Mrs. Mahinapoepoe Paishon Duarte, President
Po`okumu/Principal, Halau Ku Mana Charter School

Biography: coming soon.....

Mr. Billy Richards, Vice President
Director of Communications, Partners in Development

Biography: Mr. Richards has held management positions in both the public and private sector, primarily in the field of aquaculture. He spent close to two decades at The Oceanic Institute, a private non-profit research organization. More recently in the private sector, he was Vice-President and General Manager of Hawai‘i High Health Seafood Corporation, the sales and marketing subsidiary of a large land-based aquaculture operation located on Kaua‘i. He currently works for Partners In Development Foundation, a public not-for-profit company that serves the Native-Hawaiian Community through social and educational programs. He has been involved with Hawai‘i’s voyaging community since 1975 and has served aboard the voyaging canoes Hokule‘a, Hawai‘iloa, Makali‘i and Hokualaka‘i. He presently is the President of “The Friends of Hokule‘a and Hawai‘iloa” and serves as Co-chair of the ‘Ohana Wa‘a, a round-table collaborative of voyaging organizations from all islands.

Dr. Judith Lemus, Secretary
Academic Program Specialist, Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB)

Biography: coming soon....

Dr. Jo-Ann Leong, Director Emeritus
Director, Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology

Biography: Jo-Ann is Director of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology at Coconut Island. She received her Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of California, School of Medicine and her B.A. in Zoology at the University of California at Berkeley.

Her research interests are in molecular virology, vaccine development and phylogeography. Viruses that infect aquatic organisms are important disease pathogens and their impact on aquacultured species such as salmon and trout can be devastating. These viruses, particularly infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV), a rhabdovirus, and infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV), a birnavirus, are so lethal that 90% of salmon production at a hatchery can be lost to these diseases. Her laboratory is developing vaccines and other treatments to control these diseases in fish.

After her arrival in Hawaii, Jo-Ann has become intrigued by the devastating diseases in corals and tropical fish and expanded her research into these research arenas. Jo-Ann helped in the formulation of the current CDHC National Research Plan and has been an active member in the Consortium since 2001.