Category: Members (Page 4 of 28)

Mark Filanowski was born in Milford, Conn., in 1954, and he was raised there. His mother’s family arrived in Milford 400 years ago, and his father’s parents came from Eastern Europe in the late 1800s to work a farm in Milford that still operates today.

Mark graduated from University of Connecticut’s main campus in Storrs in 1976 and became a certified public accountant, working for Ernst & Young in New Haven. In 1984, he became vice president and controller of Armstrong Tire Co. in New Haven. He obtained an M.B.A. from New York University in 1989 and began a 35-year career in ocean shipping that same year, living in London and New York. His shipping experience includes private ship owner and operator and, most recently, chief executive officer (retired) of Pangaea Logistics Solutions Ltd., a publicly traded dry bulk shipping company with worldwide headquarters in Newport, R.I.

Mark moved to Darien in 1993 with his wife Monica McNally to set up household and raise a family, believing there is no better place than Darien. Mark and Monica led a Boy Scout troop, were Darien Boat Club members and are today active in many Town functions. They are long time members of St. Luke’s Parish and The Tokeneke Club. Their two children, Helen and Stephen, live and work in New York and Rhode Island, respectively. The family enjoys time together at home in Darien, in Bozeman, Mont., and traveling around the world.

Daniel (Dan) Bumgardner and his wife Patti have lived in Darien since moving here from Manhattan in 1999. Their two children Kelsey (29) and Brendan (26) are proud graduates of Darien High School, where they were active in multiple sports and activities. Dan has been a volunteer coach across Darien Little League softball and baseball, youth soccer and Darien Youth Hockey Association hockey. He has volunteered for the Community Fund and has been on the board of The Country Club of Darien since 2022, for which he currently serves as president. Dan was elected to the Town of Darien’s Board of Finance in 2019 and has served as its vice chairman since 2021.

Dan worked in the banking sector for over 35 years, retiring in 2016. He managed key corporate and private equity relationships for certain banks that now constitute JPMorgan and concluded his career in a similar capacity at Wells Fargo. Dan holds a B.S. in finance from Bowling Green State University and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Dan and Patti enjoy traveling, golf and racquet sports, skiing and attending Rangers hockey games with their kids. He is also a lifelong (and long-suffering) Cleveland sports fan.

Kevin Marks and his wife Susan are proud to have raised their family in Darien and to have called it home for the last 36 years. Born in Evanston, Ill., and raised in Barrington, R.I., Kevin graduated from Plymouth State University in New Hampshire in 1981. He joined Eastman Kodak in New York City and enjoyed a series of progressive sales and sales leadership roles during that period. In 2002, he joined Pitney Bowes as vice president of sales and marketing. He completed his career at BlueCrest, a Pitney Bowes spinoff, as vice president of global production print and strategy. In October 2025, Kevin made the pivot from the workforce and is actively pursuing a new phase of experiences and adventures.

He is and will continue to be an active and committed competitor. A lifelong sailboat racer, he can be found on a racecourse 12 months of the year and at venues across the East Coast, as well as offshore long-distance ocean racing. A long-time member of Noroton Yacht Club, Kevin plays an active coaching role in the club’s Junior Offshore Sailing Training Program. He also leads the annual New Year’s Day Polar Plunge community event.

Additionally, he has caught pickleball fever and regularly competes in tournaments at the local, state, regional and national levels. Add in regional Spartan Race and local 5K running events, Kevin is activating his “go-go” plan with speed, focus and purpose.

Michael (Mike) Vossler was born in Ann Arbor, Mich., and attended grade school in Cheyenne, Wyo., and Denver, Colo., before settling in the small Lake Michigan town of St. Joseph, Mich. He and his wife Heidi moved to Darien in 2001, where they raised their two children, Hanna (now in Brooklyn) and Henry (now in Raleigh, N.C.).

