Giving reefs a helping hand

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Meet the Reef Renewal Staff:

Francesca
Francesca Virdis
Coordinator

Raised into a family of avid divers, Francesca received her scuba certification at early age. Her passion for the underwater world sparked a constant interest which she carried with her to school, receiving her MSc in Marine and Environmental Science from the University of Bologna, Italy in 2004. On June 2008 she decided it was time for a lifestyle change and a closer connection to the ocean, so she moved to Bonaire, where she started working as dive instructor. In 2012, Francesca was asked to get involved with the initial coral nursery set up and since then she has been dedicating herself to the Reef Renewal Foundation Bonaire project coordination and development. Francesca’s love for the ocean and her dedication to reef restoration is a wonderful combination that leaves divers and volunteers happy to help, inspired to continue and excited to be part of the future of our reefs.

Garrett
Garrett Fundakowski
Assistant Coordinator

Garrett comes to Reef Renewal Foundation Bonaire from the United States with a B.S. in Mathematics and Biology from the University of Richmond. He first learned to dive while studying abroad at CIEE Bonaire in 2014 and immediately fell in love with the coral reef ecosystem. Since then, he has continued to pursue his passion for the marine environment while working in marine science education, recreational diving instruction, natural resource management, and coral restoration in the US. He is excited to be back in Bonaire and to join Reef Renewal’s team to work towards making a difference for the reefs above and below the water!

Elizabeth McWhinnie
Elizabeth McWhinnie
Reef Restoration Technician

Liz is from the United States, but has been visiting Bonaire since childhood. She has a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from the College of Charleston and graduate studies in Natural Resources and Sustainable Development. Liz fell in love with reefs and diving in 2004, on her first trip to Bonaire shortly after becoming scuba certified. As a former RRFB intern and Reef Renewal Instructor, she has worked in the dive industry locally for 3 years — certifying over 120 Reef Renewal divers! She looks forward to continuing to give back to Bonaire's reefs while helping more locals and visitors get involved.

Meet the Board of Directors:

Martinus W.A. van der Valk
President
Augusto A. Montbrun Segnini
Secretary
Paulus P. Coolen
Treasurer
David J. Fishman
Director
Christine M. Wall
Director

Meet the Advisory Board:

SI Exif
SI Exif
Ken Nedimyer
Technical Advisor, Founder of Reef Renewal International

 

Ken Nedimyer is the founder of Reef Renewal and the founder and former president of the Coral Restoration Foundation.  Ken has designed and set up coral nursery and reef restoration programs in over 12 different countries, has a degree in Marine Biology and has a life time of experience diving on coral reefs.  Ken played an important role in establishing the nursery and restoration program on Bonaire, and continues to work with the program managers at Reef Renewal Bonaire to share lessons learned in Bonaire and around the world.

Erik-Meesters web photo
Dr. Erik Meesters
Scientific Advisor

 

Dr. Erik Meesters is a researcher, marine tropical ecologist and co-ordinator of policy supporting research on marine topics for the Caribbean Netherlands. He is also investigating about the long-term development of the reefs of Bonaire and Curacao since 1973 with  Wageningen Marine Research (WMR) in collaboration with the Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ). Erik’s specialties include coral reef ecology, generalized linear and additive mixed models and multivariate statistics.