Photo / Courtesy Carpenter’s Boat Shop
Luke O’Neill
Updated: 3 hours ago
Midcoast boat shop’s interim director brings wilderness medicine background
The Carpenter’s Boat Shop, a nonprofit boatbuilding apprenticeship program in the Lincoln County village of Pemaquid, named an interim director who brings a background in wilderness medicine education.
Luke O’Neill is a longtime wilderness instructor and nonprofit leader, will take over the apprenticeship program from Alicia Witham, who resigned at the end of February after four years at the helm, according to a news release.
O’Neill is co-owner and chief financial officer of Wilderness Medical Associates International, a Portland company that trains medically and non-medically trained learners to handle medical situations in remote and difficult environments around the world.
He oversees Wilderness Medical alongside Abby Rowe, who is also Carpenter’s Boat Shop’s president of the board.
“He is a skilled communicator who cultivates a strong, supportive community,” Rowe said. “His leadership provides an environment in which people are engaged, challenged and able to do their best work.”
O’Neill began the job immediately and plans to stay through the full 2025 apprenticeship term that ends in November.
The Carpenter’s Boat Shop, founded by the Rev. Robert Ives and his late wife Ruth in 1979, offers apprentices room, board and tuition-free training in traditional wooden boatbuilding while they live in community, learn from each other and help neighbors in need.
Community-based learning
Like Rowe and Witham, O’Neill has had a long association with Hurricane Island Outward Bound in Maine and its expedition training programs elsewhere. He has led numerous sea kayaking expeditions along the Maine coast, fostering stewardship of the region’s islands and an appreciation for its rich maritime history.
O’Neill said his “belief in the power of hands-on, community-based learning” syncs with the boat shop’s mission.
O’Neill earned bachelor’s and law degrees from Georgetown University and a master’s in business administration from Harvard Business School. He practiced corporate law for a few years but gravitated toward the nonprofit world, raising money for Outward Bound and others.
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