown; Jack McVicker of the Alliance for a Livable Newport; Christopher Boyle, former president of Sail Newport; Donna Kelly from Sail Newport and IYRS; Harry Winthrop, a member of the Newport City Council; J. William Harsch of Jamestown; and other representatives of local and state agencies and organizations.

A representative from the town of Portsmouth, which currently has an interim town administrator, has yet to be named.

For more information about the committee, including members’ biographical information, go to www.governor.ri.gov/americas