Month: December 2023

Wim is a recently retired general manager of private yacht clubs, President of Rascal-Sailing LLC based in Darien CT which provides training for recreational boaters and he is the former Director of Training and Education for Landfall Navigation in Stamford, CT.   He holds a USCG Captains License, and is a US Sailing certified instructor at Sound Sailing Center in Norwalk, CT.

Tom Mullaney was born in Sedalia, MO in 1955 and grew up in Darien from 1962 to 1969. During his time in Darien, he was not caught once by the Darien Police Department for his various delinquent activities, a record of true accomplishment.

After graduating from New Trier High School in Chicago, Tom went to Princeton, where he was President of his class and Chairman of the University Honor Committee. After a one-year stint in brand management for Procter and Gamble, Tom got his MBA from Harvard and joined McKinsey and Company upon graduation.

Tom left McKinsey for the first of a series of entrepreneurial ventures: the creation of one of the first Urgent Care chains in the United States in 1984. Despite treating nearly 1000 patients a day, the concept was way ahead of its time and was sold to several hospitals around the United States, making Tom wiser but not richer.

Today Tom leads the Restructuring Practice for Jones Lang LaSalle, an NYSE company that acquired Tom’s last entrepreneurial venture in 2016 after a spirited bidding war with CBRE: a fitting conclusion to an otherwise modestly profitable history of start-ups on Tom’s part.

Tom and his wife Amelia live in Darien and Santa Barbara, CA, where they try to keep up with six children, two horses and two dogs. After a long career of auto racing in SCCA and VARA (including wins at every major track in the Western United States with his beloved Lotus Elan), Tom now is working assiduously on his pickleball, paddle tennis and tennis games, including regular losses at major courts such as Cherry Lawn, Ox Ridge and Tokeneke Club.

Tom has had a long history of charitable involvement, including serving as a Board Member of The Urban League of Sacramento, Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Laguna Blanca School, and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Music Academy of The West. He looks forward to helping DMA continue to build on its impressive record of community involvement.

Ned Lewis was born and raised in Philadelphia and Chester County PA. He graduated from Great Valley High School and went on to receive a BA in International Affairs and Russian language at Lafayette College. He graduated from Temple Law School and was commissioned in the U.S. Army Military Intelligence branch, and rose to the rank of Captain. He began his legal career at a law firm in Pennsylvania and was then VP and General Counsel for Arco Chemical Co., Borg Warner Companies in Chicago and now is Corporation Counsel and Ethics officer at Spellman High Voltage Electronics in Long Island. He was an associate professor in the Pace-Lubin MBA program in NYC. He is an ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church.

He is married to Liz Bacon, his wife of 30+ years and proud father of their two daughters Kate and Caroline Lewis. Ned and Liz are active members of St. Luke’s Parish in Darien and members of the Noroton Yacht Club. One of Ned’s most prized possessions is a 1951 Farmall Cub tractor that currently occupies a bay in his garage and is used to plow his driveway on snowy Darien days. 

12/12/23

My wife of 41 years, Avery, and I split our time between Rowayton and Park City, UT.  Avery and I raised our children (Dan – 35 and Kelsey – 33) in Darien, having become “Darien expats” when we sold our house on Nickerson Lane in 2019.  I grew up in a suburb of Los Angeles, earned my BA in 1980 at UC Santa Barbara and, after a couple years each of living in Vail Colorado then working in commercial banking in CT, I earned my MBA in Finance in 1987 at Columbia Graduate School of Business.  

After business school I spent my career in investment management, initially at Alliance Capital Management and then at PPM America, focusing on corporate and structured finance private investments.  In 2004 I transitioned to special opportunities investment management to focus on transactions backed by distressed assets, loan pools, finance receivables, aircraft and ships.  After working at two predecessor firms, I was a partner at Atalaya Capital Management from 2011 until retiring in 2018.  I subsequently served as a senior advisor to Atalaya until 2022 and remain close to the firm. 

Outside of investing, I serve on the board of an HOA in Park City, UT and am president of an HOA in Santa Monica, CA.  Given the locale of our second home, it may come as no surprise that I love to downhill ski, but also just getting outdoors to exercise – nordic skiing, long distance running and cycling.  I struggle at golf as I have no inherent talent, and I am enthusiastic but mediocre at racquet sports.

Tom Igoe was born in St. Louis, Mo., in 1947 and grew up in the suburb of Webster Groves. He graduated from St. Louis Priory School in 1965, where he was editor-in-chief of the school newspaper and was active in intramural sports. He graduated from Yale University in 1969 with a B.A. in history and was a member of the Yale Whiffenpoofs, a storied acapella singing group dating back to 1909. He received his J.D. from the University of Virginia in 1972. He joined Reid & Priest in New York as an associate and rose to chairman in 1994. In 1997, Reid & Priest merged with Thelen Marrin (a San Francisco-based law firm), and Tom became vice chairman and later chairman of the combined firm. He then became president and CEO of MPC Insurance, a captive insurer providing large national law firms with professional liability insurance coverage and related services. He served with MPC until retiring in 2017. Tom and his wife Susan have lived in Darien since 1979 and have a son who lives in New Haven. Tom is currently board chairman of Benhaven, Inc., a nonprofit serving the needs of autistic children and adults in south central Connecticut and also serves on the boards of several other nonprofit organizations. His interests include the arts, photography, reading, writing, traveling, hiking, cross-country skiing, major league baseball and UConn Huskies basketball.

Duncan Rowland was raised in Rowayton in the 40’s and 50’s. Swimming and sailing were his major sports activities and he also played the cello in various venues around the area including The Connecticut State Orchestra his junior and senior years in High School.  He was graduated from Bethany College where he started the college swim team and was Co-Captain all 4 years.  His business career began at the Hanover Bank, NYC at which time he also earned an MBA from NYU at night.  After a few years in commercial banking, Duncan moved to the Investment side of the business as an institutional Equity salesman.  He worked for Loeb Rhoades, Lehman Brothers, Prudential Bache, Brown Brothers and Alex. Brown & Sons until 2007.  He was posted for various periods in NYC, Chicago, San Francisco, and finally Greenwich. Currently he owns and manages Rowayton Investment Advisors which focuses on covered-call stock investing.

After college he married his college sweetheart and they had 2 children.  She passed away suddenly at age 41 of a brain aneurism; this happened shortly after the family moved to San Francisco because Duncan was hired to run the West Coast Institutional Equity operation of Lehman Brothers. The firm was absorbed by Shearson and Duncan moved back East to Darien. Here he met and married Kathie Gordon Ackerman.  They have been married for 36 years and together have 5 children , 10 Grandchildren and a Great Granddaughter due next February.  They have lived in Darien and Rowayton.   Duncan is a member of Wee Burn where he played golf for many years