Board of Directors

Stephanie Terrell - Board Member

Stephanie is from the Quinault Indian Reservation. She is a wife and mother of 3 boys (Sonny, Remy and Wesley).  She has a passion of volunteering for anything that will help her community and youth to get up and be active. Growing up in Grays Harbor County, she has been surrounded by water and wants to help teach all about water safety, keeping our beaches clean, and getting out in the waves, while teaching valuable lessons about her heritage. Stephanie has worked for the Quinault Indian Nation for about 15 years and is currently the lead advocate for Sacred Healing Journey. She is also attending The Evergreen State College and working towards her BA in Indigenous Studies. 

Dan Fiske - Board Member

Dan Fiske has volunteered with Warm Current since 2019. He fell in love with surfing while living on Maui but moved to Washington in 2014 for its balance of ocean and mountain life. Dan joined forces with his two best friends from culinary school to open their own restaurants focusing on food, the environment, and the community. They currently own and operate Yodelin Broth Co. and make it their mission to be intentional, responsible, and to give back. With his 30 plus years of restaurant and event experience, Dan is stoked to be a part of Warm Current, giving back to the people and places he loves.

Eric Nutting - Board Member

Eric Nutting grew up in the surf mecca of Chicago but has lived in Seattle and surfed the Washington coast for 23 years. He loves everything about water and the ocean and is passionate about cleaning up and preventing water pollution. As an environmental engineer, he designs water reclamation facilities for small municipalities and tribes in the state of Washington.

Eric Fleming - Board Member & Education Director

Eric "Flem" Fleming is an artist and art teacher from Olympia. A rabid surfer for 20 years, he has had to put his shredding on hold the last few years due to chronic illness. But the stoke still burns! Flem's love of the beach, the sea, wave riding, and helping young people drew him to volunteer with Warm Current several years ago. When he realized that Warm Current's commitment to social justice aligned with his own, he was keen to get more involved. Flem's motto: The best surfer in the world is the one having the most fun; if you're having fun, you're doing it right!

Anne Beasley - Board Member

Anne has a long history of working in the sports and surfing world. After graduating from the UNC-Wilmington, Anne wrote for various sports and entertainment outlets. She later became director of the first all women’s surf contest in the United States, The East Coast Wahine Championships. Her love for surfing took her to San Clemente, California where she helped create two women’s surf magazine, Surfing Girl and Surf life for Women. She then moved to the great Pacific Northwest to raise her two daughters. Currently Anne lives in Westport and runs a locally inspired blog, The Drift.

Natalie Maxson - Board Member

I am from Neah Bay, home to Makah People.

Growing up on Makah Land, I have always been exposed to the ocean, not necessarily through surfing but on a boat with my dad, a fisherman. You’ll find my family outside most days even if rain gear is required (300 days of the year, jokes) We like to hike, fish, surf, bike ride, kayak, skateboard, and my favorite, play in the garden. Being a mom, I have found joy in volunteering in anything that involves the youth. Traditionally our people relied on the ocean. Teaching the kids how to enjoy the ocean (in play and surf) and all her beauty and power is important.

Helen Arnold- Board Member

Helen grew up in the Pacific Northwest, where she developed a deep love for cold water and surfing on the Washington coast. She’s been spreading the love for water and outdoor recreation since high school where she taught swim lessons to young kiddos. During her time at the University of Washington, she helped lead community-based volunteer programs in south Seattle public schools. In confronting issues around public space, ecology, placemaking, and justice, these programs aimed to empower youth in frontline communities through design. After graduating, Helen worked with the National Park Service doing restoration and plant management at Mount Rainier—Tahoma—and now works in landscape architecture. She has a lot of fun spreading stoke with Warm Current to celebrate Native youths’ ancestral connection to their lands and waters.

Graham Hamilton- Board Member

Originally from Missoula, Montana, Graham grew up in the PNW and has always felt at home in water. A graduate of the Juilliard School, he worked as a professional actor for 20 years before transitioning to environmental advocacy. For years, he directed the Surfrider Foundation's Los Angeles Chapter and oversaw campaigns and programs focused on coastal preservation, water quality, plastic pollution mitigation, and beach access. Graham currently works for Break Free From Plastic where he supports grassroots, Indigenous, and environmental justice communities advocating for plastic pollution policies across local, domestic, and international policymaking landscapes. You can generally find him in the dirt planting + tending native trees, surfing, hiking, or reading poetry. He lives on Whidbey Island with his partner, Raleigh, and their fur angel, Gerf.

Abigail McCarthy - Emeritus Board Member

Abigail became the board chair in 2019 after many years as a board member and volunteer with Warm Current. She grew up in Oregon and has always loved the ocean. She studied biology as an undergrad at Wellesley College, spent five years as an itinerant field biologist in Hawaii, Central America, the Caribbean, and California before returning to the Oregon Coast to get a Master's degree in fisheries science at OSU's Hatfield Marine Science Center. During these travels she became addicted to surfing and she continues to be a dedicated surfer and scientist while working as a fisheries scientist at NOAA in Seattle. She brings enthusiasm for both marine science and surfing to Warm Current's camps, and she's been on board with the Warm Current mission since the early days. 

Ryan Cruse - Founding Board Member

Ryan hails from the landlocked state of NM but has been living happily in the PNW for over 15 years now. He is one of the Co-founders of Warm Current and is passionate about getting kids active and outside, with the hope that they will find as much peace, happiness and health in nature as he has. Ryan studied Environmental Policy and Sustainable Transportation at Western Washington University, but could have majored in teaching sailing, surfing and windsurfing.  He has been working in the nonprofit sector since 2008 with a focus on program development and community engagement. In 2013, Ryan was named one of the “25 Portlanders Changing the World” by Portland Monthly magazine. In his spare time, you'll find Ryan out in the ocean chasing waves, on a river chasing trout (usually without success), or looking for his next derelict vehicle project.

John Koenig - Founding Board Member

John has a passion for building things. His passion has led him down some interesting paths in his 35 years, including surfboard shaping, marketing agency owner, a wedding DJ, grease monkey and currently globetrotting tech exec . He studied Business at the University of Oregon, where he grew to love the outdoors and an active NW lifestyle. This love of the outdoors and helping others inspired him to volunteer his time with Warm Current and eventually help grow the organization to where it is today. He enjoys hunting waves, road trips, blues music and working on his van.

Quinn Rotchford - Founding Board Member

Quinn is a native of the Pacific Northwest and now an attorney in San Francisco. He spent years living abroad in Latin America where he helped develop local youth surfing programs and it was there that he came up with the idea for Warm Current: transporting used gear from the states to help provide opportunities and access for youth abroad. His focus with Warm Current is working on all legal and compliance requirements. When he is not in the office, you'll often find Quinn paddling out at a beach in the Bay Area.

Charlie Plybon - Emeritus Board Member

Charlie hails from North Carolina but has called the Oregon coast home from the past 15 years. A life-long ocean lover, he dedicated his academic career to Marine Biology where he's worked in areas ranging from scientific research to management, education and conservation advocacy. Charlie currently works as the Oregon Policy Manager for Surfrider Foundation supporting statewide policy for ocean and beach conservation, but admits his heart for the ocean lies within connecting youth through meaningful ocean experiences. Located on the central coast in South Beach, Oregon, Charlies focuses his Warm Current efforts on our Depoe Bay, Oregon Surf Outpost with Neighbors for Kids.