2021-2022 Executive Committee Nominations
The following individuals have been nominated to run for open seats on the Hawaiʻi Chapter and Group Executive Committees for 2021-2022. The Executive Committee elections will take place online October 15, 2020-November 16, 3030—active members will receive their ballots by email. Newly elected members will be announced in January 2021.
If you did not receive your ballot you can also vote using this link here. You need your membership number and group name.
Hawaiʻi Chapter
Nate Yuen
Nate Yuen has been a member of the Sierra Club since 1998 and has served on the Hawaii Chapter Executive Committee for the past 4 years. Nate is an amatuer naturalist, hiker, and photographer. Nate has served on the State of Hawaii Natural Area Reserves System Commission, which oversees the State’s most biologically sensitive lands. Nate is an advocate for endangered species, clean water, renewable energy, climate change, and building a just and sustainable future. It is Nate’s goal to malama the native forests by organizing tree plantings and other events to restore the ‘āina and sequester carbon.
Colin Yost
As Chair of ExCom, I’ve enjoyed partnering with Marti, staff and ExCom to reach new heights in effective advocacy and environmental protection. The climate crisis is a grave threat, but we remain focused on protecting this planet for our keiki to explore, enjoy and protect! In my day job, I’m still COO of RevoluSun and am working hard to accelerate the clean energy transformation. Mahalo for your consideration.
Kauʻi Pratt-Aquino
Kau‘i Pratt-Aquino is a Native rights and environmental advocate who has dedicated her life to improving the status of kanaka and the greater community through education, cultural stewardship and pono leadership. She believes the Sierra Club can play a critical role in strengthening the alliance between native and environmental advocates to effect positive change. As a mom and lawyer, she is committed to creating a better future for our keiki.
Kevin Jim
I am a life member of the Sierra Club and recently led the fight against the new Honolulu streetlights, getting the City to reduce the blueness of the lights. I was the founding webmaster for the Hawaiʻi Chapter (served 10 years). As a former hike leader, I think the Chapter must actively oppose trail closures. I’m the first Hawaiʻi-born person to get an Astronomy PhD from UH, and I want to continue astronomy on Maunakea. Hawaiʻi and Maunakea are the most critical places on Earth for science on the existential threats of global warming and mass extinctions.
Hawaiʻi Island Group
Debbie Ward
Debbie Ward, a thirty-five year Sierra Club member, has served as chair of the Hawaiʻi Island Group for the past two years. She has been active on issues such as Mauna Kea, Hu Honua, aquarium collecting, and native forest protection and restoration. A full-time farmer and former extension agent, Deb is grateful for the long-time support of our retiring ExCom members, and hopes that new board members and hike leaders will step up to build an even stronger group in 2021!
Jon Olson
Jon grew up in California. In 1978, he arrived in Hawaiʻi in a sailboat he built himself. He’s been in Sierra Club for decades. He has been involved in geothermal activism, energy planning, the Puna Community Development Plan, the Environmental Management Commission, and Recycle Hawaiʻi. He is a frequent testifier at government and community meetings. In addition, his background in construction and mechanics is helpful to the Club in understanding the environmental impacts of proposed projects.
Naomi Melamed
Naomi Melamed lives in Kapaʻau, North Kohala with her husband and two small children on a community farm. She seeks to maintain a clean, safe, pristine environment for seven generations out. She is inspired by regenerative agriculture, sustainability, permaculture principles, and protecting the waters from the mountain to the ocean to sky. She is on the board of Hawaiʻi Farmers Union and is an Island Leader of Keep Your Power, a Hawaiʻi-based organization working for safe technologies. She has also been a teacher, from grade school to hospital tech training, and a Primary Midwife under Supervision through the North American Registry of Midwives.
Shannon Matson
Shannon Matson was born in Honokaʻa and raised on Hawaiʻi Island. As an alumni of UH Hilo, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication, she has been an active community leader in Hilo and Puna for over 15 years. She graduated from the Kuleana Academy leadership training program in 2016. Currently, Shannon serves on the board of Recycle Hawaiʻi and recently was the East Side Vice-Chair for the Hawaiʻi County Democrats. She is currently serving as a member of the State Central Committee. Recently, Shannon converted a space on her property to a sustainably heated yoga studio. Shannon and her husband, John, grow kalo and raise chickens on their small farm in Hawaiian Acres. Their two children are attending public charter Hawaiian immersion schools, Pūnana Leo and Ke Kula O Nāwahīokalani’ōpu’u in Keaʻau.
