LEADERSHIP
Paul Cayard, Director
Doug DeVos, Director
JJ Fetter, Director
John Hele, Director
William Ruh, Chairman of the Board
Doug Smith, Director & Chief Admin Officer
Anna Tunnicliffe Tobias, Director
Leandro Spina, Executive Director
Charlie McKee, Head Coach
Board of Directors
Paul Cayard, Director
Paul Cayard has been a professional sailor for over 40 years, competing in the sport’s top events. He is a seven-time World Champion, two-time Olympian, and the first American skipper to win the Whitbread Round the World Race. He has competed in seven America’s Cups, winning the Louis Vuitton Cup in 1992 and finishing as runner-up in 2000. Over the past decade, he has dedicated significant time to giving back to the sport.
Paul first sailed on Lake Merritt in Oakland at age seven and later joined St. Francis Yacht Club’s junior program. After four America’s Cup campaigns, he co-founded AmericaOne in 1995 to challenge for the 2000 Cup, making it to the challenger finals before falling to Prada. Following the campaign, AmericaOne transitioned into a grant-making organization, donating over $6 million to U.S. youth and Olympic sailing programs.
After the passing of AmericaOne COO Bob Billingham in 2014, Paul took over as Managing Director, overseeing the foundation’s efforts in youth sailing development. In 2023, he helped transition AmericaOne back into a racing team.
Paul has been recognized as Rolex Yachtsman of the Year (1998) and inducted into both the US Sailing Hall of Fame (2011) and the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame (2020). He is also a Rolex Ambassador.
Paul served as Chairman of the Board for St. Francis Yacht Club (2019-2020), continues as a director of AmericaOne Racing, and serves as President of the International Star Class—where he actively races, often alongside his son Danny.
Doug DeVos, Director
Doug DeVos is a global business leader and passionate sailor. He is the co-chairman of Amway, chairman of the National Constitution Center and longtime advocate for leadership, entrepreneurship and free enterprise.
On the water, Doug is an accomplished competitive sailor and Team Principal of American Magic, the U.S. Challenger for the 37th America’s Cup. He has won multiple world championships, including in the TP52 and Maxi 72 classes, and has been a driving force in advancing high-performance sailing in the United States.
Doug has long been committed to growing the sport, supporting programs that develop youth sailors, Olympic athletes, and professional teams. His leadership in Quantum Racing has helped shape the landscape of grand prix sailing, while his involvement in American Magic has reinforced his dedication to seeing U.S. teams succeed on the world stage.
A firm believer in the power of teamwork, Doug sees sailing as a reflection of leadership, strategy and continuous improvement. His passion for the sport, combined with his deep experience in business and governance, brings invaluable perspective to America One Racing as it enters its next phase of Olympic and high-performance development.
JJ Fetter, Director
JJ Fetter is a two-time Olympic medalist, world champion, and a four-time Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year. She volunteers extensively in the sport, focusing her efforts on youth and Olympic development.
In 1992, she competed with Pamela Healy in the Barcelona Olympics where they won the bronze medal as part of the US team that won a record nine medals in ten classes. Her belief that the US team can regain its former position on the podium in multiple classes fuels her drive to support A1R’s mission.
For the 2020 and 2024 Olympic quads, she chaired the International Selection Committee that developed the procedures for selecting sailing athletes to Pan Am Games, Olympics and other restricted-entry, international events. JJ has also volunteered on the Olympic Sailing Committee and US Sailing’s Board of Directors.
Her sailing achievements in a wide range of disciplines, from college sailing to Olympic dinghy sailing to the international match racing circuit, have broken barriers and created opportunities for women in sailing. JJ was a collegiate All-American at Yale University and the first female varsity team captain. In match racing, she was the first female skipper at many prestigious international events and the highest-ranked female in the world in 1991. JJ was the tactician and starting helmsman for the America3 Women’s team that competed in the America’s Cup Defender Series in 1994-1995. In 2015, she was inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame.
At the 2000 Olympics, JJ and teammate Pease Glaser won the silver medal in the Women’s 470. Her two daughters were both at the Sydney Games to see Mom win her second Olympic medal (her younger daughter was born just one year before the Olympic Trials).
JJ is married to famed naval architect, John Reichel, and they live in San Diego where she runs the HPYS (High Performance Youth Sailing) program that organizes clinics to give advanced training and support for youth racers on the path to international sailing success.
John Hele, Director
John Hele has had a diverse career in insurance, banking and technology and has sailed competitively for 50 years. He splits his time between Bermuda and the U.S. and holds both Canadian and U.S. citizenship.
John started sailing in Canada, racing Etchells and International 14s. He represented Canada in multiple I14 World Championships, winning the national title in 1987 and placing fifth at Worlds in Japan that same year. After moving to the U.S. in 1988, he continued to race I14s and One Design 14s until upgrading to the Swan 42 Class in 2006. He is a two-time winner of the New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup and has claimed titles at the Swan 42 U.S. Nationals and East Coast Championship. These days, he keeps busy racing IC37s, Etchells, and the TF10—a foiling trimaran that, according to him, is equal parts thrilling and terrifying.
John has been an active leader in the sailing community, helping to create the One Design 14 and serving as past president of the Swan 42 Class. He was Treasurer of the New York Yacht Club from 2018 to 2023 and currently serves on the board of the Sailing Foundation of New York and the NYYC’s Performance Sailing Fund.
