Officers & Staff
Commodore:
Mia Thompson
Mia Thompson has been sailing the waters of the Great Harbor since she was 5, starting in her family’s wooden Opti – Christmas Eve. Her love for our Fleet blossomed in rowing class and she moved quickly to racing Mercuries, Solings and J-24s. Mia raced competitively in college, and now sails and races her IOD #19 Freyja from The Fleet whenever the opportunity allows.
Mia moved to Northeast Harbor year-round over 30 years ago and is proud to call her family’s summer retreat home. She is an owner and real estate broker at The Knowles Company in Northeast Harbor, and active in a variety of Island community and non-profit organizations as well as Oceana. Both her sons, Parker and Fischer, learned to sail at the Fleet. Parker is currently a project architect at Elliott Architects in Blue Hill and lives on MDI. Fischer recently graduated from the University of Colorado with a major in Environmental Biology. He is now living in Savannah, Georgia.
Celebrating The Fleet’s 100thAnniversary in 2023 is top of mind for Mia and the Flag Officers. All share a deep and passionate history of sailing the waters of Mount Desert Island as well as teaching multiple generations of Fleet sailors – and all are hard at work to make the Centennial a very special celebration for the over 400 members of The Fleet.
Fleet Manager:
Nick Johnstone
Nick is in his first year as fleet manager and is looking forward to running races and overseeing the operations of the Fleet. During the offseason, he is the head coach of The Citadel, Military College of South Carolina’s sailing team, a role he has held since 2020. He helped revitalize The Citadel’s sailing team, which was initially founded in 1937, with significant national success over the years. Still, the program slowly lost prominence over the past several decades and was completely inactive for the last 4 years leading up to Nick's taking over the program in 2020. Nick swiftly helped turn the program into one of the top teams in their conference and is excited to continue that trend. Development of sailors ranging from no prior experience to helping more advanced racers reach the highest levels of college sailing has been a focal point for Nick during his time coaching The Citadel. Outside of coaching, Nick currently serves as a board member & partner for J/Boats.
He grew up in Newport, RI racing Optis, 420s, 29ers, and Vanguard 15s as a junior sailor and went on to sail for Tabor Academy where his team won a National Championship in team racing and multiple New England Championships across different disciplines. After Tabor, Nick sailed for the College of Charleston and was a part of several teams that won numerous national & conference championships during his time there.
Nick still resides in Charleston, SC during the offseason and looks forward to being in Northeast Harbor during the summers. Nick is currently active in the Sunfish Class, dinghy team racing circuit, and sails on a variety of PHRF classes locally in Charleston.
Fleet Operations Manager:
Annie Leonardi
Annie is in her first year as our Operations Manager. Outside of the summer season, she works as an Educational Technician for Mount Desert Island High School. She is also on the board of the Criterion Theatre in Bar Harbor and is an avid vocalist.
Annie is a graduate of the University of Southern Maine, where she holds a Master of Music Degree, & Westminister Choir College, where she holds a Bachelor of Music in Performance Degree. She also attended the Florence Voice Seminar in Florence, Italy. She also currently runs The Leonardi Voice Studio outside of working as Educational Technician for MDI High School.
Annie both grew up & currently resides in Northeast Harbor and has deep ties with the area. She thoroughly enjoys being involved with the MDI community and looks forward to extending that community even more so with her new role at the Fleet.
Outside of work, Annie enjoys time out on the water and looks forward to spending even more time around it as our new operations manager. She is dedicated to helping all our members have a seamless experience at the Fleet and ensuring all of our day-to-day operations run exceptionally.
Sailing School Director:
Dave Perry
Dave is in his first year as Sailing School Director and is looking forward to working with staff and youth sailors. During the offseason, he works as a rigger, boat builder, and private yachting instructor.
Dave is a graduate of John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor and has a boatbuilding degree from WCTC Eastport. He is an Eagle Scout and started his career as a sailing instructor at Boy Scout Camp and Camp Roosevelt in Eddington, Maine. From 1998 to 2000 he worked as a shore crew member of the Young American / New York Yacht Club America's Cup Challenge from Newport, Rhode Island to Auckland, New Zealand. In 2003 he was the head coach for the MDI High School Sailing Team.
In addition, Dave worked for many years as a captain of a 45-foot custom race yacht. He is no stranger to the Fleet. He has crewed on yachts in the Fleet Cruising Class races in the Great Harbor and beyond.
Dave is excited to serve as Director at Northeast Harbor Sailing School, and to apply his passion for sailing education in fostering a lifelong love of the sport with all Fleet members. His priorities are safety first, have fun second, and developing the confidence of your sailors on the water third.