Introducing a diverse team of exciting talent; featuring forward-thinking experts, creative innovators and inspiring role models. Collectively enabling maximum impact on the surf industry.
- TOM WILSON -
[FOUNDING DIRECTOR]
Tom's career and personal interests revolve around Sustainability, Community and Design. He capped off a Master of Environmental Science degree with an academic research thesis (2018) on the subject of Surfing and Sustainability, which led to the creation of Wave Changer in 2019. Since then, Tom has received the Green Hero Award at University of Technology Sydney (UTS) in 2019, was a finalist in a green business competition for his design of a biodegradable surfboard, and is currently writing a guide to encourage surfers and the surf industry to shift to greener ways. He's also an occasional graphic artist and product designer/maker who likes to tinker with unorthodox materials.
- PROF TONY SORENSEN -
[ ACADEMIC ADVISOR ]
Tony works at the University of New England (UNE) in Armidale, NSW. Professor of Geography and Planning by day, he's also an urban and regional economist, a futurist who specialises in society, technology and economics, and he seems to know a lot of important people around the world. Oh and he's interviewed Martin Luther King back in the day, click here if you don't believe us. Prof Sorensen was supervisor for the academic research that is the foundation of Wave Changer.
- Louise Dever -
[ Industry Advisor ]
Lou is the founder/manager of Notox Surfboards Australia - and she's not afraid to get her hands dirty. She has identified the disconnect between the sport of surfing and the manufacturing of surfboards, and she's here to make a change for the betterment of the surf industry as a whole, not just for the environment.
- PROF MARC IN HET PANHUIS -
[ MATERIALS + TECH ]
Marc is a Professor of Materials Science at the University of Wollongong in NSW, Australia, with more than 20 years experience in a range of research areas such as the development of new materials, additive manufacturing, soft robotics, living/edible electronics, and research into surfing equipment. He’s usually found at his Surf Flex Lab - based at the university - which is a dedicated facility for mechanical testing of surfing equipment. Marc presented at the inaugural Surf Science Symposium in Hawaii (Dec 2019) at the Vans Triple Crown leg of the WSL world tour.
- LAURA OXLEY -
[ EXTERNAL ENGAGEMENT + STRATEGY ]
Laura is a communications expert specialising in purpose-led organisations. Her career began at 1 Million Women, a national movement to inspire climate action. She has since worked on global campaigns, including WWF's Earth Hour in the UK, and World Animal Protection's Wildlife. Not Entertainers – advocating for travel companies to ban elephant rides. Laura is currently Communications lead at the UTS Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion.
- NIC LOWE -
[ BUSINESS ADVISOR ]
Chief Hassler and Annoyer (his words) which basically means he tries to make stuff happen quickly. He's created and grown a few organisations and volunteers at quite a few others. Nic is the co-founder of GoGet, the hugely successful car sharing business which has removed countless cars from the road and encouraged a leasing, rather than owning, way of living. Nic also started Street Library Australia and The Good Ship in recent years, and is now working on a couple of interesting projects that not only provide a successful solution, but also inject purpose and fun into his creations.
- SARAH MATHEWS -
[ MARKETING + STRATEGY ]
Sarah is a brand, marketing and communication specialist, experienced across both the corporate and not-for-profit sector (education, social welfare, real estate and finance).  She's been a Leadership Coach for the University of Sydney MBA program, is a board member for Kaleen Community Centre, and worked on the relaunch of 130 year old charity Barnardos Australia, successfully moving it up the charity reputation index and securing a partnership with, wait for it... Beyonce.  Sarah is passionate about community development and social entrepreneurship , she is a creative dreamer but a realist with an implementation focus - got an idea, let's get it done.
- DIANNE MOY -
[ CONSUMER CULTURE ]
Dianne is inspired by the synergies between people, places, community and spaces. She was the Program Manager at the Green Living Centre in Newtown; an education and resource centre that facilitates sustainable lifestyles for local community members. She was the Design Manager for an Eco-Innovation Lab at the University of Melbourne - coming up with strategic systems thinking around climate change adaptation and sustainable futures. She completed a Masters research degree with a thesis titled: Designed and Undesigned Sharing, an investigation into designs influence on sharing (aka collaborative consumption). Dianne brings a valuable depth of knowledge to the table with our community and consumer focus at Wave Changer.