Mike earned a B.A. in international relations from Michigan State University in 1986 and a master’s degree in international management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in 1988. After working in Brussels between undergraduate and graduate school, he launched his professional career in fintech in Frankfurt, Germany. During that time, not only did the Berlin Wall fall, but Mike met his future bride Heidi (originally from Virginia), who was working at the same firm. They later moved to London to begin their married life before returning to the United States. After a year in New York City, they settled in North Stamford, where a neighbor who was a charter member of The Country Club of Darien (CCD) introduced them to the community that ultimately led them to Darien.

Mike is retiring this year after a 40-year career in the fintech industry, including 23 years at SunGard followed by several start-ups and corporate turnarounds. Serving on numerous committees and the board of CCD, he now looks forward to finally improving his golf game. In addition to skiing, hiking and travel, Mike and Heidi are avid boaters and plan to explore the Long Island Sound and beyond over the coming years.

Stan Forkner was born in Newton, Mass, and raised in Greenwich, Conn. He graduated from St. Lawrence University in 1980, earning a degree in political science. His career started in the grain trading and soft commodities shipping businesses, which had Stan working in both San Francisco and New Orleans. The most exciting and life-changing experience came while living in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he scouted out new grain trading business prospects in the South American market for a Germany-based company.

His career took a turn when he was offered an opportunity to return to the New York City area to hold various senior-level sales positions in finance, asset management, and financial technology. During this time, he earned FINRA Series 3, 7, 22 and 63 licenses as well as executive education certificates at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the New York Institute of Finance. Stan has now retired, completing his career at OSTTRA, a leading post-trade technology processing company recently acquired by private equity firm KKR.

Stan and his wife Wendy married in 1985 and in 1989, moved to Darien, where they raised a son and daughter. Their son Brad lives in Darien and works in real estate finance in New York City, while their daughter Dana lives and works in graphic design in Paris, France.

Stan likes boating, fly fishing, tennis, paddle tennis and golf. He is a member of The Country Club of Darien and the Darien Boat Club.

Robert McMullan moved from Dallas to Darien with his wife in 1999. From then until he retired in 2021, he was active in several Darien organizations, including Darien Y Guides and Princesses, Little League (assistant coach for three years), the Darien Foundation for Technology and Community. He was a longtime member of the YMCA and was a member of the Wingmen, an “old guy” rock band that played several times at Darien Summer Nights. After he retired, his wife and he began spending more time in Florida, but they missed Darien and bought a house in Rowayton in 2025 with a plan to spend more time up here.

Robert graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1980 and received an M.B.A. in 1984 from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He started his investment banking career at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette until it was acquired in 2000 and then moved to Credit Suisse. In 2007, he switched careers and joined Blackstone and through 2021, raised money for Blackstone’s private equity and related funds. After 10 months of retirement, he went to work at a new private equity firm in Miami in November 2022. Robert plans to re-retire in the next several months, and this time to make it stick.

Robert has three children: Mollie, 27, and fraternal twins Robert and William, 23. All of them attended Darien schools through middle school. Mollie attended Trinity Catholic High School in Stamford. Robert attended Darien High School, where he played baseball and basketball. William attended Canterbury School in New Milford, Conn., where he played tennis and water polo. Mollie now lives in Nashville, Robert lives in Phoenix, and William lives at home in Rowayton and commutes into Manhattan.

Robert (Bob) Biggart has lived in Darien since moving here with his family here in 1955 when he was one. Bob graduated from Princeton University and received his law degree from Fordham Law School in 1979.

Bob was a lawyer for over 40 years. He started at Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, a law firm in New York City, and then in 1984 joined the PepsiCo law department, where he worked for 30 years. In 2013, he became the general counsel of Fortune Brands (a home products company headquartered in Chicago with consumer brands including Moen, Master Lock and Therma-Tru Doors) and retired in 2021.

In 1979, Bob married his wife Lynn, who also grew up in Darien. They are the parents of five daughters, including two sets of twins, all of whom attended Darien public schools. Four of their daughters live near each other in the Chicago area and one daughter is in Seattle. Bob and Lynn also have five grandchildren.

Bob enjoys biking, skiing and playing chess.

John (Jack) Carley grew up in Stamford. He and his wife Maura have lived in Darien since 1985. They have a son and three daughters, all of whom attended Darien public schools, as well as six grandchildren.