Chuck Flaherty
Chuck Flaherty is a retired Certified Public Accountant. He moved to Kona in 1996 and studied Hawaiian healing with Margaret Machado, Mona Kahele, and others. He was a plaintiff in the Hokuliʻa litigation, which led to a Hawaiʻi Supreme Court finding that Hawaiʻi County has an "affirmative duty" to protect nearshore marine waters, and has been part of many other community actions to protect Hawaiʻi’s environmental and cultural resources. As president of Citizens for Equitable and Responsible Government, he led a successful effort to improve county redistricting laws, which eventually enabled Hawaiʻi Island to gain a fourth State Senate seat.
Bill Coney
Bill Coney was born and raised in Kailua, Oʻahu. He grew up on the water and enjoyed sailing, surfing and scuba diving as a young adult. In 2017, Bill co-founded Legacy Reef Foundation, based at NELHA on the Big Island. Legacy Reef Foundation restores and protects coral reefs in Hawaiʻi and around the world and operates a Coral Educational Center at NELHA. Bill currently resides on the Kohala Coast of the Big Island. He has three grown children and three grandchildren.
Maui Group
Gary Savage
Gary read John Muir's writings in high school and grew up with activist parents. He became an activist and a hippie in the sixties then joined the Sierra Club and learned that our world really needs us. The documentary "A fierce green fire” shows our collective environmental activism. We've done a lot and we have so much more to do. Gary fell in love with the Hawaiian Islands on his first visit in 1966. After years of visiting and living here for long periods, he moved to Maui permanently in 1999. Gary is an experienced waterman, an avid backpacker and an amateur naturalist.
Rich Lucas
Rich Lucas served four years as the Maui Group political chair. He is a retired attorney from Hā‘iku who is committed to protecting Maui’s open spaces, endangered species, and coral reefs. His passion is to see a Maui that is free from the need to import fuel and food to sustain its population.
Lucienne de Naie
Lucienne de Naie is a long time Club member who has served as Chair and Vice-chair of the Sierra Club of Hawai‘i Chapter Executive Committee. She is a researcher and writer whose passion is protection of native plants, streams, watersheds, and cultural sites.
Clare Apana
Clare is a native of Wailuku, Maui, and is a cultural practitioner and teacher who is deeply involved with cultural preservation issues throughout Maui. Clare received the Sierra Club’s Onipa‘a Award in 2013 for her long dedication to research and advocacy to protect Maui’s traditional cultural landscapes and burial areas. She has a Master’s Degree in Physical Therapy and has a private practice in both Maui and Honolulu.
Oʻahu Group
Navin Tagore-Erwin
I'm a climate activist, educator, farmer, artist, and an employee at the UH Office of Sustainability. I grew up in Northern California and settled on O‘ahu after finishing up my BS in Natural Resources and Environmental Management from UH Mānoa in 2017. I was spurred into action in 2017 after serving as a waste-reduction fellow with the UH Office of Sustainability and learning about the intersectional nature of climate and justice issues locally and abroad. My experience at UH inspired me to serve as an AmeriCorps VISTA at Windward Community College where I got involved with agriculture, zero waste, climate literacy, Native Hawaiian sovereignty, and overall environmental and socio-economic justice issues in Hawai‘i. As an AmeriCorps VISTA, I organized students to testify in support of Bill 40, the fossil fuel industry lawsuit, and other written testimonies on a variety of sustainability-related bills. I now work at the UH Office of Sustainability as the VISTA Program Manager working to roll out a UH system-wide sustainability coordinator program to help actualize UH’s role in Hawai‘i’s Post-COVID economic diversification efforts. Aside from UH work, I also operate a small-scale community compost program that diverts about 400 pounds of food waste per week to help feed my aunty and mines farm near Olomana. We do vermiculture, bokashi, and aerobic hot composting to support our farm.
I'm heartbroken to see Hawai‘i struggle to tackle climate justice while chained to a colonial paradigm, but also hopeful that we can bolster grassroots activism and outreach to break out of this paradigm and work towards equitable community led solutions. Although my home is in Northern California, my heart is here and I plan on spending the rest of my life in Hawai‘i practicing true aloha ‘āina.
Steve Montgomery
Steve Montgomery is a beekeeper/biologist. Explored from South Point to Nihoa. Appointed to Land Use and Natural Areas Commissions. Worked on Arctic Wildlife Refuge Wilderness Bills and Ivory Ban. Built solidarity with Native Alaskan Villagers. Hosted World Conservation Congress. Advocated Biosecurity Plan. As eight monk seals died from catlitter-disease (Toxoplasmosis), supported DLNR rules to compassionately trap unowned cats from harbors and parks. Improved political processes; mobilized Club for green candidates.
