Leadership

Haleakalā Conservancy is guided by a dedicated team of leaders who are deeply invested in the preservation & stewardship of Haleakalā National Park.

Meet our Board of Directors

Haleakalā Conservancy’s Board of Directors provides strategic direction, governance, and fundraising support to ensure our organization’s success. Our board members are committed advocates for the park, bringing diverse skills and backgrounds to the table.

Mr. Meidell is the President of Haleakala Ranch Company, one of Hawaii’s oldest family-owned companies and, with over 28,000 acres, the largest ranching operation on Maui. After moving to Maui from Honolulu in 1979, he began a diverse career path in public service, conservation, agriculture and land management that has included positions with the County of Maui, Maui Land & Pineapple Co. and Haleakala Ranch since 2003. Mr. Meidell currently serves as a director for the Maui Economic Development Board, The Maui Farm and the Historic Hawaii Foundation.

Erik was born and raised in a rural town of 3000 residents in Maine, which fostered a strong love and appreciation for the outdoors from a young age. After graduating from Babson College in 2000 with a degree in Information Systems and Entrepreneurship, Erik spent a few years in the computer consulting industry in Boston. Fortunately, he was rescued from a cubicle by an old college friend who had started a zipline company 6000 miles away on Maui. The company, Skyline Hawaii, was growing and needed a General Manager to assist with the direction things were headed. Being an exciting new company and having been founded with a very solid mission to give back to the communities and environments in which it operated, it seemed like a fantastic opportunity to leave the corporate world behind for a new direction in life. Erik tossed the computer out the window and hopped on a one-way flight across the country and the Pacific Ocean in 2005. He has been enjoying managing the company and supporting giving back to the Community, Culture, and Environment ever since.

Donne Dawson has served as Hawai‘i State Film Commissioner managing the state’s film office since 2001. Prior to that, Dawson was a respected journalist and media consultant.
She was instrumental in establishing Hawai‘i’s first competitive tax incentive program for film that has more than quadrupled the size of the state’s film industry to nearly half a billion dollars in direct spend from film and TV production since the program began in 2006.
Dawson is native Hawaiian, born and raised in Nu‘uanu Valley on the island of O‘ahu. She is trained in ho‘oponopono, the traditional Hawaiian form of conflict resolution. Dawson is also a lifelong student of hula and ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i, and is active within the native Hawaiian community. She is a member of the Protect Kaho‘olawe ‘Ohana and has most recently served on the boards of Historic Hawaii Foundation, Pacific Islanders in Communications, and is currently first vice chair of the Association of Film Commissioners International, a global organization that represents some 300 film commissioners around the world.

Having worked for nonprofits and educational institutions: UC-Berkeley, School of Public Health; Kapiolani Health Foundation/ National Tropical Botanical Garden; University of Hawaii Foundation; UC-Irvine; Mills College; and Hawaii Loa College, Donna Howard brings experience in nonprofit executive management and fundraising campaign leadership to Haleakala Conservancy.
She currently serves as a Director of The Merwin Conservancy. Past community leadership roles include: Director- Hui No’eau; Volunteer in Armenia-International Executive Service Corps; Director-Hawaiian Islands Land Trust; Director-Outrigger-Duke Kahanamoku Foundation; Trustee-Assets School; business volunteer for the arts-San Francisco Chamber of Commerce; Director- Oakland Festival of the Arts; Commissioner-Honolulu Board of Water Supply.
The daughter of an Army officer, Howard grew up around the world and has lived “on the Pacific” in Hawaii and California since 1968. She earned a B.A. at Pennsylvania State University and an M.Ed from the University of Hawaii. She is also a graduate of Harvard’s Institute for Educational Management. She currently lives in Kihei, Maui, Hawaii.

