Kate Gooderham, APR, CPRC , has been involved with coastal issues for 35 years. She is president of Gooderham & Associates, Inc., a Fort Myers, Florida consulting firm established in 1986, specializing in public participation, issues management, public information campaigns, grassroots organizing, governmental lobbying and monitoring, coastal permitting and strategic planning. A cum laude graduate of the University of South Dakota majoring in English and history, she was accredited in public relations in 1999 and became a certified public relations counselor in 2008.
Derek Brockbank has been an organizer and run conservation campaigns around the country and, for the past 10 years, in Washington, DC. His focus has been on climate change adaptation and restoring natural resources, most recently directing a campaign to restore the Mississippi River Delta and Coastal Louisiana through a coalition of conservation organizations including National Wildlife Federation, National Audubon Society and Environmental Defense Fund. He grew up in New York City and the beaches of Long Island, and ran along the Lake Michigan beach while at the University of Chicago, getting a degree in political science and environmental studies.
Tim Kana: Founder and president of Coastal Science & Engineering (Columbia SC), Kana has 30 years’ experience in coastal erosion assessments and has written over 250 reports and publications relating to coastal processes, sediment budgets, beach nourishment, impacts of sea-level rise and tidal inlet sediment dynamics. Dr. Kana has served as project director on more than 25 beach nourishment projects in the Carolina’s and New York, and was the 2015 recipient of ASBPA’s Morrough P. O’Brien Award.
Dawn York is a senior environmental scientist for the Wilmington, NC office of Moffatt and Nichol, serves as the Environmental Project Manager for several large-scale shoreline protection projects on the East Coast, including a 50-Year Master Beach Nourishment Plan for the Town of Oak Island. She has co-authored over 50 federal and state permitting support documents and has conducted monitoring, assessment and restoration of coastal/estuarine/riverine habitats for 18 years. Mrs. York serves as the Coordinator for the Cape Fear River Partnership, a coalition of federal, state, academic, private and non-profit organizations with the goal of restoring federally-managed anadromous fish populations.
Mayor Brenda Bethune is a native of Myrtle Beach and serves as the CEO and majority owner of Better Brands, Inc. Mayor Bethune also owns BJ Investments, a property investment and rental company, and two bridal boutiques: The Little White Dress in Myrtle Beach and Maddison Row in Charleston, South Carolina. Mayor Bethune earned an Associate Degree in Business and has completed all required courses in the Anheuser-Busch Management Development Program. Brenda Bethune offers more than 35 years of business management experience. Mayor Brenda Bethune was the recipient of the Distinguished Citizens Award from the Pee Dee Council of Boy Scouts of America, the Special Operations Wounded Warriors’ Tip of the Sword Award and Horry-Georgetown Early Care and Teacher Education’s Champions for Children Award. Bethune was recognized with an award from the Palmetto Leadership Council in recognition of her contributions to South Carolina. Mayor Bethune previously served on the Board of Coastal Education Foundation, Coastal Carolina University’s Spadoni College of Education Board, Coastal Carolina University’s Visitors at Wall School of Business Board and the Coastal Carolina Bank Board. Bethune also was a founding board member and previous board president of the Children’s Museum of South Carolina. She is a member of the SC Beer Association and the National Beer Wholesalers Association. Mayor Bethune is a member of Seacoast Vineyard Church in Myrtle Beach. Bethune’s current term continues through January 2022.
Dr. Jeff Payne is the Senior Executive Service director for the Office for Coastal Management, and under his leadership, the nation’s coastal management activities are coordinated to address the significant challenges affecting our coastal communities. All activities focus on constituent needs, creativity, effectiveness, and a commitment to a partnership approach to doing business. Payne previously served as the deputy director of NOAA’s Coastal Services Center since 1998. During that time he also led the Southeast and Caribbean Regional Team, a NOAA-wide effort to improve the value of NOAA services to the Southeast region states, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands. From 2009 to 2010, he served as the acting deputy chief of staff for NOAA. He was deputy director of NOAA’s Office of Policy and Strategic Planning in Washington, D.C. and served in the Office of Management and Budget in the Executive Office of the President as the budget examiner for NOAA and the Marine Mammal Commission. He also served a year in the U.S. House of Representatives as the American Geophysical Union Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow.
