MOWSA LEADERSHIP & ORGANIZERS
The Boston Light Swim has a lengthy history and has passed through the capable hands of several race directors down the ages, including legendary New England marathon swimmer Jim Doty, who revived the swim in 1976 after a three-decade hiatus. In 2008, Greg O'Connor and Elaine K. Howley took up stewardship of BLS, co-directing the annual 8-mile race across Boston Harbor. In 2012, Greg founded the Massachusetts Open Water Swimming Association as a non-profit organizaton to further expand our mission of encouraging marathon swimming in and around Massachusetts' waterways. In 2019, Greg retired from directing the BLS and in 2021, leadership of MOWSA shifted to Elaine, Alana Aubin, and Mina Elnaccash. In 2026, Mina became President of the organization and Jess Gerber joined the board. We are pleased to be able to contribute our volunteer efforts to the lengthy tradition of open water swimming in New England.
Mina Elnaccash
MOWSA President & Group Swims Director
Mina was a pool swimmer until 2008, when she took the plunge at the Wild Fish 1-mile swim in Salem and became an instant open water convert. Since then, she has participated in numerous open water swims, including more than half a dozen marathon-distance events, and earned certifications as a USMS Level I & II Coach and USMS Adult Learn-to-Swim Instructor.
After several years of wrangling support boats for the Boston Light Swim, Mina joined MOWSA's Board of Directors in 2021 and took over as Race Director of the Boston Light Swim in 2022. She has since helped lead the Doty Swim and revived the Egg Rock Scramble, celebrating a long history of open water swims to and from Egg Rock dating back nearly a century.
Now serving as MOWSA President and Group Swims Director, she's passionate about preserving Massachusetts' rich open water swimming history, building a strong community of swimmers and volunteers, and expanding opportunities for safe, accessible open water swimming for people of all backgrounds and abilities.
A software product and program manager by day, she daydreams about her next marathon open water DNFs (somehow her favorite swims!), traveling to new breweries, wineries and swimming holes, and crafting cocktails alongside elaborate meals with her partner, Kris.
Elaine K. Howley
MOWSA Vice President & Solo Swims Director
Elaine began marathon swimming after meeting Greg O’Connor at the pool in the early 2000s who casually asked her if she'd be interested in training for an 8-mile swim in Boston Harbor. Having just finished grad school, Elaine was looking for a new challenge and returning to her open water swimming roots--she had lifeguarded for several summers on the New Jersey shore--seemed just the ticket. The 2006 race was a huge success and she swam it again in '07 and '08.
In 2010, she set the record for the fastest BLS Double as part of a tandem solo with Greg, and later became the first woman to swim the BLS Triple.
In 2012, she co-founded MOWSA to serve as steward of the historic Boston Light Swim, and began her 10+ year tenure as the event’s Race Director. In 2022, she finally passed the Race Director baton in order to focus on fostering MOWSA’s rapidly growing Solo Swims program -- organizing and sanctioning marathon swims along half a dozen regular MOWSA routes, as well as strategizing with distance swimmers to chart the course of their choosing in Massachusetts waters.
Elaine’s own marathon swimming career is by no means limited to Boston Light. She has also completed the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, a solo length of Loch Ness, and was the first person to swim the 32-mile length of Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho, among other ultramarathons.
When she's not swimming, Elaine is an award-winning freelance journalist, writer, and editor. She lives in Waltham with her husband, Mark.
Alana Aubin
MOWSA Treasurer
Alana has been a competitive pool swimmer since childhood and was introduced to open water swimming after college via a brief stint in triathlon. She had so much fun doing BLS in 2018 that she attempted a Boston Light Swim Double in 2019, succeeding and setting a new course record of 6:18:01. She also holds the course record for MOWSA’s Around Nahant swim (3:44:36), set in 2024. In 2021, Alana joined the board of directors of MOWSA as vice president.
Alana trains with Boston University Masters and is a USMS Level III Coach as well as the Immediate Past Chair of the New England LMSC. She loves to compete in open water races and Masters swim meets across New England.
Alana works as a data analyst and recently welcomed a daughter with her husband, Kyle.
Kellie Lattimer
MOWSA Safety Director & Board Director
Kellie learned how to swim in the chilly waters of Casco Bay, Maine. After 15 years competing in the pool and a brief detour into the world of triathlon, she discovered marathon swimming.
