Stu Keiller joined the Youth Sailing Foundation in 2016 as Executive Director, bringing with him a strong background in sailing, business and leadership. A graduate of Dartmouth College and the Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth, Stu was a Naval Reserve Officer Training Corp scholarship recipient and served in the Navy on destroyers deployed worldwide. Billets included navigator, nuclear weapons officer, senior watch officer and acting Executive Officer. He continued serving in the Navy Reserve for twenty-two years, retiring as Captain after commanding a unit with fifty-five officers that deployed worldwide in support of the Military Sealift Command.
Stu spent forty years in the ski and tennis apparel business. He was President of AMF Head Sports Wear before co-founding Kaelin Sports Wear. As CEO he grew the company to a national brand, selling to over one thousand specialty and chain retail stores nationwide. After the sale of the company Stu consulted to the ski industry, pioneering the use of data mapping to analyze market share and unmask opportunities for growth. Stu served as Chairman of the Board of SnowSports Industries America, the trade organization representing the manufacturers of ski equipment and apparel.
After moving to Maryland in 1976, sailing became the Keiller family’s passion. With a succession of cruising sailboats culminating in the acquisition of STAR, a Bristol 47.7, the Keillers cruised the East Coast from Nantucket to Vero Beach. After spending two winters at Loggerhead Marina in Grand Harbor, and several more ashore, Diane and Stu relocated to Vero Beach in early 2016.
Recent activities have included chairing a committee of Dartmouth alumni to raise funds and build a bunkhouse at Dartmouth’s White Mountain camp, and serving as President of the Eastern Shore Council of the Navy League of the United States in Easton Maryland.
Now, as Project Manager, Stu oversees the capital campaign at YSF, including management of the fundraising efforts for a new Community Sailing Center building on our Vero Beach waterfront campus.
