Kestrel Kunz is the Southern Rockies Protection Director for American Whitewater. She directs American Whitewater's river protection work in Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. Kestrel primarily works on public land management, Wild and Scenic River legislation, water quality protections, and other grassroots river advocacy in the region. She has a passion for free-flowing rivers and has worked to find collaborative solutions for proposed fish barriers in Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado. Kestrel grew up paddling with her family in Vermont and Canada, and later found her passion for protecting rivers while kayaking in Ecuador during high school. She has a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences focused around the question, “How can we best manage freshwater resources?” She currently lives in Crested Butte, Colorado, where she works for American Whitewater and as a ski patroller on the weekends.

Brian Hodge is a Fisheries Scientist for Trout Unlimited (TU), where he works with other TU staff and collaborators to provide and synthesize science that informs conservation of coldwater fishes.  His research interests include fish movement, life history, and temperature relationships, as well as watershed restoration and restoration effectiveness monitoring.  Brian holds a B.S. in Hydrobiology from the University of California at Davis, M.S. in Fisheries Biology from Humboldt State University, and FP-C (Fisheries Professional Certification) from the American Fisheries Society.  Prior to joining TU’s Science Team, he spent a dozen years in TU’s Western Conservation Program, where he planned, implemented, and monitored watershed and fisheries restoration projects.  Brian and his family reside near Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

Sam Swanson is a water resource engineer for McLaughlin Whitewater, a Denver-based firm that specializes in urban river restoration, recreational whitewater, and wave design. Sam’s passionate about restoring rivers for the benefit of local communities, ecology, and the environment. His Master’s thesis studied hydraulics and fish behavior near engineered structures. In his free time, Sam’s paddling for fun or volunteering with a kids kayaking club on his home river, the White Salmon.

Risa Shimoda, Executive Director of the River Management Society, supports the River Management Society program staff and board with a background in design engineering, consumer products marketing and non-profit leadership. She received a BS in Engineering / Product Design from Stanford University and trained as a consumer products marketer at Procter & Gamble, M&M/Mars and Coca-Cola USA before directing marketing, sales, and product development for kayaks and paddlesports accessories at Perception, the world’s largest kayak manufacturer (prior to its purchase in the late ‘90s). As Executive Director of American Whitewater (AW), she and her team represented river users in the relicensing of hydropower projects and pursued the right of public access on precedent-setting cases. She pioneered corporate support for AW and developed its first event-based business model for the Gauley River Festival, the largest U.S. river-based annual fundraising event. An avid whitewater paddler, Risa co-founded the Outdoor Alliance and has served on the boards of the Conservation Alliance, North American Paddlesports Association, American Whitewater, Nantahala Outdoor Center, International Whitewater Hall of Fame, and World River Center.