The Team

Meet the Clean Ocean Team!

Volunteers

Mahalo to Hui O Ka Wai Ola’s dedicated volunteers for putting the "quality" in water quality monitoring! Our community-minded volunteers contribute in a number of ways, from collecting ocean water samples at sites in West and South Maui every two to three weeks, to taking a closer look at the samples back at the lab and entering findings into our database. Their work helps the Maui community to know what’s in their coastal waters. Join our Clean Ocean Team to help expand monitoring to other locations across Maui.

Current volunteers not pictured: Kelly.
Alumni volunteers: Amber, Ananda, Andrea, Anne, Audrey, Ben, Benjamin, Bill, Brenda, Bruce, Charmaine, Deborah, Donna, Eliza, Flo, George, Jim, Jodi, John, Judy, Lauren, Layne, Lindsay, Lori, Lory, Lowell, Michael, Marie, Margie, Michelle, Nell, Renee, Rich, Richard, Rick, Seraph, Sheryl, Steve, Tara, Tayler, Terry, Tiffany, and Tina.

Project Management Team

Our Project Management Team consists of dedicated Team Leaders and a Data Manager. Team Leaders lead small groups of volunteers in the field and in the lab to gather, transport, and process water quality samples. Our Data Manager helps to keep the data collected by Hui volunteers quality assured and shared quarterly on our website.

Liz Yannell - Hui O Ka Wai Ola Program Manager
Liz joined the Hui as Senior Team Leader in May 2022 and became the Program Manager in June 2023. She has a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from Florida Gulf Coast University. In 2022, Liz graduated from the Marine Options Program at UH Maui and worked as the assistant in the marine lab on campus. As Senior Team Lead, she is primarily responsible for coordinating various aspects of the program, including field, lab, and logistical support, coordinating fellow team leads, and managing the volunteer program. Her responsibilities include overseeing monitoring operations and data collection, entry, and record-keeping; team lead and volunteer training and coordination; preparing and maintaining supplies and equipment; and meeting with advisory Technical and Steering Committees to ensure successful continuity and growth of the program. She also often joins volunteers in collection and analysis of coastal water samples in the field. Liz is from O'ahu and currently lives in Kula with her two kids and husband. She loves all things ocean-related and is very passionate about coral reef conservation.

Ylenia St-Louis - South Maui Team Lead
Ylenia started with Hui O Ka Wai Ola in 2021 as a volunteer for the West side, and eventually became a Team Leader for the South Maui team in 2022. Originally from New York City, Ylenia’s love for the ocean began at a very young age. She went to college in New Jersey where she earned her bachelor's degree in Marine Biology, then spent time in the Florida Keys, Bahamas, Ketchikan, Alaska, and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, receiving her SCUBA instructor certification while in Cozumel, Mexico. Ylenia has been living in Hawai'i for 7 years.

Nancy (Maile) Sharpe - South Maui Team Lead
Maile joined the Hui as a volunteer in 2018 when she was a student in the Sustainable Science Program at University of Hawai'i Maui Campus, while also serving as a volunteer for Surfrider’s Blue Water Task Force. Maui’s water quality and distribution issues were the personal focus of her science study. As an enthusiast paddle boarder, she takes note of the alarming decline in our near-shore coastal reefs. Maile earned her BASS/PSYCH degree from University Hawai'i West Oahu Campus and is interested in bridging social science with environmental science. She values the natural camaraderie that develops when people join for meaningful projects. Maile feels it is her kuleana to support, protect, and replenish the native environment that has been so benevolent to her.

Jess Erwin - West Maui Team Lead
Jess first reached out to the Hui with an interest in volunteering and quickly found her niche as a Team Lead in November 2022. She moved to Maui in 2021 after completing a Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology at the University of West Florida. Her passion for ocean conservation has taken her around the world from Honduras to remote islands in Indonesia researching and restoring coral reefs. As a former expedition guide and science educator, Jess hopes to bridge the gap between science and the public through community outreach and citizen science. Her favorite quote is “We are all connected to the ocean. Without healthy oceans, no life, not even on land, can exist.” – Jean-Michel Cousteau

Emily Johnson - West Maui Team Lead
Emily started with Hui O Ka Wai Ola in November 2022 as a West Maui Team Leader. Emily is a Minnesota native who received her bachelor’s of science degree in Marine Science from Eckerd College in Florida. She has spent her last 8 years on Maui working on the water and turning science into action through a variety of employment and volunteering opportunities with nonprofits that have had a collective mission to protect our oceans through science and advocacy. As a surfer, diver, sailor, underwater photographer, scientist and ocean enthusiast, Emily is excited to inspire environmental stewardship in the community by monitoring and sharing the status and health of Maui Nui’s coastal ocean waters.

Bill Rathfon - Data Manager
Bill has been supporting Hui O Ka Wai Ola by providing technical support and sometimes helping in the field with his wife, Dana Reed. His background as a software developer and database administrator naturally lead to the role of Data Manager, assuring that the data that are reported to the public and governmental agencies are accurate and consistent. He has also provided imagery, sometimes using a drone, documenting particularly bad drown water runoff events or collection activities of the group.

