Meet our team
Charlie Zechel
Executive Director
Phone: (617)523.1038 ext. 12
Email: [email protected]
Charlie has served CBI as Executive Director since 2002. He helped develop the Universal Access Program (UAP) in partnership with the Mass. Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), and successfully advocated to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for a complete replacement of the pier and dock facilities at CBI in 2011. He also helped the Junior Program integrate STEM programming including an emphasis on the environment of the Charles River.
He feels the greatest accomplishment during his time at CBI is the steady growth and improvement of CBI’s management team and staff and the quality of the programs that CBI delivers. As Charlie says, “CBI is fortunate to have such a dedicated and talented staff. I can’t imagine working with a better crew.”
Charlie and his wife Mari sail their Contessa 35 sailboat in Narragansett Bay. Charlie has sailed extensively along both east and west coasts, and the Caribbean. He especially loves sailboat racing, from frostbiting Lasers to Informal Friday nights on the Charles.
Sam Peirson
Director of Sailing Programs
Phone: (617)523.1038 ext. 16
Email: [email protected]
Sam’s parents put him in a wooden pram at age four; he grabbed the tiller and never looked back. Sailing and boats have been a major part of his life ever since. Hailing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Cape Cod, he’s been afforded plenty of opportunities to pursue his first love. He spent high school at Tabor Academy on Buzzards Bay racing FJs and 420s while also serving as a Watch Officer on the 92-foot schooner Tabor Boy II, assisting in its return from the Caribbean to the United States. Sam graduated from Eckerd College with a major in political science and a minor in law. He also continued his competitive sailing at the college level and since. Sam has spent seasons coaching, instructing, or managing instructors at several different cape-area summer programs, including Wianno and Beverly YC’s, as well as serving as a racing coach at Lauderdale Yacht Club in south Florida. Sam is a Level 3 certified instructor with the U.S. Sailing Association and possesses a U.S. Coast Guard license. He enjoys team racing, skiing, and big boat racing on Cape Cod.
Sidaulia Lyons
Community Relations Director
Phone: (617)523.1038 ext. 19
Email: [email protected]
Ying Chen
Staff Accountant
Phone: (617)523.1038 ext. 15