- GRANT NEWBY -
[ INDUSTRY + TECH ]
Grant is a master timber craftsman and surfboard shaper. He founded the original Timbertek concept that was later sold to Firewire. Grant uses a variety of materials on his boards: paulownia timber, hardwood veneers, natural cork, bamboo, EPS and XPS foams, flax, linen and basalt cloth. He grew up in a small town in New Zealand, studied graphic design in Auckland in the 70s and then worked as an art director before moving to Australia in the 1980s, featuring work on the Great Barrier Reef as a dive guide. It's safe to say Grant knows a lot about materials and form, while also having a deep understanding of the ocean and surfing.
- DAN MCREADY -
[ VIDEOGRAPHER + EDITOR ]
Dan is a media specialist with experience in many genres from social impact documentaries, corporate and advertising. He grew up in Cornwall, one of the first local areas to be affected by ocean pollution and thus Surfers against Sewage was born. Since 2002 he's been honing his craft in all aspects of video production. He initially trained at the BBC in London, focusing on post-production and editing on a diverse range of genres, with recent freelance clients such as Toyota, SBS, Macquarie Bank and Red Bull Media. Dan is passionate about creating engaging, glued-to-your-seat content.
- GREG HENDY -
[ INDUSTRY + SURF CULTURE ]
Greg is an experienced surfer who has a deep connection to the sport. He has represented Great Britain at surfing and was on the Board of Directors in the early, formative years with Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) in Cornwall, England. SAS is a marine conservation charity working with communities to protect oceans, waves, beaches and marine life. It was created in 1990 by a group of Cornish surfers from the villages of St Agnes and Porthtowan on the north coast of Cornwall. Greg has a network of family and friends in the surf industry; from his brother who is head of Rip Curl in Asia, to his parents who are good friends with Wayne ‘Rabbit’ Bartholemew from back in the good old days.
- Loïc Pedras -
[ Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship ]
Loïc feeds lifelong curiosity using travel and learning to shape his thoughts and understanding. Problems always find you. He prefers to find solutions. Also, big pictures need filled pixels. Inspired by people's resilience in developing countries, empowered by duty and will for change-making, and putting into practice social and business skills, Loïc's focus lies with Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Recently, he was nominated for the UTS Human Rights Award and for the UTS Teaching Award. His passion for travel made him a sailing skipper and a soon-to-be private pilot, visiting more than 130 countries for work and leisure.
- RASHMI MOHOTTI -
[ CREATIVE CONTENT ]
Rashmi has excelled in various different communications and media roles at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). She's collaborated on student recruitment strategies and newsletters, creates quirky and creative content for social media, and helps devise fresh ideas for future communications strategies (and makes brilliant memes). Rashmi is currently completing a Bachelor of Communications (Media Arts and Production) and Bachelor of Creative Intelligence and Innovation at UTS.
- Susie Crick -
[ Aus ]
Susie is the first female Chair of the Surfrider Foundation Australia and is passionate about ocean conservation and educating the community to reduce their dependence on single-use plastics. She has trained with Al Gore and is a member of the Climate Reality Leadership Corp; she is a Crew Member for eXXpedition doing ocean microplastic research, and Board Director for both the Boomerang Alliance and CitizenBlue. She uses her dynamic style and entrepreneurial spirit to inspire positive actions that ultimately benefit our oceans.
- Hannah Bennett -
[ Fiji ]
Hannah learned to surf when she was nine years old from her two older sisters and fell in love with the ocean instantly, which led to competitive surfing as a teenager. Hannah joined the World Qualifying Tour to represent Fiji, then later got into big wave surfing at Cloudbreak and began chasing swells around the world. She's also represented her country multiple times at the World Surfing Games. Currently Vice Presisdent for the Fiji Surfing Association, she also helps manage the family business as farmers and producers of essential oils among Fiji’s outer islands. The family business gives jobs back to the local rural communities and practice sustainable farming of indigenous flora. Hannah's goals are to positively effect communities in the pacific by encouraging pollution mitigation, and promoting health + wellness and cultural preservation.