Cathy Maxwell - Technical Advisor
Cathy has been part of Hui O Ka Wai Ola since it began in early 2016. She was a member of one of the original teams that tested water quality in West Maui, helping to collect samples at 6 sites from Olowalu to Polanui. She then became a Team Leader to help train volunteers for 6 new sites in West Maui and 12 new sites in South Maui, and to provide lab and logistical support for the teams testing water quality at the 12 northernmost sites from Honolua Bay to Wahikuli Beach Park. She now acts as an advisor to other Team Leaders in West Maui. Cathy lives in West Maui with her husband, Jim, who is also a Hui volunteer.

Steering Committee

Hui O Ka Wai Ola’s Steering Committee guides volunteer efforts. Its members provide technical expertise and coordinate with the Department of Health to determine where, how, and when water quality is tested, and also what pollutants to look for. The committee is comprised of representatives from organizations that formed Hui O Ka Wai Ola to help ensure the public has access to accurate information on water quality.

Dana Reed - Committee Member and Quality Assurance (QA) Officer
As the west Maui regional volunteer coordinator, Dana plays a huge role in introductory and refresher trainings for volunteers and regularly organizes get-togethers among the Clean Ocean Team. Behind the scenes, she is responsible for securing and maintaining lab space and lab equipment, processing sediment samples, and storing and shipping nutrient samples to the analytical SOEST laboratory on O‘ahu. Dana maintains volunteer records as well as all the data sheets collected during west Maui sampling sessions. She is also responsible for data analysis and works with the technical committee to report out to the public on their findings. To ensure that there is always adequate coverage in the field or lab, Dana steps in when a team leader is unavailable or additional hands are needed for sampling.

Tova Callender (West Maui Ridge To Reef Initiative) - Committee Member
Tova sits on the Steering Committee where she supports progress in formalizing the organizational architecture, and weighing in on issues that arise as the Hui grows. As the coordinator for the West Maui Ridge to Reef Initiative, she also looks for synergies, connections to funding, and related efforts linked to West Maui, and has an eye towards how water quality monitoring results point to issues that can be addressed through mitigation projects in the watershed. She feels blessed to be a part of this group, which in true barn-raising style, is made up of stellar people who rush to help in whatever way they can.

Kim Falinski (The Nature Conservancy) - Committee Member & Lead Scientist
Kim has worn lots of hats within the Hui as the organization grows, from helping to write, assemble and organize the Quality Assured Project Plan (QAPP), to purchasing initial equipment for the lab, to developing budgets to assess how much the program would cost to run. She continues to develop the QA process with help from the Hui and the state Department of Health, works directly with S-LABs on data methods and procedures, enters and checks data from volunteers, and analyzes data for reporting and publishing. In other words, she likes data, and is working on strategies that makes data processing easier for everyone! She helps to design and teach volunteer training courses works to promote the Hui's work, and hopes that the Hui model will help other communities.

Robin Newbold (Maui Nui Marine Resource Council) - Committee Member
As co-founder and chair of the Maui Nui Marine Resource Council, Robin spends most of her time thinking about coral reef health and steps we can take to improve it. In 2014, Robin initiated the effort to bring together representatives from State, County, public and private organizations to address Hawai‘i State Department of Health reports of seriously degraded coastal water quality in Maui County. From this meeting, the need for Hui O Ka Wai Ola – and a Quality Assured Project Plan - was born. Her background as a marine biologist, with 1000s of underwater research dives around Maui and elsewhere in the Pacific, make her keenly aware of the degradation of coral reef health around Maui Nui. Her 10+ years of experience running a non-profit on Maui lends well to her leadership role on the Steering Committee and her fundraising success. With support from the Hui, Robin is spearheading the expansion of our water quality monitoring efforts to South Maui.

Larry Stevens (Maui Nui Marine Resource Council) - Committee Member
Larry is a veteran software industry executive, who now makes Maui his home. He has helped establish the Maui Nui Marine Resource Council’s online presence and consults on management and planning. He also cleans up beaches! In addition to serving on the Hui's Steering Committee, Larry serves on MNMRC’s Board of Directors, the board of the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust, and is a board member of the Oneloa Colation. He is also a member of the Planning Committee and Marine Committee of the Kihei Community Association.

Amy Hodges (Maui Nui Marine Resource Council) - Committee Member, Hui Logistics Coordinator
Amy participates in the Hui Steering Committee as the Operations and Programs Coordinator for Maui Nui Marine Resource Council. She helps to oversee the expenses of the monitoring program, and to secure funding for program continuation and expansion throughout Maui Nui. She can often be found working behind the scenes, helping to organize and document volunteer events or promoting the Hui's latest efforts on social media. As an avid paddler, having clean water is something that's near and dear to her heart.

Alana Yurkanin (The Nature Conservancy) - Committee Chair, Communications
Alana supports the Steering Committee and the incredible team of water quality volunteers as the Hui Chairperson. As the Maui Marine Program Manager for The Nature Conservancy's Maui Marine Team, she brings to the table outreach and communications expertise as well as project management skills. She helps to continually create and manage the content, look, and feel of the Hui O Ka Wai Ola website and supports the Hui partnership to flourish.

Hui O Ka Wai Ola Alumni

These are members of the Hui O Ka Wai Ola Steering Committee and Project Management Team who no longer hold their position but whose efforts have made lasting impacts!