Hero
Our Team
The crew — and the volunteers — behind the corals.
Team Members
Our Crew
The people behind the corals
Dr. Maya Charles
Executive Director
Maya co-founded CoralGuard after the 2014 bleaching event, trading a university lab for a skiff. She leads the science program, designed the monitoring protocol now used across all 38 sites, and still logs more survey dives than anyone on the crew. Her open-data reports are cited by research teams across the Caribbean, and her favorite day of the year is the student snorkel day — every year, without fail.
Desmond Petersen
Nursery & Restoration Lead
Desmond grew up fishing these reefs and now runs the nurseries that are rebuilding them — every rack, table, and outplant site across the three islands is his responsibility. He built the first nursery table off Coki Point with salvaged rebar in 2017, and he can still point to the exact corals that came off it. When a storm passes through, he’s the first boat out checking the racks.
Ana Rivera
Education Coordinator
Ana brings the reef into every public school in the territory: marine-science lessons, snorkel field days, and the teacher kits that outlast her visits. A former classroom teacher on St. Croix, she wrote the curriculum with local educators so it fits the islands, not a mainland template. Four thousand students a year now learn reef science in the water — a number she intends to double.
Kiara Benjamin
Volunteer & Dive Programs
Kiara trains and schedules the 2,100-strong volunteer corps — from first-time shore crews to the checkout dives that clear divers for nursery work. She joined as a volunteer herself in 2018 and never left; ask her and she’ll tell you the program’s real product isn’t coral, it’s people who keep showing up. She also runs the Saturday orientation — wetsuit optional, welcome guaranteed.
Testimonials
“
I planted my first coral on my daughter’s ninth birthday. Last month we dove the same site and she found it — twice her height now, full of fish. That’s what keeps us coming back.
Denise Matthews
Volunteer diver since 2019
▶
Call to Action
The reef can’t wait.
Join a cleanup, book an orientation, or adopt a coral — it all counts.