Jack holds an undergraduate degree from the College of the Holy Cross and a J.D. degree from the University of Chicago. He worked for 43 years at Con Edison, where he served as in-house counsel representing Con Edison and its affiliates before various state and federal regulatory agencies.

He has been a member of St. Thomas More Church since moving to Darien. His interests include reading, walking and following the fortunes of the New York Yankees and New York Giants.

Jack Brewer moved to Rowayton eight years ago after having lived in North Stamford for 45 years. He graduated from Rutgers University, spent a year working at Bankers Trust Company, attended Columbia Business School and spent the next 55 years building Brewer Yacht Yard Group and finally co-founding Safe Harbors Marinas.

He has been married to his wife Peg for 63 years. They have three children: John, who owns two marinas in South Freeport, Me.; Bill, a real estate attorney in New York City; and Kelly, a homeowner in Rowayton.  Jack and Peg have seven grandchildren, five girls and seven boys, ranging in age from 25 to 14.

Frank DeLuca is originally from Greenwich and now lives in Rowayton with his wife Linda, to whom he has been married for 42 years. He attended Brunswick School in Greenwich and graduated from Skidmore College in 1976 with a degree in early childhood education and psychology. He went on to work in the field of international travel and tourism for a few years, before taking over ownership of his family’s pharmacy and medical supply business in Old Greenwich.

His relationship with Darien began when he met Linda, who was born and raised in town. You could say he was a part-time resident of Darien, spending time and holidays in town with Linda’s extended family. After marrying, Linda and he operated the family business together for over 25 years before retiring. Since then, Frank has done volunteer work with Greenwich and Stamford Hospitals, the Norwalk Family and Children’s Agency and several other organizations. In his ample spare time, he enjoys reading a good book and gardening in his little yard. He owns a 1966 Mustang convertible, and when he is not driving it around town just for fun, he can be found in his garage tinkering with it.

Christopher (Chris) Price has lived in Darien since 1999 with his wife Meg. He is a graduate of Middlebury College and Tulane Law School. He practiced commercial real estate law for 40 years in New York City, the last 20 years at Goodwin Procter before retiring in September 2025.

He is the chair of the Hindley, Holmes, Royle School Building Committee, overseeing the renovation and expansion of those elementary schools. Chris is an avid boater, skier and SCUBA diver, and holds a U.S. Coast Guard Master Captain’s License.

Chris and Meg are members of Saint Luke’s Parish and The Tokeneke Club. They have three adult daughters, Caroline, Jenny and Eliza, and one grandson, James.

Paul Tregurtha was born in 1935 in Orange, N.J. He received a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Cornell University and an M.B.A. from Harvard in 1963. He served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force from 1958 to 1961 and worked for Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing Company from 1969-1971.

He then started his career in the water transportation field by joining Moore-McCormack Resources, Inc. in Stamford, for which he worked until 1987, eventually rising to CEO and chairman. Since 1988, he has been chairman and co-owner of Mormac Marine Group, Inc. in Stamford and co-owner of The Interlake Steamship Company, Moran Towing Corporation, which operates 95 tugboats in the United States and Mexico, and Seastreak Ferry, LLC, a private ferry company operating in the Port of New York and New Jersey and in New England. Paul describes his current role at these firms as “giving advice and not caring if anyone listens.” He had been co-owner and vice chairman of Interlake Steamship Company in 1990 when its flagship vessel was rechristened the MV Paul R. Tregurtha and is now the longest active vessel operating on the Great Lakes.

Paul served on Cornell’s board of trustees in the 1980s and 1990s and rose to become vice chairman of the board. He continues to serve as trustee emeritus. His wife Lee, now deceased, also graduated from Cornell, as did his four children (one born in each of Oregon, Massachusetts, Michigan and England) and 11 of his 14 grandchildren.

He resides part time in Darien, although his permanent address is in Florida. His hobbies, now limited, are golf, boating, skiing, hiking and rowing, and his interests include keeping up with his expanding family, learning to use AI and Chat GPT and learning to play bridge.