HWF Board & Team

Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund’s team poses with several Board members during the HWF Marine Debris Symposium on Hawaiʻi Island in 2015
L to R: Kallie Barnes, Stacey Breining, Hannah Bernard, Megan Lamson with Nico Barrios, Maura Naughton, Bill Gilmartin, and Nadine Kehaulani Robertson.

Hannah Bernard
Executive Director and co-founder of Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund

In the 1980s, Bernard and Gilmartin were colleagues at National Marine Fisheries Service. In 1996, they chose to take a pro-active approach at wildlife recovery and together started Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund. Bernard is an award-winning marine biologist with 38 years of experience in conducting research, education and community outreach programs on protected marine life (29 of those years on Maui).

She has served on numerous Boards and the federally-appointed Pacific Scientific Review Group, Pacific Cetacean Take Reduction team, and the Hawai’i Longline False Killer Whale Take Reduction Team.

Megan Lamson
President and Hawaiʻi Program Director

Megan has been coordinating HWF’s Hawaiʻi Island Marine Debris Removal Project and other restoration projects (including estuaries, anchialine pools, coastal strand and dry-forest plants) in southeast Hawaiʻi since 2008. She began exploring ocean critters in Hawaiʻi and California during her childhood, then earned a bachelor’s in marine biology at the University of California at Santa Cruz and a master’s in tropical conservation biology and environmental science at the University of Hawaiʻi in Hilo in 2010.

Megan focused her academic research on coral reef fish ecology and community-based marine resource management.  She is on the board of nonprofit, Ka ʻOhana O Honuʻapo, and has been actively working on conservation issues along the Kaʻū coastline since 2005.  She helps to manage all of HWF’s Hawaiʻi Island programs and projects with support from other team members. Lamson also works intermittently as a Diver & Research Assistant through RCUH’s Hawaiʻi Coral Reef Initiative (on contract to the Division of Aquatic Resources in Kona since 2012).

Melita Nasiah Charan
Director

Melita Charan is the founder and Head of School at Roots School in Haiku, Hawai’i. She earned her Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education and has taught in rural Alaska, internationally in Indonesia, and taught in the progressive public school district of Ashland, Oregon.

Melita is dedicated to providing educational opportunities through an arts-integrated and project-based approach. In 2006, this brought her to Maui, where she founded Roots School.

Melita is honored to support Hawai’i Wildlife Fund and is grateful for all the great work they do!

When she is not working, Melita enjoys exploring the beautiful island of Maui through hiking, spending time with her family, and traveling.

Board of Directors & Officers

Hannah Bernard
Executive Director

Megan Lamson
President

Maria Taylors
Director

Maura Naughton
Secretary

Dr. Carl J. Berg
Treasurer

Jean Campbell
Director

Melita Nasiah Charan
Director

Donna (Kahi) Kahakui
Director

Nadine Kehaulani Robertson
Director

Magdalena Teriitua
Senior Naturalist and Honu Watch Project Coordinator

Magdalena enjoys sharing not only her knowledge about the green sea turtle (honu) but also her passion for the ocean and for the Hawaiian culture. In her spare time, she competes competitively on an Hawaiian canoe paddling team and coaches local kids in the sport.

Originally from Tahiti, Magda has called Maui home for over 15 years and holds a deep respect for the island and its people. In addition to her work teaching the public about sea turtles, she coordinates HWF’s Maui Marine Debris Program, working with volunteers to clean Maui’s beaches. In 2018, she joined the Eat Less Plastic voyage in Tahiti aimed at raising awareness about plastic pollution in the Pacific Ocean.

Nohea Kaʻawa
Kaʻū Resource Specialist

Nohea was born and lives in Kaʻū on the island of Hawaiʻi. As a life-long cultural practitioner with experience in Hawaiian protocol, she is an advocate for respectful resource management. Having followed an educational background in Hawaiian Studies at University of Hawaiʻi in Hilo, Nohea is employed with the Ka’ū branch of The Nature Conservancy, and has worked part-time with Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund since 2015.

Nohea appreciates the opportunity to host interpretive hikes as she loves to share mo’olelo wahi pana (stories of her home) but most importantly, she takes pride in being able to connect and assist others in sharing the practice of Aloha ʻĀina (love of the land).

Alex Aguilar
HWF Sea Turtle Nesting Coordinator

Alex Aguilar currently coordinates Hawaii Wildlife Fund’s sea turtle nesting program while assisting with various other restoration projects. A recent graduate in biology, mathematics, and art, Alex is committed to contributing to HWF’s efforts in researching and preserving Hawai’i’s unique biodiversity and ecosystems.

