Linda Elliott
President & Center Director
Linda is the founder and driving force behind the HWC. Linda holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Wildlife Biology, with over fifteen years field work as a Wildlife Rehabilitator, Certified Oiled Wildlife Responder, and International Wildlife Responder. She has earned 40-hour HAZWOPER certification, and has accumulated over 15 years experience as an educator, supervisor and emergency response manager.
She was the Wildlife Manager for a resort-based partnership program with State and Federal wildlife agencies from 1988-1994. The program ended in 1994 with a change in ownership of the resort, and this left the state without a wildlife center.
Ms. Elliott continues to provide emergency response care when called on by the state. She has directed several rehabilitation projects for avian botulism outbreaks affecting three endangered species, including the very rare Laysan Duck newly established on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, and several species of migratory water bird in the archipelago, and all of the Hawai‘i wildlife responses for four oil spills and one chemical spill in the last decade. During this time, Ms. Elliott has been and continues to be a leading member of an international wildlife emergency response team participating in eighteen international rescue operations to date. She is also the only oiled-wildlife rehabilitation manager in the State of Hawai‘i.
Ms. Elliott works on wildlife recovery and conservation projects in partnerships with Hawai‘i government agencies and nonprofits. She participated in a half-dozen Hawai‘i wildlife conservation projects in 2010 that include teaching wildlife response courses to the Wildlife Agencies throughout Hawai‘i, and in Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
Robert Shallenberger, Ph.D.
Vice President
Rob earned his M.A. and Doctorate degrees in Zoology at Whitman College and UCLA, respectively. After a short stint as an Ecologist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, he joined the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) as the manager of Pacific Island National Wildlife Refuges. Over a 22 year career with the FWS, Rob held several positions, including seven years as the Chief of Refuges in Washington, D.C. He returned to Hawaii in 1997 to manage the newly created National Wildlife Refuge at Midway Atoll. Between 2002-2011, Rob was the Hawaii Island Conservation Director for the Nature Conservancy. He continues to work on several boards and commissions in his retirement and now can devote more time to the HWC.
Rob has had extensive management and research experience focusing on Hawaii’s diverse seabird and waterbird species. He has been a member of the Hawaiian Monk Seal Recovery Team, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Ecosystem Reserve Advisory Council and the West Hawaii Fishery Council. Rob is an accomplished wildlife photographer, with photographs and articles published in dozens of magazines and books. His most recent publication is the book, Hawaiian Birds of the Sea: Na Manu Kai.
Pete Hendricks
Pete earned a B.A. in Communication and Public Policy, and a M.Ed. in Secondary Education. Pete served as a U.S.Navy officer at sea and in Vietnam. He served for 20 years as marine extension specialist for the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program and for the Division of Aquatic Resources, Department of Land and Natural Resources, State of Hawaii. He formerly served as Deputy Managing Director for the County of Hawaii. He is a highly experienced marine captain, dive-master, columnist and writer.
Jon Giffin
Jon earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology and Entomology at the University of Utah and completed one year of post-graduate course work in Wildlife Management at the University of Massachusetts. He is certified as a Wildlife Biologist by The Wildlife Society. For 36 years, Jon worked as a Wildlife Biologist with the State of Hawaii, Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW). During the last seven years of his state service, he managed the Hawaii Island Branch of DOFAW. He is currently employed as a Field Representative for The Nature Conservancy and holds an appointment as Research Associate in Zoology with Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii.
While employed by the State of Hawaii, Jon served as biologist-in-charge of the Pohakuloa Endangered Species Facility on the Island of Hawaii where he was responsible for directing and coordinating all phases of the captive propagation program for endangered waterfowl. Jon was a past member of the Pacific Avifauna Recovery Coordinating Committee, a group that provided advice to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on imperiled Pacific island birds. He also advised the Service on the recovery of imperiled Hawaiian forest birds and their ecosystems as a member of the Hawaii Forest Bird Recovery Team. Jon’s professional interests include conservation and restoration of Hawaiian ecosystems with a focus on endemic forest insects, tree snails, and endangered plants.
Tom Morse
(HWC Treasurer) holds a BS in Accounting from Babson College, an MBA in Production Management from Columbia University, and is a CPA. For twenty years he was the Vice President and Controller for Acuson Corporation, a $500 million company with 2000 employees. He is a former Management Consultant with Arthur Andersen and a CFO of two companies in the semi-conductor industry. He also has extensive experience in small business management. He currently is a member of the Kohala Lions Club, President of the Kohala Community Athletic Association, and is a member of the Management Committee of the Kohala Mountain News. Tom was a HWC advisor from 2007 to 2009 prior to joining the HWC Board.
Paul Ryan
Paul Ryan has been in the construction industry for more than 35 years. A Co-Founder of Ryan Associates in 1979, he has been the most passionate champion and spokesperson for the cultivation of the unique culture and values at Ryan Associates. In addition to his corporate duties as CEO of Ryan Associates, he is actively engaged in providing senior oversight to project teams in Hawaii. He spends approximately ten days per month working from Ryan’s Kona office.
Paul earned a degree in Philosophy from Santa Clara University and studied Humanities at San Francisco State University. He lives in Marin County with his wife, Paulette, and enjoys traveling with their three grown children. He is an avid cyclist and a scary golfer. An enthusiastic advocate for the arts and the environment, he is currently serving on the Board of the Hawaii Wildlife Center and the Board of the di Rosa Preserve, an art center in Napa, California. Paul previously served on the Board of the Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito, California.
Jason Umemoto
Jason has been in the land planning and design industry for more than 20 years. A Co-Founder, with Nancy Cassandro, and Principal of Umemoto Cassandro Design Corporation (formerly Partnership) in 1997, Jason has been an enthusiastic and energetic leader of landscape design projects throughout Hawaii, the mainland United States and the Pacific Rim. Of particular interest and passion has been the integration of native landscape materials and regional cultural influences within landscape design expressions. Coupled with a deep concern for conserving and preserving the environment's limited resources, Jason's designs and project management strive to be both sensitive and responsible to the native environments in which he participates. Jason was a HWC advisor from 2007 to 2011 prior to joining the HWC Board.
Jason's involvement with the Hawaii Wildlife Center is a deeply sincere and personal tie. The HWC rests on land that was once the Halaula Sugar Mill and plantation. This is where his great-grandparents, grandparents and father grew up and worked. Jason's father attended the Halaula Elementary School (now the Kohala Middle School) and is the location of a student led native plant propagation and planting partnership with the HWC that Jason has shepherded.
Jason is a licensed landscape architect in both Hawaii and California and is CLARB certified. He is on the Board of Directors for Scenic Hawaii and is a past president of ASLA, Hawaii Chapter. In addition to a Bachelor's of Science degree from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo (1989), Jason also holds a certificate of Land Use and Environmental Planning from the University of California, Irvine (1995).
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