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: Lauren, Richard, Tara, Tiffany, Anne, Donna, and Renee.
Alumni volunteers: Amber, Ananda, Audrey, Ben, Benjamin, Bill, Bruce, Deborah, Eliza, Jodi, John, Layne, Lori, Lory, Lowell, Michael, Marie, Michelle, Nell, Rich, Steve, Tayler, Terry, 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.

Tiara Stark - Senior Team Leader
Tiara transitioned into her current position of Senior Team Leader for Hui O Ka Wai Ola after serving two years as a South Maui Team Leader. 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. She lives in Wailuku and enjoys spending her time off at the beach, snorkeling, and hanging out with family and friends.

Ylenia St-Louis - South Maui Team Leader
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. After graduating college she began to travel, sharing her love for the marine environment. She traveled to Cozumel, Mexico and got her certification as a SCUBA instructor. She spent time in the Florida keys, Bahamas, Ketchikan, Alaska and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Eventually, ending up in Hawaii. Ylenia has been living in Hawaii for 7 years, she started her journey here in Kauai teaching SCUBA diving for seven months, before moving to Oahu, and eventually setting roots here on Maui. She started with Hui O Ka Wai Ola in 2021 as a volunteer for the West side, and eventually became a team lead for the South Maui team.

Mitch Brown - South Maui Team Leader
Mitch started with Hui O Ka Wai Ola as a volunteer on the west side in 2017. He moved to a south Maui team when the program was expanded in 2018. He soon assumed the responsibility as a Team Leader. Mitch has always been involved in water activities as he grew up in Florida and moved to California after graduating from Florida State University with a degree in biology. He moved to Maui in 2013 and continues to be active in various ocean sports such as stand up paddling, diving, and outrigger canoe paddling.

Nalei Sampson - West Maui Team Leader
Nalei grew up in west Maui and has always enjoyed water activities such as swimming, diving, paddling, and fishing. Nalei has always been active in her community by volunteering and working for a variety of organizations in natural and cultural resource conservation and management. Growing up watching her environment change, she decided to pursue marine science in college. After finishing her education with a Master’s degree in wildlife and fisheries biology, she has been eager to get back to work preserving Maui’s marine environment and its resources.

Meredith Beeson - West Maui Team Leader
As an Administrative Assistant with the Maui Nui Marine Resource Council, Meredith assists other MNMRC staff members on all kinds of projects, especially their "Know Your Ocean" Speaker Series and Pesticides/Herbicides Campaign. She is also a Team Leader for the Hui O Ka Wai Ola water quality monitoring program. She is passionate about preserving the beauty of the ocean and protecting the creatures that live in it. Meredith is originally from Houston and graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with a degree in Marine Biology.

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.

Emily Fielding (The Nature Conservancy) - Committee Member & Program Manager
Through her work with the Hui, Emily is both the Project Manager for the Quality Assured Project Plan (QAPP) and the Principal Investigator for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation funding that helped kick-start Hui O Ka Wai Ola’s initial water quality sampling in West Maui at the NOAA Priority Watersheds of Wahikuli and Honokowai. Emily helps organize and facilitate the Steering Committee and their work to expand the Hui’s sampling efforts to all of West and South Maui. She also leads the Committee in its strategic planning and organizational processes. As a water woman, healthy water for Hawai‘i’s marine life and ocean-goers is something Emily feels passionate about and is excited to put the Hui’s findings towards meaningful outcomes.

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 Member, Hui Communications & Safety Coordinator
Alana supports the Steering Committee and the incredible team of water quality volunteers by bringing to the table outreach and communications expertise. She designed the informational business card you may be handed if you pass a sampling group on the beach, and helps to continually create and manage the content, look, and feel of the Hui O Ka Wai Ola website. She also works to keep volunteers safe by developing protocol for accident prevention and management for field and lab work. When she’s lucky, she’ll join the Clean Ocean Team in the field as a certified water quality monitoring volunteer.

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!

Sofia de la Sota - Former South Maui Team Leader & South Maui Regional Coordinator
As the South Maui Regional Coordinator, Sofia oversaw the Hui's efforts from Ma‘alaea to La Perouse. She set up the lab space at the Hawaiian Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, recruited volunteers for the field, and made sure the program was ready to initiate sampling in South Maui in October, 2017. She served as the point of contact for all South Maui activities, and as the interface between Maui and the analytical lab in O‘ahu.

George Burnette - Former West Maui Team Leader
George served as a volunteer with Hui O Ka Wai Ola since the group's inception in 2016 and grew into a team leader responsible for the Polanui and Olowalu groups for 12 beaches starting at 505 Front St. in Lāhaina traveling southeast until Pāpalaua Beach Park. Responsibilities included helping to train new volunteers, ensuring qualified volunteers were available for each testing day with all necessary equipment and forms, calibrating and verifying testing equipment, processing sediment samples, reviewing data for errors and trends and, with the Regional Coordinator, caring for the lab. George has returned as a volunteer, so you'll see him pictured above as well!

Megan Edgar - Former Committee Member
Megan participated in the Hui Steering Committee as the General Manager of Maui Nui Marine Resource Council. Megan supported the Hui behind the scenes, helping to oversee the expenses of the monitoring program and secure funding for program continuation and expansion throughout Maui Nui.

Bruce Banker - Former West Maui Team Leader
Starting in early 2017 as a Hui volunteer field sampler, Bruce was part of the original team sampling sites from Honolua Bay to Kahana Village in West Maui. As a Team Leader, Bruce provided laboratory, logistic and field support for water quality sampling teams in West Maui. After almost 40 years in the environmental field, Bruce retired and moved to Maui, and enjoys fishing whenever he can.

James Strickland - Former Project Manager
As the Project Manager, James was responsible for the day to day running of the program such as volunteer outreach, training and sampling with monitoring teams, and maintaining lab equipment and inventory. He was also in charge of our community outreach and maintaining all of our standard operating procedures and Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) with the Hawai'i Department of Health.

Grace Silver - Former West Maui Team Leader
Grace grew up in a tiny town in the Colorado mountains playing and swimming in the Colorado river. As she aged, protecting water quality became her largest passion. Grace graduated in June 2019 from California Polytechnic State University with a BS in Environmental Science and concentration in hydrology. She enjoyed her role as a West Maui Team Leader working to protect the beautiful Maui reefs.

Photos: Header - Dana Reed; Volunteers and Surveyors - Ananda Stone, James Strickland