Hillary Abbey

Hillary enjoys any sport that involves being on the water. An avid sailor who could often be found catching the wind on Boston Harbor. She learned to row at GGRC in 2005 after years of watching the rowers on the Charles. She practices in the mornings with its beautiful sunrises and entertaining wildlife, is one of the club's most active volunteers, and, in addition to being the current president of the GGRC Board of Directors, intent of bringing the benefits of the sport to others, including local youth. Hillary has completed in numerous regattas throughout the years with GGRC, including the four Head of the Charles Regattas.

Hillary is a Director of Program Management most recently at Northland and has a BS from Cornell University. She lives in Cambridge, MA.

You can reach Hillary at hillary@gentlegiantrowing.org

Jeff Barry

Jeff has been rowing with Gentle Giants since 2015. He finds that there is no better way to start the day then to be part of a boat on the Mystic River – an environmental oasis lined with trees and teaming with wildlife.

He was introduced to rowing while at Skidmore College. For many years, his passion for crew lay dormant until he overheard a colleague talk about GGRC at which point he immediately joined.

Jeff has a BA from Skidmore College and MALD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts and founded Boston Organics grocery delivery service where he currently works.

Dan Bronson

Dan rowed as a teenager and into his early twenties, with about 15 competitive seasons over 10 years. He competed once at Henley and at all the New England regattas, including many times at the Head of the Charles, but that was a long time ago. He could have been a great rower if he had only applied himself. Like many rowers, he is a former employee of Gentle Giant Moving Company. A graduate of the Tufts Geology Department with an MS from Stockbridge Agricultural School at UMass, he is now a self-employed master driller serving the environmental and geotechnical industries. He is a GGRC Youth Program parent.

Al Gehant

Al was a four year oarsman and senior year captain at Loyola Academy in Wilimette, IL. He served as captain at Northeastern University where he was a member of finalist varsity eights in the Eastern Sprints and IRA. Most recently he has rowed in medaling crews for both GGRC and Northeastern University Rowing Alumni.

As a coach and rowing director, Al began in the summer of 1999 at Northeastern University Summer Rowing and coached there two more summers. He coached CRLS Crew for two years and GGRC programs including Somerville High School for six years. He served on the Board of the CRASH B's and co-chaired a number of committees for the Head of the Charles Regatta.

Presently he serves as the Treasurer of the GGRC Board of the Directors and is a co-founder of GGRC.

Al has a Bachelors of Science in Mathematics from Northeastern University and a Masters in Education Administration from UMass Boston. He has worked for the Cambridge Rindge Latin School over the span of twenty years where he is currently the Dean of Curriculum for Learning Community and the Science Department. He lives in Cambridge with his wife and son.

Jeanne Miller

Jeanne is the youth parent representative from Somerville; her daughter has rowed with GGRC in the fall and summer, and with the Somerville-Everett high school team in the spring.  Jeanne is an avid runner and finds the sight of early morning rowers alluring as she runs along the Mystic and Charles rivers.  She is considering learning to row herself some day. 

Jeanne has a B.A. in French and Education from Dartmouth College, a M.Ed. in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard, and a C.A.G.S. in Developmental Studies from the B.U. School of Education.  She has been teaching at the International School of Boston (French/American bilingual school) for 25 years at the early childhood campus.  Her interests include early literacy, bilingualism, and biliteracy, and she has raised her three daughters bilingually, speaking French and English.  Jeanne’s comprehension of crew speak has been steadily increasing the more she listens to rowers, and she hopes to achieve fluency in the future.

Gretchen L. Wehrle-Scott

Gretchen spotted a small ad in the Somerville Journal in the summer of 2004 that promised "Learn to Row on the Mystic".  The ad brought her to Gentle Giant Rowing. Learning the sport as an adult, she surprised herself when it quickly became a passion.  She loves being part of this great group of diverse and welcoming people who get together at the crack of dawn to work on the physical and mental challenges of the ultimate team sport.  Continuous improvement is the mantra - to become stronger and faster, together.  On the board of directors, Gretchen is co-chair of the Membership Committee and the Learn-to-Row program. 

Gretchen has a BA from Albertus Magnus College and  MALD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts and has a 30+ year career in the financial services industry, both in government and the private sector.