1. 34 February 2016 spinsheet.com
Bay People
M
eet Pam Ray, an innovative
entrepreneur with a passion for
Bay-based recreation and a heart
for community service. Pam brings energy
and enthusiasm to her work life, volunteer
commitments, and her boating and sail-
ing pursuits. She’s combined all of those
interests through her work as chair of the
Eastport Yacht Club Foundation (EYCF).
A native of upstate New York, Pam
grew up powerboating, waterskiing, and
fishing on the Finger Lakes. “I come from
a boating family,” she says. “I’ve been a
boat user or owner since I was very young.
I recall the unpleasant task of sanding and
painting our small cabin cruiser as a child,
but more vividly I recall the joy of being
on the lake and jumping off the boat to
swim and play.”
Pam is currently serving in her second
term as EYCF chair and is a two-time
past chair of the Marine and Maritime
Career Fair. As chair, she’s led a team
of action-oriented board members and
volunteers working to implement local
programs that address economic chal-
lenges, focusing on Science, Technol-
ogy, Engineering and Math (STEM)
education, youth sailing scholarships,
the maritime trades, and the marine
industry. “My ‘work’ as an advocate for
the marine and maritime community
started with my volunteer work for the
EYCF,” Pam explains.
After graduating from Syracuse Uni-
versity Maxwell School of Citizenship
and Public Affairs, Pam relocated to the
D.C. area and began a successful 30-
year career on Capitol Hill. President
of her own company since 1996, Pam
specializes in federal, state, and local
government relations, congressional
advocacy, and STEM education and
job markets.
In 2011 the connection between
STEM and sailing came in her profes-
sional work as a government relations
columnist writing on the changing
economy and job markets. Pam focused
on the need for local collaboration
in preparing students for the future
workforce. She came across an article
in SpinSheet about a program in An-
napolis that taught STEM through
sailing and was inspired professionally
and personally by the hands-on learning
intended to prepare our youth for the
future.
The next year she volunteered for the
Annapolis-based Marine and Mari-
time Career Fair, that partners with
EYCF, Anne Arundel County Public
Schools, and the National Sailing Hall
of Fame. “I witnessed first-hand how
local schools, nonprofits, and busi-
nesses could work together to fill a criti-
cal need in the marine and maritime
fields,” she remembers. “Introducing
students and parents to marine and
maritime career paths in our own region
also raises awareness that our kids can
live and work in the communities,
regions, and states where they’ve grown
up.”
“At the same time, I was learning
how STEM education and skills were
becoming relevant beyond the profes-
sions that require advanced college
degrees like engineering or marine
biology,” Pam continues. “The marine
trades, as with most trades, require
technical and skills training that
incorporate technology, math, or sci-
ence, broadening the need for STEM
focused learning and experiences for all
students.” Later in 2012, Pam joined
Pam Ray
## Pam married Dick McSeveney aboard
their Catalina 350 Dream Builder.
## Pam and STEM students aboard
Dream Builder August 2015

2. spinsheet.com February 2016 35Follow us!
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MAKING
MEMORIES... START SAILING.
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and Just Get on the Water!
## Pam and her husband Dick with
Team Charlotte aboard Dream
Builder in the 2015 Leukemia Cup.
For more information on this month’s Marine and Maritime Career Fair, turn to page 17.
the board of directors for EYCF. Just
two years later she chaired the Marine
and Maritime Career Fair and was also
elected chair of the EYCF Board of
Directors.
When she’s not volunteering at
EYCF or on the water, Pam gives
back to her community in other ways.
“When my kids were younger, I en-
gaged in a number of Chesapeake Bay
Foundation (CBF) programs,” Pam
recalls. “They included sailing the Skip-
jack, fishing on the Bay, and participat-
ing in ‘Grasses for the Masses’ where
we set up a plastic pond in our living
room and grew plants that we planted
in Bay waters in the spring (what a
mess that was!). About four years ago I
was inspired to start a Meadow Garden
knowing that our water drains into
the Bay. It’s all native plants eliminat-
ing the need for pesticides, excessive
watering, and the expense of buying
‘annuals,’ and I share the abundant new
growth each season with friends in both
Arlington and Annapolis.”
Pam and her husband Dick McSev-
eney, residents of Northern Virginia,
sail out of Annapolis aboard their
Catalina 350, Dream Builder, which
they often use for entertaining friends
and family, hosting STEM students,
or participating in charity regattas. The
couple also owns three kayaks, and
Pam feels fortunate to often sail on
other people’s J/70s and J/80s. Trips to
visit family in Florida and summer vis-
its to the Finger Lakes regularly bring
opportunities for powerboating.
In 2015 Pam facilitated, with the
support of the EYC executive board,
the first Boston-based “Sailing Heals”
program in Annapolis. Through the
generous donations of volunteer cap-
tains and boat owners, Sailing Heals
provides cancer patients and their
caregivers with on-the-water experi-
ences. Pam and Dick are also active
with their local food bank and rang a
bell on Main Street in Annapolis for
the Salvation Army the last holiday
season. #