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.

Alumni volunteers: Alfie, Amber, Ananda, Andrea, Anne, Audrey, Ben, Benjamin, Bill, Brenda, Bruce, Charmaine, Christoph, Dean, Deborah, Donna, Eliza, Flo, George, Harry, Helen, Jim, Jodi, John, Judy, Kit, Kukui, Lauren, Layne, Lindsay, Lori, Lory, Lowell, Marco, Michael, Marie, Margie, Michelle, Nell, Renee, Rich, Richard, Rick, Seraph, Scott, Sheryl, Steve, Tara, Tayler, Terry, Tiffany, and Tina.

Project Management Team

Our Project Management Team consists of dedicated Team Leaders, Quality Assurance (QA) Officers, 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 QA Officers and Data Manager help 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 Program Manager, she is primarily responsible for coordinating various aspects of the program, including field, lab, and logistical support, coordinating 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 8 years.

Dana Grad - South Maui Team Lead
After volunteering with the Hui water quality testing team, Dana is honored to serve as a South Maui Team Lead. Having lived in several coastal communities including Kahana, Lahaina, and Pa'ia, Dana is deeply connected to the health of Maui's waters and their impact on both residents and visitors. With a diverse background in marine-based roles, Dana has worked as a scuba diving instructor, sailboat crew member, and naturalist. Originally from Chicago, Dana earned a BS in Environmental Science from the University of Denver before continuing her westward journey to Maui from the slopes of Copper Mountain. She has also volunteered at the Maui Ocean Center Marine Institute Coral Lab, furthering her passion for marine conservation. When she’s not working, you can find Dana on or beneath the waves, whether she’s surfing, kayaking, free diving, or scuba diving.

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

Nolan Clark - West Maui Team Lead, Kupu Intern with The Nature Conservancy
Nolan is a Kupu member with TNC’s Maui Marine team. She was born and raised in New Jersey surrounded by mountains, rivers, lakes, and deciduous forests, not too far from the Atlantic Ocean. She has always been motivated to help the environment, and is happy to fulfill that initiative through safeguarding the health of Maui’s waters with Hui O Ka Wai Ola. She earned her BA in Sociology with a concentration in Environmental Law at Montclair State University in 2023. She’s grateful for the opportunity to join Hui O Ka Wai Ola and contribute to important initiatives that support our marine ecosystems and provide meaningful insights to their health. In her free time she loves art, music, yoga, and dance.

Rebecca Lesher - Lead Quality Assurance (QA) Officer
Rebecca joined the Hui O Ka Wai Ola QA Team in 2024. She spent her career in environmental engineering and construction, specializing in design and implementation of groundwater remediation systems and site assessment/remediation of landfill, petroleum, and solvent sites. She brings her experience implementing QA/QC programs for both government and private sector clients to the HOKWO QA Team. She moved to the islands in 2012 and is an avid scuba diver and underwater photographer/videographer.

Kelly James - Quality Assurance (QA) Officer
Kelly started with Hui O Ka Wai Ola in October 2022 as a junior QA Officer. Kelly is originally from California, but has roots on Maui and moved to be closer to family in 2018. Her bachelor’s degree is in Environmental Science from Oregon State, but professionally she is a Systems Administrator in the IT industry. In her spare time, Kelly is a photographer and drone pilot and loves to capture the beauty (and sometimes brown water) of Maui’s coastlines. Kelly consistently seeks out ways to see how to merge technology, remote sensing, GIS software, and science to solve the challenges that Maui faces and to mālama ka ʻāina i ke kai.

Kristina McHugh - Quality Assurance (QA) Officer
Kristina started with Hui O Ka Wai Ola in 2022 as a volunteer water testing for the South side. Originally from Santa Monica, CA, Kristina grew up spending as much time by the ocean as possible and has always been passionate about the ocean and marine life (especially sharks!). She has a BS in Environmental Science with a minor in Economics from UCSB, but professionally she is a Data & Systems Analyst in the Aerospace industry. In her spare time, Kristina loves to freedive, SCUBA dive, and spend as much time in the ocean as possible! As an ocean enthusiast, she believes it is her duty and kuleana to do what she can to protect the ocean and give back to the community. In addition to volunteering at HOKWO, she is the Surfrider Blue Water Task Force program coordinator and volunteers on the MOCMI turtle rescue team.

Dan Crevier - Data Manager
Dan grew up in California, has a bachelor’s in Physics, a PhD in Biophysics, and spent his career in Software Development before retiring in 2021. He has lived on Maui since 2018 and enjoys all sorts of outdoor activities like running, triathlons, scuba diving, and free diving. Dan began as a field volunteer with Hui O Ka Wai Ola in January 2023. Dan still regularly collects samples with the Wailea-Makena team in addition to managing and publishing HOKWO's rich dataset.

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.

Tova Callender (West Maui Ridge to Reef Initiative) - Committee Member & Chair of Technical Team
Tova sits on the Steering Committee where she supports progress in whatever manner is needed to meet the needs of the time as the program matures and evolves. Convening the “Tech Team” monthly ensures a regular meeting of the minds to analyze and contextualize data and assist the sampling team in any technical quandaries that arise. As the coordinator for the West Maui Ridge to Reef Initiative, she also looks for synergies, connections to funding, and related efforts linked to leeward Maui watershed efforts, and has an eye towards how water quality monitoring results point to issues that can be addressed through mitigation projects from ridge to reef. 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.

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.

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.

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!