Meagan Kimsel
I am a native to Oʻahu, currently residing in Mākaha with my husband and four children. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work and am finishing my Master’s at UH Mānoa. I want to empower people to live healthy and successful lives as defined by them. I am determined to hold leaders in our state accountable for their decisions and shortfalls. This past year I helped to create the first ever Environmental Justice Task Force for a grassroots interfaith nonprofit, Faith Action for Community Equity, as well as participate in Sierra Club’s Red Hill, fossil fuel litigation, and Bill 40 campaigns with the Sierra Club. I’m passionate about social justice with a focus on Native Hawaiian issues, environmental racism, educational reform and environmental justice. My desire is to foster passionate youth in our state to be able to carry the torch of advocacy in building a more resilient, decolonized Hawaiʻi.
Hannah Hubanks
Hannah Hubanks is an environmental scientist and outdoor enthusiast on Oʻahu, currently working with various interest groups to improve soil health as a natural resource in Hawaiʻi. She is skilled in science communication and outreach across disciplines and backgrounds, with a passion for increasing awareness of conservation efforts. Serving on the Oʻahu Group's Executive Committee aligns with her goals to take action in advocating for and protecting nature in Hawaiʻi.
Anthony Aalto
Anthony Aalto has been an active member of the Club for over a dozen years. He helped lead the campaigns against the Ho‘opili and Koa Ridge developments. He chaired the O‘ahu Group from 2012 through 2017 and headed the Club’s Political Action Committee for several years. Most recently he helped lead the Club’s successful campaign to amend the city charter to create the Honolulu Office of Climate Change Sustainability & Resiliency.
Kauaʻi Group
Rayne Regush
A diligent advocate for protecting Kauaʻi’s environment, Rayne has served on the Group ExCom since 2004 and as Group Rep to the Chapter for 5 years. She is passionate about preserving the island’s rural character, waters and cultural resources. With her knowledge of environmental laws and processes, she researches and writes testimony frequently to help guide decision makers towards better choices. Rayne actively monitors certified shoreline applications to see that public coastlines are not diminished by new development. She also serves on the State Na Ala Hele Kauai Advisory Council with a focus on preserving access along traditional/customary trails before it is lost.
Bob Nishek
Bob is a lifetime Sierra Club member who’s been leading hikes and service projects for the Kaua‘i Group for over 29 years. He served on the Kaua’i Group ExCom for 3 terms. Bob coordinated a Native Hawaiian plant restoration project for the Sierra Club as well as invasive plant species removal projects. He is a plant expert and is a tour guide at National Tropical Botanical Gardens.
Jade Moss
Jade Moss is running for her 2nd term on the Kauaʻi Group Executive Committee. She's currently the Co-Vice Chair of the Hawaiʻi Chapter Executive Committee, and is the Chair of the Communications Committee. Jade would like to see a renewed commitment to protecting the environment from local organizations and the government now that the slowdown of 2020 has allowed many places to heal. She feels we're moving into unprecedented territory on so many fronts that we can't afford for environmental considerations to take a backseat any longer, especially fresh water protections, soil remediation, and healthy food production for local consumption. E ola i ka wai.
Julio Magalhães
Julio is a retired planetary climate scientist and former Global Warming Program Coordinator staffer with Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter in Silicon Valley. He has been a member of the Club since 1989 and led hikes for the Kauaʻi Group every 2 weeks for 1.5 years prior to COVID-19 and is Outings Co-Chair. For over 20 years Julio was funded by NASA to research planetary climate. In 2002 his focus shifted to protecting planet Earth. This shift included executing a Sierra Club campaign of local action on climate disruption for 6 years. Julio is passionate about climate disruption, sustainability, air pollution, Kauaʻi and hiking.
Kip Goodwin
I am a retired building contractor and fourteen year resident of Wailua Homesteads. Being on the Executive Committee has allowed me to act on urban sprawl, water justice—particularly the misappropriating diversion of Waiʻaleʻale waters, militarization and the effects of climate disruption. I was an organizer for the sailboat Golden Rule's two week visit to Kauaʻi as it sails on a transpacific voyage to Hiroshima, Japan promoting a nuclear free future. I'm also the director of the youth outreach program 808truth2youth.org. Kauaʻi is a very special place that holds special promise. I want to be part of fulfilling that promise.
Executive Committee Member Roles and Responsibilities
Understand and promote the mission of the Sierra Club
Attend all Executive Committee meetings and General meetings
Lead and provide educational training and/or conservation opportunities to the general membership
Promote the Outings Program
Participate in long range planning
Actively assist in fundraising activities or contribute financially
Ensure financial stability and solvency
Modify and allocate resources; must be consistent with the opportunities, the abilities, and the commitment of the chapter/group
Monitor, question, and evaluate club activities
Provide Leadership and Vision within the chapter/group
Contribute a sense of camaraderie and teamwork