- Ryan Harris -
[ USA ]
Ry is a pioneer Eco-board builder and designer based in the South Bay, Los Angeles. His team at Earth Technologies make awesome high-performance shortboards, alternative shapes, foil boards and eco-tech builds, all with some exceptional creative touches and color work.
He’s developed the world's first Zero Waste Manufacturing system to eliminate all of the waste they generate during production. They sort their waste while they work, and then put it to good use by turning them into things such as their Greenlines Zero Waste products: fins, hand planes and coasters, with a line of other cool products in the pipeline. Ry is committed to developing better, cleaner, and greener construction methods.
- Jarrah Small -
[ Aus ]
Jarrah's best known for her other ambassadorial role with the Plastic Free Noosa initiative on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. A passionate advocate for the ocean and natural environment, she's also a fantastic role model for young people and is often found cleaning up beaches and rivers. She even enters the details of her clean-ups into the Tangaroa Blue AMDI Database (Australian Marine Debris Initiative). What a legend! She's been in a commercial with documentary guru Damon Gameau (2040 and That Sugar Movie) and has rubbed shoulders with Tim Silverwood, The Plastic Free Mermaid and Costa Georgiadis to name just a few.
- RHONDA HARPER -
[ USA ]
Rhonda is founder of the hugely successful Black Girls Surf development camps and volunteer coordinator with Surfrider San Mateo. She's been instrumental in organizing multiple paddle-outs around the world to honor the life of George Floyd and other African Americans killed by police. These events are meant to open dialogue about pain caused by continued racial inequalities. Rhonda’s résumé is equally as eclectic as it is impressive – U.S. Coast Guard veteran, celebrity designer (Eddie Murphy among her clients), journalist, corporate CEO and most recently starting a non-profit for women of color seeking to become professional surfers. Black Girls Surf host development camps (“board meetings”) and Rhonda has spent much of her time in the past several years coaching Khadija “Khadjou” Sambe with an eye on representing Senegal at the Olympics.
- KENTA ISHIKAWA -
[ JAPAN ]
A keen surfer born in 1994 and living in the Shonan region in Japan, Kenta started surfing at the age of four thanks to his family. During high school, he spent four years studying on the Gold Coast, Australia. After graduating from high school, he entered Kanagawa University and studied Business Administration. He is a member of the Japan Student Surfing Association (NSSA) and participates in All-Japan and ISA World Surfing Games. Kenta produced a movie called OCEANTREE - The Journey of Essense for graduation. After graduating from university, he joined the Japan Information and Communications Corporation (NI+C) as the industry's first corporate athlete through the Japan Olympic Association’s Athnavi. He is currently participating in a world tour hosted by the World Surf League as a member of the NI+C. As a social contribution activity, he also participates in sea conservation activities as the Director and Ambassador of the International Environmental NGO Surfrider Foundation Japan. Kenta also participates in other film productions and various projects.
- Prof Jason Old -
[ USA + South America ]
Jason is a history professor at Southeastern University in Florida, United States, who specializes in political, transnational, and cultural histories. His current research focuses on the impacts of “surf transnationalism” on the Emerald Coast of Nicaragua in the aftermath of the socio-political upheaval of April, 2018. His larger research project seeks to contextualize the rise of a transnational surfing community in the Emerald Coast within the longer history of US transnational engagement with Nicaragua. To view his presentation on surf transnationalism at the Global Wave Conference at Southern Cross University in Gold Coast, Australia (2020), click here.
- SALVA -
[ SPAIN ]
A specialist in furtively sneaking a Paipo anywhere and enjoying a few good rides anywhere there's waves. Salva is a master with timber and passionate about any kind of wooden surfcraft that provides smooth glides, from Paipos to Longboards and anything in between from Simmons to Tomo boards. Founder of MedSwells Surfboards, he pursues the craft of wooden surfboards in respectful ways with nature that reduce their footprint on the environment. Salva has a keen interest in the primeval roots of surfing: Paipos and Alaias and their history. He started waveriding in the Mediterranean in 2010, with occasional visits to the Balearic Islands, the North of Spain and Portugal.