Kellie completed a Boston Light Swim Double in June of 2019 followed by a course of her own design swimming the length of Long Lake in Harrison, ME in 2020. In 2022, she went on to complete the full length of Lake Memphremagog in an In Search of Memphre swim from Newport, VT to Magog, Canada, as well as 20 Bridges - the circumnavigation of Manhattan Island.
Kellie has contributed as operational Safety Director for the Boston Light Swim for some time, expanding this to all MOWSA Group Swims in recent years, and as of 2027 will join as the newest member of the MOWSA Board of Directors.
Jessica Gerber
MOWSA Secretary & Boater COORDINATOR
Jess grew up on the Jersey Shore and has swam competitively both pool and ocean her entire life. She competed in her first Mile-Ocean Swim in 1984 when she was 11. Her well-meaning Dad rented “JAWS” the night before; though terrified, she had an amazing swim and was hooked! (Plus, Dad walked the beach in support.)
In 1991 she moved to Boston to swim for Northeastern University and held the school record in the mile for quite some time. But it wasn’t until she met the Crusty Barnacles in 2019 that she saw the light and “found her people.”
Jess completed the Boston Light Swim in 2022 and had so much fun that she joined the BLS Committee! But her most recent swimming accomplishment was an extra challenging Nantasket to Nahant swim that threw everything at her: delays, fog, chop, and even a little extra distance!
In her spare time, she works on her house in Marshfield; she is both an acupuncturist and a birthing doula on the South Shore.
KEY OrganizERS
Without the dedicated efforts of these long-standing core team, the Boston Light Swim and other MOWSA swims wouldn’t be the events that they are.
Rena Demeo, Food and Beverage Wrangler
Rena has lived most of her life in Boston with the exception of 10 years in the Pacific Northwest. She moved back home because she missed being so close to the ocean. Rena also missed the thrill of mountain biking and going down hill wicked fast, and found her way to the Nahant Knuckleheads. There she met the greatest group of people doing amazing swims. Rena is now an ice/winter swimmer. She also loves crewing for her friends and learns so much from all of their epic journeys. She hopes to follow in their wake some day and do her own epic swims. For now, she loves the ice. Both for swims or a lovely Old Fashioned.
Mike Lynch, BHYC Liaison
Mike was a 2018 relay finisher with son, Dan Lynch and daughter, Justine Lynch. “When we finished, we had seconds to spare!” he says. Mike swims from BHYC to K Street Beach daily from April to November, then in the Parkway Y pool where he’s swum since he was in diapers. He’s participated in many of the Jim Doty Memorial Mile swims. A Boston native, Mike’s been swimming out of Boston Harbor Yacht Club for years, since 1962 — “since before the MWRA fixed the waste outfall, so we spent our youth doing the breaststroke to keep the scum away!” A self-described slow swimmer and an average sailor, Mike is active at the Boston Harbor Yacht Club, which has had a longstanding relationship with the Boston Light Swim since Jim Doty revived the event back in the late ’60s.
Polly Madding, Marketing
Growing up in Florida, Polly was a pool swimmer until she moved to Oregon in 1996. She picked up swimming again in 2012 and decided to try open water in 2017. Her first marathon swim will be BLS in 2021. She’s also recently become a winter swimmer and enjoys the winter swim festival in Lake Memphremagog.
Greg O’Connor
MOWSA Founder, President from 2012-2021
Boston Light Swim Director/Co-Director 2009-2018
A lifelong swimmer, Greg O'Connor competed on the varsity team at Gettysburg College. He retired from swimming after graduation, but several years later, dismayed by middle-aged spread, he decided it was time to get back in the water. He set his sights on completing the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim in Maryland, and before long, he was hooked on open water. He soon decided to see whether he could go farther, and in 2006, he completed his first Boston Light Swim. From there, he's gone on to complete a solo crossing of the Catalina Channel, a solo loop around Manhattan Island, a double Boston Light Swim, a solo cross-Cape Cod Bay swim, and in 2018 he completed all seven stages of NYOW's 8 Bridges Swim down the Hudson. He was the first person to complete the cross-Massachusetts Bay Swim. When he's not swimming, he works as a cancer research scientist and is raising his son Finnian with his wife Wendy. He retired from the organization in 2021.
Mark Howley (RD spousal support), Elaine Howley (race director) and Greg O'Connor (director emeritus) enjoy a beer at the 2018 pre-race dinner, courtesy of our 2018 beer sponsor, Castle Island Brewing Company.
Photo by Jon Washer