Dr. Jane McKee Smith is the Army Senior Research Scientist for Hydrodynamic Phenomenon, stationed at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory in Vicksburg, Miss. Smith’s research focus is on coastal hydrodynamics, including nearshore waves and currents, wave-current interaction, shallow-water wave processes, and storm surge. Her projects include theoretical and numerical studies as well laboratory and field experimentation.
Dr. Smith is the co-developer of the STWAVE numerical spectral wave model that is used throughout the world for coastal project planning and design. Smith was the wave modeling lead investigator for the Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force evaluation of Hurricane Katrina. She also led development of a system to quickly forecast hurricane waves, storm surge, and inundation for the Hawaiian Islands.
Smith has over 200 professional publications. She is Chair of the Coastal Engineering Research Council of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and served as President of the Governing Board of the Coasts, Oceans, Ports and Rivers Institute of ASCE (2013-14).
Maria Cox Lamm is a Certified Floodplain Manager and serves as the program manager of the Flood Mitigation Program in the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. The Flood Mitigation Program contains the Floodplain Management State Coordinating Office, Floodplain Mapping and the Flood Mitigation Assistance Grant program. She is responsible for the administration, coordination, and direction of all aspects of the Flood Mitigation Program. She has been with the agency since July 2004.
Maria has over 21 years of experience in the field of floodplain management. Prior to joining the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, she was employed by Wake County, NC. Where she worked in the Environmental Services Division; Erosion, Flood and Stormwater Section for just shy of 6 years. Maria graduated from North Carolina State University with a Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources in 1998.
Maria served as Chair of the Association of State Floodplain Managers from May 2017 to May 2019.
Braxton Davis is director of the N.C. Division of Coastal Management, which oversees the state’s coastal planning and permitting in 20 counties, as well as the N.C. Coastal Reserve. Past chair of the Coastal States Organization in Washington, D.C., he currently chairs a multistate committee on beach and inlet management issues.
Previously, Davis served as director of policy and planning for the South Carolina coastal management program.
He holds a doctorate in marine affairs from the University of Rhode Island, a master’s in biological sciences from Florida International University, and a bachelor’s degree in environmental sciences from the University of Virginia.
Nicole Elko, Ph.D., is the ASBPA Science Director, Executive Director of the South Carolina Beach Advocates, co-Executive Director of the U.S. Coastal Research Program, and President of Elko Coastal Consulting based in Folly Beach, SC. She serves as one of three civilian members of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Coastal Engineering Research Board (CERB), and has recently been appointed the NOAA’s Hydrographic Services Review Panel. Dr. Elko serves on SC Governor McMaster’s Floodwater Commission and the Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association (SECOORA) Science Committee. Her business provides services like hydrographic surveying and beach monitoring, as well as sea level rise adaptation, beach/dune, and marshfront management planning.
Elizabeth von Kolnitz is the Chief of the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management. She manages and directs the overall functions of OCRM including direct permitting activities, and implementation of the state’s coastal zone management program. She serves as a member of the Department’s Environmental Affairs management team. She has been with the Department since 2005 and previously served under OCRM’s Coastal Service Division developing and implementing special policy and planning initiatives including ocean energy planning, and emergency management planning and coordination.
Before coming to DHEC, Elizabeth worked for the SC Department of Natural Resources’ Marine Resources Division as the Assistant Director for Public Affairs. She holds bachelor’s degrees in Economics from Clemson University and in Marine Science from the University of South Carolina. She also holds Associate Public Manager and Certified Public Manager credentials from the state’s Department of Administration.
Robert S. Young is the Director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines, a joint Duke University/Western Carolina University venture. He is also a Professor of Geology at Western Carolina University and a licensed professional geologist in three states (FL, NC, SC). The Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines (PSDS) is a research and policy outreach center serving the global coastal community. The primary mission of PSDS is to conduct scientific research into coastal processes and to translate that science into management and policy recommendations through a variety of professional and public outreach mechanisms. The Program specializes in evaluating the design and implementation of coastal engineering projects.
Dr. Young received a BS degree in Geology (Phi Beta Kappa) from the College of William & Mary, and MS degree in Quaternary Studies from the University of Maine, and a PhD in Geology from Duke University where he was a James B. Duke Distinguished Doctoral Fellow. Dr. Young has approximately 100 technical publications and he serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Coastal Research and Environmental Geosciences. He currently oversees more than $3.5 Million in grant-funded research projects related to coastal science and management.