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Board of Directors

John De Lapa

Chairman

When John was first elected Chairman in 2011 the size of the grant pool for the INA Archaeological Committee to award had been $10,000 per year. Increasing this amount and making INA financially independent was his goal. Through the great enthusiasm and generosity of our Board of Directors and other loyal supporters the amount of grants awarded has risen to over $150,000 annually. INA is also more financially secure than it has ever been in its almost 50 years of existence. John is a successful investor. Woodworking and brass and bronze casting are among his many hobbies. He has taught wood carving for the last 11 years at an art center near his home and tree farm in Michigan.

Jason Sturgis

Vice Chairman

Jason is an avid diver, videographer, and ship’s captain who has been an INA Director for more than a decade. Jason’s father Bill (who passed away in 2014) and mother Judy (an INA Associate Director) were actively involved with INA since the 1980s, when they visited the INA team excavating the 11th-century “Glass Wreck” in Turkey. Jason is an active member of the INA Board when he is not deep under water shooting film footage for IMAX, Smithsonian, and National Geographic!

Robyn Woodward

Treasurer

Dr. Robyn Woodward earned an M.A. in the Nautical Archaeology Program Texas A&M and a Ph.D. in Archaeology From Simon Fraser University in 2007. She spent more than a decade directing the excavations of Sevilla la Nueva, the early 16th-century Spanish capital of Jamaica. Robyn has gained an international reputation as an enrichment lecturer on cruises in the Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, and Caribbean since 1996. She serves as an INA Director, Treasurer, and INA’s representative on the Scientific and Technical Advisory Board (STAB) of UNESCO.

James Goold

Secretary and General Counsel

James “Jim” Goold has served as INA’s General Counsel for over 20 years. During that time Jim participated in numerous INA shipwreck surveys and excavations in Turkey, Israel, and Morocco. Jim also serves as Chairman of RPM Nautical, founded in 2002, with whom he has worked in Spain, Italy, Croatia, and Albania. As a lawyer at Covington & Burling LLP, Jim has represented a variety of clients in matters regarding the protection of underwater cultural heritage.

2023-2024 INA Directors
  • Oğuz Aydemir
  • Edward Boshell, Jr.*
  • John Cassils, M.D.
  • Joshua Daniel, M.A.
  • John De Lapa
  • Count Carl Douglas
  • Danielle Feeney
  • James Goold*
  • Jeff Hakko
  • Sheila Matthews, M.A.
  • Dana McGinnis
  • Krešimir Penavić
  • Anne Darden Self
  • Lynn Baird Shaw
  • Charlie Steinmetz
  • Jason Sturgis
  • General (Ret.) Mark A. Welsh III
  • Roger Williamson, M.D.
  • Robyn Woodward, Ph.D.
  • Sally Yamini
  • Kenan Yılmaz
2023-2024 Associate Directors
  • Victor Benson, M.D.
  • Raynette Boshell
  • John Broadwater, Ph.D.
  • Allan Campbell, M.D.
  • William Culp, M.D.
  • Grace Darden
  • Nicholas Griffis
  • Susan Katzev
  • James Kjorlien
  • Virginia Klein
  • Alex Nason
  • David Steffy, M.S.
  • Betsey Boshell Todd
  • Ken Trethewey, Ph.D.
  • Garry Weber

*past Chairman