Beverly Roark is the Registrar and generally the center of all activity around the School. If you need information about licenses or Coast Guard applications and evaluations, Beverly is the one to ask for. No one knows more about getting mariners through the licensing process.

Captain Dick Boyd is our Chief Instructor for license prep and tankerman courses. Dick is a most knowledgeable and capable instructor. After more than 22 years instructing, he’s seen and heard it all and knows how to get the essential information across to our students. Dick can teach you just what you need to know to successfully complete the Coast Guard’s exams.

Captain Mark Tilford is our radar and rules of the road expert. Captain Mark’s easy going manner and depth of knowledge make it easy for our students to grasp complex technical information and legal issues. Known for telling it like it is, Mark always gets rave reviews from his classes.

Chief Steve Thompson is the School’s lead fire fighting instructor. Steve really gets into teaching and obviously enjoys working with mariners. He’s not only a mariner and instructor, but also a volunteer fire fighter. With Steve as your teacher, you’ll learn not to burn!

Chief Jim Burke is the newest addition to our staff. Chief Jim is a licensed engineer with both blue and brown water experience. He’s working hard to develop a new curriculum to make it easier for our engineer students to obtain licenses. Jim also doubles as a tankerman instructor.

Captain Gary Keen is our Pittsburgh, PA "branch." A 30-year veteran of the Coast Guard, Gary has extensive river service as Officer-in-Charge of CGC’s Lantana, Greenbrier and Osage. After retiring from active duty, Gary worked as safety director for Premier Marine. Captain Keen holds 1600T Master and OUTV licenses.

The River School has offered travel courses in the Pittsburgh and Huntington areas. By opening a branch office equipped with a radar simulator, we can offer mariners in the Ohio River Valley a full range of license preparatory and Coast Guard approved courses as well as custom training programs.

Bill Kline is the School’s President. Bill has both salt water and muddy water in his blood. He’s been involved with training mariners for over 20 years. Bill teaches our radar courses as well as taking care of business.