SBC USA
Board of Directors
Russ Matijevich
Board Member
Russ “Mr Wizard” Matijevich grew up with a love for the water and an appreciation for boating thanks to friends and family. He discovered sailing in the summer of 1984 just after high school graduation and instantly fell in love with the sport (the cute girl on the bow may have helped) but then he was off to college and the USAF where sailing opportunities were few and far between. After spending nearly 22 years as a US Air Force officer he retired with his final duty station at the Pentagon. He rediscovered sailing in 2009 and has been making up for lost time ever since to include amassing nearly 8000 miles of offshore sailing. He purchased his beloved 1988 C&C 44, Widow Maker, in 2021 and enjoys racing, cruising, and taking Sail Beyond Cancer honorees out on her creating a pocket of peace for them to escape and enjoy the healing power of sailing the Chesapeake Bay.
Suzanne Whitney
Board Treasurer
Suzanne Whitney grew up sailing on Chesapeake Bay as a young child when her father bought a Penguin for her brother and her when she was five years old. Since that time, she has raced and cruised with her family all over the Chesapeake Bay and as far north as Maine. Suzanne and her husband, Beau, sailed C & C sailboats for many years until purchasing their current Sabre 42 sailboat in 2010. She has sailed with Special Olympics from 2010 to the present and with Chesapeake Regional Accessible Boating from 2019 to the present. Her professional career has been in education, working as a French teacher, a lower school teacher, and guidance counselor. Throughout that time, Suzanne kept busy with numerous volunteer organizations including the Outreach Committee of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Ruxton, Maryland, the Food Pantry at the Assistance Center of Towson Churches, the Gibson Island Yacht Squadron, the Gibson Island Historical Society, two area Garden Clubs, and is currently serving on the board of the Chesapeake Bay Sabre Association. She became interested in and then involved with Sail Beyond Cancer Annapolis after hearing Suzanne Snyder speak at a Chesapeake Bay Sabre Association annual meeting. Recalling the importance of sailing with her father as he battled colon cancer, and experiencing her mother’s struggle with breast cancer, Suzanne understands the value of SBC. She and her husband began captaining their boat for SBC - Annapolis in 2022.
Ken Zemba
Board Member
Born and raised in Pittsburgh (and a lifelong Steelers fan), Ken discovered his love of the water during summers at Deep Creek, Maryland, where he sailed, boated, and even built his own custom slalom ski. That passion for boats has stayed with him, from restoring a sailboat to now helping others experience the healing power of sailing.
Ken enjoyed a distinguished career as a C-level executive in business and technology, holding leadership roles at PNC Bank, Bank of New York Mellon, ADP, and First Data Corporation. He also co-founded Billing Zone, a startup funded by Perot Systems and PNC Bank, working directly with Ross Perot.
As a cancer survivor who also lost his older brother to the disease, Ken views challenges as opportunities. His deep commitment to Sail Beyond Cancer USA is both personal and professional: he sails, supports operations, and applies his technical expertise to streamline processes so volunteers can focus on nominees. While rooted in Virginia, Ken is also helping expand SBC’s impact to other chapters.
Ken and his wife of 46 years live in Hayes, Virginia, where they enjoy time with their three children and five grandchildren.
Whit Wales
Board Chair
Whit believes that resilience is fostered by acceptance and that acceptance often arises when an experience transcends our attachment to a given situation. He has come to understand that for many people sailing provides that transcendent experience.
"In my involvement in Sail Beyond Cancer, I have had the privilege to share and document through photography and film people whose perspective on their physical and mental state, as well as their relationship with others, has been transformed - and for the better - by simply being able to breathe and break bread with family members and friends on a boat powered by wind, water and sail. As current board chair, I am determined to create greater awareness and to help bring as many people in this region as possible to a Sail Beyond Cancer experience."
Tim Flaherty
Board Secretary
Tim Flaherty of Solomons, Maryland, has a long background in local radio, television, and newspapers here in Maryland. He has helped develop both local and national advertising campaigns. Those campaigns also reached into the realm of “new media” to include internet-based communications. Tim has been on the boards of directors of the Annapolis Ski Club (Crabtowne Skiers, Inc); The Cove Point Beach Association, where he was President and CEO for two years; the Television, Internet and Video Association of Washington, DC, where he was President and CEO for two years; and of the Southern Maryland Sailing Association, where he served two years as Commodore and CEO. Tim worked with Suzanne to publish a short article in Sailing Magazine recently that focused on SBC and her founding efforts. As a sailor, Tim can attest to the healing and uplifting power of being under sail. He is inspired by Suzanne’s effort to create SBC, and was humbled by her request that he consider serving the organization as a volunteer and a board member. Everyone has been touched by cancer in some way. Sail Beyond Cancer is a unique, beautiful, and creative way to blend our passion for sailing with the healing and comforting properties of life under sail, thereby helping those impacted by the disease.
