Board of Directors

Vince Barton 

I was introduced to the Thousand Islands through my wife, and I quickly fell in love with its beauty, its people, and its history.  We have a cottage, built in 1883, on Murray Isle that has been in her family for three generations.  We’re extremely lucky to be able to spend our summers at the cottage with our son and daughter, true River Rats, along with the family dog.  I volunteer with TIA to help give back to the place that has given us so much.

Janet Smith-Staples

I started coming to the 1000 Islands as a young girl in the ’70’s. In the beginning our time was spent on park islands in the Admiralty group as well as the Lake Fleet group of islands. Before long our family had discovered more river, more islands and more friends. Fast forward many years to today with my own family in tow, I’ve returned to The River full time, both on Sagastaweka Island  (Admiralty Group) and in Clayton NY.  We cherish The River and it’s community (on both sides) and I’m very pleased to be serving on the board for an organization that loves this area as much as I do.

Jim Cote

I grew up in Gananoque and have vivid memories from the 1950s of regular family picnics on Beaurivage, getting around the river in a boat built by my father, who worked for Cliffe Craft. In the 1980s, I was able to purchase an island (Fort Wallace) and have since been fortunate to spend a good part of my summers on the river. In retirement, I currently enjoy a cottage on Stave Island and a year-round home on the Parkway with my wife Donna. I have been a TIA member for over 30 years, and I’m volunteering with TIA now to give back and help others safely enjoy the river in all of its glory. 

Alec Turner

I grew up enjoying summers at our family cottage, on an island, on a back lake an hour north of Kingston.  This is where my love of the water, and all it brings, began. It was in my late teens, when I was able to muster up enough money to buy my own boat, that I started to venture to other waters and discovered the River.  I was hooked, a river rat in the making!  Since 2002 Daria and I have enjoyed the good fortune of living year round on the river along the Canadian mainland on the bateau channel, just an engine warm up from the Admiralty Islands, a dream come true.  I’m happy to be embarking on another “river adventure” volunteering as a member of the TIA board.

Chris Edwards

I first discovered the Thousand Islands when I moved to the Gananoque area in high school and had the opportunity to work in the islands in the summers, which left a lasting impression.  While I left the region to pursue my education and later a law practice, I felt the familiar “pull” back to the islands, and I finally returned to the region in 2004.  Today my family has the privilege of spending as much time as possible at a cottage on an island in the Lake Fleet Group and experiencing the joy of watching our three daughters also fall in love with the islands. TIA’s activities are critical to our region, and I was very pleased to join the Board in 2022. 

Ken White

I grew up in Watertown, first cruising the River with family in 1957. In 1961 my family acquired Hambly Island, where I am currently the “Intergenerational Maintenance Guy”. I attended The Hill School, then studied Electrical Engineering at Cornell University, receiving BS and MEng (Electrical) degrees in Control Systems. Subsequently I worked at Procter & Gamble and RJR Nabisco, before moving back to Ithaca, NY and establishing a consulting company specializing in non-contact inspection and machine vision. I joined the TIA Board in June 2011.

Orm Murphy

My family purchased Apahoqui Island in the Admiralty Group in 1920 and it has been the family summer home for four generations. I was President of TIA from 1997 to 1999 and then from 2011 to 2014. My father, Dr. W.O. Murphy, served on the TIA Board in the 1950’s. Cathy and I make our winter home in Ottawa but open the cottage when the ice leaves and close in November, enjoying all three seasons on the River.