Working for HWF allows Alex to follow his passion for conservation biology and learning about Hawai’i’s indigenous species. Outside of his work with HWF, Alex helps manage his family’s farm on Maui, where he developed a strong connection to the land and a dedication to sustainable land stewardship.

Stacey Breining
Environmental Educator

Stacey works as an environmental educator with HWF’s Hawaiian Coastal Ecosystems (HCE) and Marine Debris Keiki Education & Outreach (MDKEO) programs, visiting island schools and teaching students about Hawaiʻi’s native wildlife and how we can be stewards of the environment that we all depend on. After graduating from West Hawaiʻi Explorations Academy in Kailua-Kona, she attended the University of Hawaiʻi in Hilo.

Stacey began volunteering with HWF in 2009 and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in marine science the following year with a thesis project focusing on removing invasive tilapia fish from anchialine pools. She is passionate about teaching our keiki (children) how to respect themselves and protect our natural resources. When she isn’t helping to remove marine debris or invasive plant species from the coastline, she is supporting HWF’s social media and marketing efforts, photographing orchids, or hanging out with her two kids, Nico and Araceli.

Jodie Rosam
Plant Program Specialist

Jodie has been a steward of Hawaiʻi Island for over 20 years, and has helped to support the conservation of native wildlife in Kaʻū on Hawaiʻi Island with HWF as the Plant Program lead since 2021. As of May 2024, Jodie took on the full-time role of as the Kona Hema Forest Coordinator with TNC and she now is able to help HWF as a community partner and in between her other responsibilities. Jodie wears her love for Hawaii’s native plants on her sleeve, and thrives on sparking a love for nature in her children, making new friends in the plant kingdom, and sharing her passion with others.  She holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Ecology, Conservation Biology and Environmental Science, as well as a Master’s of Science in Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science from UH Hilo.

Jodie has an active voice in conservation issues, specifically those relevant to Kaʻū and island-wide, and serves on many non-profit boards, including Ka ʻOhana O Honuʻapo, Three Mountain Alliance Foundation, Kaʻū Stewardship Hui, and is the Kaʻū representative for Hawaiʻi County’s Public Access, Open Space, and Natural Resources Preservation Commission.

Taylor Curley
Maui Intern Coordinator

In 2016, Taylor visited Maui for the first time and was captivated with the beauty of the island and the culture of the residents. She knew that this was a place she needed to return to and as fate would have it, she found a purpose for her return. She started as a volunteer for Hawai‘i Wildlife Fund. After this, she progressed to a HWF internship and is now our Maui Intern Coordinator.

Taylor is a veterinarian and is currently completing a specialty residency in Emergency and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Despite the demands of the residency, she is still committed to return whenever time allows. Some examples of her ongoing contributions include participation in Honu Watch, hosting summer youth groups, and supporting Hard-to-Reach beach cleanup programs. Her main goal and focus in joining our team is to educate others about the environment, sustainable living and respect for the native wildlife in the Hawaiian Islands.

Tara Branham
Volunteer Coordinator for HWF Sea Turtle Nesting Project

Tara’s passion for conservation, education and action takes many forms on Maui and in Portland, Oregon.

While in Portland, she works as an environmental educator for middle school students with a focus on place-based education and environmental justice, aiming to dream about and build a better world.

While on Maui, Tara has helped protect Mauiʻs nesting turtles for more than a decade, and participated in thousands of beach clean up events together with HWF and Sharkastics. Her environmental education work has extended to Maui in collaboration with HWF and others over the years; she has actively guided and inspired hundreds of students to get involved and learn more about our native wildlife.

Lindsey Kramer
Coral Reef & Resources Specialist

Lindsey has worked towards conserving Hawaii’s water quality, coastal ecosystems, and coral reefs since 2007. Prior to that (as an M.S. student and researcher with NOAA/CIMAS in Miami, Florida), she researched the ecology of marine protected areas in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and worked to protect endangered Acroporid corals throughout the Caribbean.

While in Hawaiʻi, she worked for the National Park Service Pacific Island Network (Aquatic Technician), the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo (Marine Project Manager), and the Department of Land & Natural Resources Division of Aquatic Resources (Reef Monitoring Coordinator). She hopes that her contributions to Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund will help inspire appreciation, legislative attention, and directed resources for Hawaii’s native and endemic corals, wildlife species, and habitats.

HWF Team Members Gallery