He is also an enthusiastic collector of yacht club memberships, proudly belonging to the Royal Canadian Yacht Club, American Yacht Club, New York Yacht Club, Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, and the illustrious Imperial Poona Yacht Club—because why stop at four?
On the business side, John is a professional actuary with executive experience spanning investment banking, risk management, and leadership roles in global insurance, banking, and tech firms. He is currently Chair of Resolution Re Ltd. (Bermuda), Chair of the Risk Committee for SOFI Technologies (San Francisco), and Executive Chair of Portage AI Inc. (New York).
William Ruh, Chairman of the Board
William Ruh is a seasoned executive with a career spanning commercial banking, investment banking and private equity. Previously, he was a professional sailor, representing the United States in three America’s Cup campaigns. He is a multi-time world and national sailing champion who has competed in many of the world’s most renowned ocean races.
In 1994, Bill co-founded Castle Creek Capital, a series of PE funds focused on investing in U.S. community banks. After leaving in 2014, he co-founded the Cairn Capital Management Capital Opportunities Fund, an early-stage PE fund specializing in FinTech.
Bill currently serves on the board of directors for nCino, Inc., where he chairs the Compensation Committee and sits on the Audit Committee. He is also on the boards of several private FinTech companies in the payments and banking sectors. Previously, he has served on numerous boards of public and private financial services firms, most recently leading the restructuring and sale of Empyr Incorporated.
Before earning his MBA from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, Bill worked at Hood Sailmakers as Director of its Racing Division. Earlier in his career, he spent several years as a Merchant Marine officer.
His philanthropic work includes serving as Chairman of the US Sailing Foundation and as a board member of the US Sailing Association from 2019 to 2023. He spent nine years as a Trustee of the Rancho Santa Fe Foundation, including two as Chairman. Bill has also contributed to the San Diego Yacht Club’s Finance and Investment Committees and has served as a Trustee and board member for several nonprofits in North San Diego County.
Some of Bill’s earliest racing experience came on Lake Erie, where he crewed for his oldest brother on Hobie 18s and 21s. It took fifty years, but he finally took his brother’s advice and converted to a multihull sailor. He now enjoys racing Pursuit, his Marstrom 32 catamaran.
Doug Smith, Director & Chief Administrative Officer
Doug Smith is a legal and business advisor to corporations, boards and entrepreneurs, as well as a competitive sailor and advocate for the sport. He brings a wealth of knowledge on and off the water to A1R’s mission.
In 1995, Doug co-founded the first AmericaOne team, St. Francis Yacht Club’s challenge for the 2000 America’s Cup. Over the campaign, he wore many hats—general counsel, CFO, CMO, accounts payable clerk, team challenge representative and CEO. He later negotiated AmericaOne’s asset sale to Oracle Racing, funding the AmericaOne Foundation. He also served on the challenger associations for the 2000 and 2003 America’s Cups.
Doug led the AmericaOne Foundation’s investment in Olympic development, helping launch Project Podium and setting the stage for U.S. Olympic sailing success. In early 2023, he transitioned AmericaOne from a grant-making charity to a racing team. He also served on the US Sailing Foundation board until his removal in 2024—shortly after AmericaOne withdrew its funding. He remains a director at Treasure Island Sailing Center in San Francisco.
An active Star sailor, Doug races in San Francisco Bay and internationally. He demonstrated a deep commitment to mediocrity in two Star Olympic trials and currently chairs the Star Class International Governing Committee. He categorically denies being a yachting bureaucrat.
Off the water, Doug advises companies and boards on corporate governance, M&A and management changes. He is a retired partner from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where he led its financial institutions team.
Anna Tunnicliffe Tobias, Director
Anna Tunnicliffe Tobias owns, manages and coaches at T2 Fitness in Pittsburgh, PA, while also coaching youth sailing squads and programming fitness plans for sailors and teams.
Anna discovered sailing as a child in the UK but became truly hooked after moving to the U.S. in 1996. Watching the Olympics that year sparked her dream of winning gold, but it wasn’t until her college years at Old Dominion University that she became competitive at a national level. After a standout collegiate career, she jumped into Olympic sailing for the next decade.
Anna is a two-time Olympian, winning gold in the ILCA 6 at the 2008 Olympics and finishing fifth in Women’s Match Racing in 2012. She is a four-time US Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year and two-time Rolex World Sailor of the Year. She has raced professionally with GAC Pindar and Alinghi in the Extreme 40 series and coached multiple U.S. youth and Olympic development teams.
After a brief break from competition during the Rio 2016 cycle, Anna teamed up with Paris Henken for the 49er FX class, campaigning for both the 2020 and 2024 Olympics. With support from AmericaOne Racing, they trained with the world’s best.
Anna has since stepped back from competing to grow her business but remains deeply involved in sailing through coaching and fitness programming. She is excited to help shape the future of high-performance and Olympic sailing as a director of AmericaOne Racing.
Leadership
Leandro Spina, Executive Director
Leandro Spina is the mastermind behind Project Pipeline, the AmericaOne-backed initiative that made the U.S. the winningest nation at the Youth World Championships from 2017 to 2021. An expert in performance planning, he has a knack for matching athletes with the right coaches and running high-impact training camps and clinics. If there’s a blueprint for sailing success, Leandro probably wrote it.
Charlie McKee, Head Coach
Charlie McKee knows what it takes to win—twice. A two-time Olympic medalist and now a two-time medal-winning coach, he brings experience, strategy, and relentless drive to help top athletes chart and execute their path to success. If there’s a faster way around the course, Charlie will find it.