​- CHRISTIAN MEISSNER -
[ GERMANY ]
Christian grew up in Frankfurt, Germany, far from the sea and longing for space while always looking for flow. From asphalt surfing to real surfing, it was always many kilometers travelled, but fortunately not out of reach. His passion became a job (Mioboards is his brand) and he now makes beautiful sustainable boards in their shop with a knack for innovative shapes. Disgusted with urban waste, he decided to produce as little waste as possible and attaches great importance to sustainability. They are extremely proud to have received the ECOboard Project Gold Level from Sustainable Surf for their range of boards.
- ASHLEY LLOYD -
[ USA ]
Ashley's love for the ocean started at a young age in Malibu. In 2002, while studying music in Santa Barbara, Ashley also began the craft of making surfboards. Upon the desire and necessity to make surfboards with less of an environmental footprint as well as less toxicity to the makers, Ashley and her husband/music partner, Alex Thompson, decided to integrate eco-friendly materials into her boards. Alex helped to shift their glassing operation to become in-house with a bio-based epoxy resin. Today, all of Ashley's boards are ECOboard verified through Sustainable Surf. With great appreciation for traditional longboard surfing, it's been paramount for Ashley to achieve a classic feel and glide while treading lighter on the environment. Signing boards “made with love,” Ashley puts heart into all that she creates.
- KAHI PACARRO -
[ HAWAII, USA ]
Raised in paradise without realizing it. After cutting his teeth in the corporate world and experiencing global complexities of consumerism, Kahi realized paradise was in danger. A blunt 180 degree turn in careers took him from the world of Real Estate Development and Finance to founding a grassroots non-profit named Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii (SCH). Ten years later and SCH has grown to become Hawaii's largest clean-up organization and a global leader on the plastic pollution awareness stage. Kahi now sits on the Board of Directors for SCH and leads Parley for the Oceans for Hawaii and other parts of the globe.
- PIERRE POMIERS -
[ FRANCE ]
Innovation and surf-tech pioneer, Pierre is an IT engineer who has a PhD in robotics. After ten years spent managing R&D projects for one of the European leaders in the scope of mobile industrial robotics, Pierre founded Green Wave Sas, also known as Notox to consumers. What is near and dear to Pierre’s heart is to imagine alternative solutions that respect both shapers' health and the natural environment. His global vision leads to transcending surfboard performance; considering ethical and environmental attributes to develop a successful system of progress.

- BRISSA MALAGA -
[ PERU ]
Brissa is a profesional Stand-Up Paddleboard (SUP) surfer from Lima, Peru. She's achieved a bronze medal at the 2016 Fiji ISA World SUP and Paddleboard Championship, and a three-time Bolivarian Games Champion and two-time National Champion. Brissa is co-founder of a restaurant - Maikai Poke Peru - and also coaches surfing and loves to travel. And that's not all, she's a qualified psychologist to add to her list of achievements. Good friends with fellow Peruvian and world title winning surfer Sofia Mulánovich, Brissa is an ocean lover with an impressive drive to succeed and deliver in every new project and adventure she takes on.
- DR. MAURICIO DUARTE dos santos -
[ BRAZIL ]
Postdoctoral Researcher linked to the Brazilian National Postdoctoral Program (CAPES Fellowship) and Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie (São Paulo - Brazil) Postgraduate Program in Political and Economic Law (2019-2020). Dr. Dos Santos completed the first PhD degrees to focus on Surfing Reserves/Surf breaks Protection and its legal governance aspects in 2018. He has presented papers about environmental law worldwide as well as regarding his PhD topics in Brazil, at the inaugural International Surfing Symposium in the Gold Coast (2017) and at the 6th Global Wave Conference in Gold Coast, QLD (2020). Dr. Dos Santos has been surfing for 30 years, traveling worldwide and trying to find new surfing sustainable options for 10 years, at least.
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all website + artwork by the infamous Fish Pencil