Jordan Jokiel, Vice President and Land Manager for Haleakalā Ranch Company, oversees the company’s Conservation, Invasive species, and Forestry programs. Jokiel has more than 25 years of experience in land and wildlife conservation. Prior to working at the Ranch, he served as Program Manager for the Leeward Haleakalā Watershed Restoration Partnership, a coalition of 11 major landowners, including Haleakalā Ranch. There, he managed more than 40,000 acres of watershed lands on the leeward side of Haleakalā. Prior to that, Jokiel served as Access and Acquisitions Program Coordinator for the State of Hawaiʻi’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife. He is also the former director of the Palmyra Program for The Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i and Program Manager for the East Maui Watershed Partnership. Jordan grew up in Kaneohe, and attended Kalaheo Highschool, where he graduated in 1985. He later graduated from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa with a degree in Environmental Studies. He is married to Maui-born Abigail Romanchak, and is the proud father of two beautiful young children, Kaniau and Kawena.

Bio coming soon.

Wendy Rice Peterson’s roots on Maui go back six generations. She is a general partner of the historic Kaonoulu Ranch, founded on the slopes of Haleakalā in 1916. Wendy proudly carries forward a family legacy of passionate stewardship of the mountain and support for her community. She serves on the boards of the Maui Arts & Cultural Center, Hawaiian Mission Houses, Historic Hawai’i Foundation, Daughters of Hawai’i, Fred Baldwin Memorial Foundation, Seabury Hall, The Maui Farm and UH Maui College Chancellor’s Advisory Committee.

Jamie graduated from the University of Hawaii in Pre-Med/Zoology after transferring to UH from the University of Maine, to pursue a career in Marine Biology. Graduate work focused on Educational Psychology and he went on to work for an Oahu-based program serving the developmentally disabled. In the early 70s, he relocated to Maui, built his own home in Haiku, and was employed with Ka Lima O Maui, a community based rehabilitation facility that served persons with disabilities in a vocational setting. After spending over half his adult life as the Executive Director, he retired to pursue other passions and became a part time realtor and co-founder of Maui Olive Company, a family run commercial olive oil producer.
Aside from becoming the first olive grower in the state’s history to produce high quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil, he also pursued his passion for ocean activities. He went on to become a co-founder and President of the Hawaiian Outrigger Canoe Voyaging Society, a group of diverse individuals all with the same interest in perpetuating the culture of canoe voyaging and stewardship of our ocean waters. In early 2004, HOCVS embarked on the ambitious, multi-year goal of paddling their voyaging canoe the entire length of the 1,650 mile Hawaiian archipelago, from the Big Island of Hawai’i to Kure atoll.
Jamie has been active with numerous non-profit boards, chaired a statewide board for community rehabilitation facilities, was the President of their national educational/lobbying organization, and was a member of the Maui County Charter Commission.

Meet our Staff

Our dedicated staff works tirelessly to implement the Conservancy’s mission. Their expertise, passion, and commitment bring our programs and projects to life.

Olena (Horcajo) Alec leads Haleakalā Conservancy’s philanthropic efforts to provide funding for projects of critical importance to Haleakalā National Park and its unique and endangered resources. Born and raised on Maui, Olena has spent most of her career away from the islands working within the environmental sector, utilizing education and effective communication to push for meaningful and measurable action. Olena comes to the Conservancy most recently from The Climate Reality Project, where she served as the director of engagement, overseeing the support, engagement, and strategy of tens of thousands of climate activists for seven years. Prior to Climate Reality, she worked in New York City connecting public school teachers and administrators to resources and partners to further their sustainability goals. She is a proud RPCV, having served in the Peace Corps in Nicaragua, working with her community on issues of environmental education, conservation, and sustainability.
Olena sits on the board of Students for Climate Action, as it is an honor to work alongside and support student activists to further the conversation on climate change and inspire action. She holds an MPA in Environmental Science and Policy from Columbia University and a Bachelors of Environmental Studies from USC. It has been a lifelong goal to be back on Maui, contributing to the incredible community and landscape that is home, and you can often find her hiking through the park with her husband and daughter.