Staff
Steve Blank
Director of Development
What’s your first memory involving the beach? What’s your favorite? As the Director of Development for the Surfrider Foundation I have the best job in the world – I get to ask people these two questions every day and then help them to link their philanthropy to their desire to protect these memories.
Brice Boland
Washington Field Coordinator
I love playing in and on water whether hot, warm, cold, or frozen. I am in debt to H20 and now it's time to get to work to protect it!
Lori Booth
Global Grants Manager
I was 28 years old when I first truly met the ocean, but I loved water way before then.
Brock Burge
Membership Assistant
There’s a power in the ocean greater than any other element on Earth, including ourselves.
Ericka (Davanzo) Canales
Quad Youth Manager
I believe that one should always strive to work hard and play hard to both protect and enjoy their playground.
Stuart H. Coleman
Hawaii Coordinator
I've had two major environmental awakenings in my life: The first was when I first started surfing as a teenager and just fell in love with the ocean (I even slept with my first new surfboard!); and the second awakening occurred after the Exxon Valdez oil spill. That's when I realized how fragile our coastal ecosystems really were. I happened to be living in SoCal at the time and would often get sick after surfing at Malibu. So water quality became an important issue for me as well, and that's when I first heard about the Surfrider Foundation.
Toni Craw
Controller
Most of the important events or milestones in my life coincide with a trip to the beach.
Casey Dennehy
Washington Pacific Coast Coordinator
As Aldo Leopold once said, “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.” Although he was discussing his land ethic, this principle could be applied to a water ethic.
Sarah Damron
Chapter Manager
Born a water-lover in middle America, I grew to become an ocean-lover through family vacations to the coast. I became an ocean-protector through the Surfrider Foundation.
Mara Dias
Water Quality Manager
The ocean, beaches, water, waves, sand & sea air are elemental to who I am and how I live my life. I'm so thankful that I'm able to live on the coast where I can thrive and spend my days working to protect these environments.
Gus Gates
Oregon Policy Manager
Growing up on the Central Oregon Coast within the Siuslaw Watershed, I got a sense of the importance of protecting healthy ecosystems & special places at an early age. Now as the Oregon Policy Manager with the Surfrider Foundation, I have the honor and privilege of working with the Oregon Chapters and activists to protect ocean and coastal ecosystems along the entire Oregon Coast.
Melissa Gates
Northeast Regional Coordinator
I remember being tucked into the undertow at Old Orchard Beach, Maine, as a kid, and somersaulting away thinking…"Cool! Again, again!" The sensation was better than the coolest roller coaster ride, ever. I was hooked.
Matt Gove
Mid-Atlantic Policy Manager
You are probably wondering: Why should I give my time, effort, or money to support Surfrider? For most of us it comes down to a special place that we love—a beach, a wave, a cove—that is under threat of disappearing or changing forever. Think about your happy place; what would you do without it?
Nancy Hastings
Southern California Regional Manager
The very first Surfrider Foundation meeting I attended, I drove home the new Chair of the Malibu Chapter. Following a rather organic lifelong path that ebbed and flowed around art, music, and the ocean, I felt I had finally found something that really got all my synapses firing off all at once. I wasn't going to let that opportunity pass me by!
Alexis Henry
Communications Manager
I grew up at the beach. Every summer, my mom would take my brother and me down to Huntington Beach where we would spend long days in the water. It was here that my love for the ocean began.
Paul Herzog
Ocean Friendly Gardens Program Coordinator
Though I grew up in a rural LA suburb with lots of natural open space, it wasn't until I moved back to it after college that I hiked the hills. Working a few stints on small, organic farms between community organizing jobs grounded me a bit more. Helping Chapters run Ocean Friendly Gardens Programs gives us a great tool to help people prevent urban runoff and restore a bit of the hills in their yards.
Bill Hickman
RAP Coordinator
As ‘Rise Above Plastics’ Coordinator, I am excited to be tackling plastic pollution issues that are affecting the marine environment. I grew up on the East Coast and was fortunate to have grandparents who lived near the beach in Delaware. At the age of six, I wanted to be like my big brother so I ‘borrowed’ his surfboard at every chance and caught the surfing bug early on. All my early memories are of clean beaches but later in high school and through college I started to see and feel the impact of litter and pollution.
Jenna Holland
Direct Mail Manager
As a mother of three, I protect what I love: my children and my beach.
Angela Howe
Legal Director
People may wonder why a girl who grew up in land-locked San Antonio, Texas is now working for the Surfrider Foundation. Starting with a move to California for law school, I quickly learned to love the surfing and snowboarding that California has to offer. This drove my desire to protect our beautiful natural environment and help others to enjoy the outdoors!
