Jan Miles, Interim Executive Director &
Senior Captain
Captain Miles, an Annapolis High School graduate, has been with Pride of Baltimore, Inc. since 1981, when he joined as one of three rotating captains on the original Pride of Baltimore. He was the first to sail the original Pride across the North Atlantic to Europe and was at the helm for Pride of Baltimore II‘s maiden voyage in 1988. He is a tall ship master with more than 50 years of experience as a professional sailor. His voyages have included six Atlantic Ocean crossings, as well as three Pacific voyages of 5,000 miles, each taking about 25 days. He has traversed the Saint Lawrence Seaway more than a dozen times. He holds a USCG 500 Ocean Master License for Power and Sail, as well as numerous other certifications. Captain Miles has served as master or mate aboard many other vessels, including Lady Maryland, Californian, Bill of Rights, New Way, Alexandria, Brilliant, Clearwater, Elissa, Oliver Hazard Perry, and Tiare Toporo. Along the way, he also helped develop model sailing programs for youth at risk.
His accomplishments and contributions have been recognized both within and outside of the maritime community. In February 2013, Captain Miles was recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Award by Tall Ships America. In September 2005, he was the master aboard when Pride of Baltimore II suffered a catastrophic dismasting. As a result of the crew and trainees’ conduct during that event, Sail Training International awarded the ship the Special Seamanship Award. Capt. Miles was named Sail Trainer of the Year by the American Sail Training Association in 2004. He has also been recognized for his efforts to shine a positive light on Maryland, having been named Marylander of the Year by the Maryland Colonial Society in 2001.
Lori Ferrara, Development Director
Lori joined Pride of Baltimore in June 2023. She fell in love with Baltimore’s port history during her seven years working at the Baltimore Museum of Industry, which is located right on the waterfront of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. She would watch Pride sail by the museum, captivated and enchanted. As development director, she is thrilled to have the opportunity to build relationships that will raise awareness and support for Pride. Lori has a B.A. from Maryland Institute College of Art and an M.A. in Museum Studies and Historical Preservation from Morgan State University.
Patrick Smith, Program Coordinator
Patrick joined Pride of Baltimore as a deckhand on Pride of Baltimore II in March 2014 for the War of 1812 Bicentennial season and again in 2016 for the Great Lakes tour. He transitioned to the office staff in the fall of 2016, acting as a liaison to the ship and largely responsible for updating Pride’s social media channels. In 2018, Patrick left Pride to work for the Chesapeake Conservancy, but returned to Pride as the program coordinator in February 2019. Patrick is from Pasadena, Maryland, and has a B.A. in History from Saint Michaels College. He serves on the board of directors of the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race and Baltimore Tourism Association, as well as an advisory board memeber to Sail Baltimore. In 2020 he was named to Baltimore Business Journal’s 40 under 40.
Paula started her career in the accounting field in Pennsylvania after completing college, eventually moving to the Baltimore area. After spending another 30 years in corporate accounting and the account software industry, she decided to retire. Since retiring, Paula has worked part-time as the accountant for Pride, opened a full-service travel agency franchise called Cruise Planners, continues to service several of her long time software clients, and is serving her second term as Treasurer of the Board for the Baltimore Chapter of National Association for Catering and Events (NACE). Paula began working with Pride in November 2005.