Founding Board of Directors

Zhantel Dudoit-Lindo

Zhan is native to Moloka’i, born and raised on this land, as was generations of ohana before her. She is a bridge builder, teacher, community advocate, visionary and ‘āina warrior who has dedicated her life, skills and experiences to ensuring Moloka’i is well protected, properly managed, responsibly thriving and upholding the integrity of what it means to come from this land.

Keomailani Hanapi Hirata

Kupa ‘āina o Moloka’i. Place-based educator of our maoli history and culture. Living everyday with the wisdom of our kupuna who have come before us; aloha ‘āina, aloha lahui, Hawai’i aloha!

Jason Sykes

“This can be Moloka'i's defining moment—a chance to shape our own destiny and preserve the soul of our island for future generations.“

Jason grew up on Moloka’i, loves it, and hopes to return full-time someday. In the meantime, he is using his legal and communications background to help protect the land and empower the people to let our community control its own destiny and keep Moloka’i, Moloka’i.

James Espinola

Raised on Moloka’i, primarily in Maunaloa, James has been involved in various conservation and environmental projects since 1999 after graduating from Kamehameha Schools on Oʻahu. He completed 2 years of an internship with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) Maui and Molokaʻi programs and 6 months as a field technician with the TNC Molokai program. 

With the Research Corporation of the University of Hawaiʻi (RCUH), James was based out of Kalaupapa National Historical Park (KNHP) working directly with the KNHP natural resource management team, establishing a native outplanting program and establishing sites for rare and endangered plants, in addition to helping with conservation practices including ungulate fence repairs, helicopter operations, boat operations and training of new natural resource management staff. 

Working with the State of Hawaii, Department of Land and Natural resources (DLNR) Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DoFAW), Native Ecosystem Protection and Management (NEPM), James worked on various projects on Maui and Molokaʻi, doing conservation management practices including ungulate control fencing, weed control and animal control. 

Since 2016, he has been a State of Hawaii employee with DLNR-DoFAW NEPM. James has led stream monitoring, animal and weed control; outplanting of native plants and building ungulate control fences to protect conservation areas across the state and is currently tending to a few different fencing projects within the East Molokaʻi watershed partnership as well as building the NEPM program on Moloka’i. 

While protecting special places like Olukuʻi and Puʻu Aliʻi on the Molokaʻi’s North Coast, he is also a contributing member of the East Molokaʻi Watershed Partnership, Chair of the Molokaʻi-Maui Invasive Species Committee, Molokaʻi’s representative/chair for the Na Ala Hele trail system and a recipient of the Kāko‘o ‘āina Award from The Nature Conservancy.

Malia Akutagawa

Malia Akutagawa, JD, ESQ, is from Manaʻe and was born and raised on Molokaʻi. Her ʻohana is of Molokaʻi since time immemorial, with roots in Pelekunu, Wailau, Kamalō, Manawai, Kahananui, ʻUalapuʻe, Kaluaʻaha, Pūkoʻo, Puʻu o Hoku, Hālawa, and Maunaloa. 

As a child, Malia’s kūpuna and mākua inspired her to become a native rights and environmental law attorney. A graduate of Molokaʻi High and Intermediate School (1989); she pursued higher education and earned baccalaureate degrees in Philosophy and Biology from Whitworth University (1993) and a Juris Doctor and Environmental Law Certificate from the William S. Richardson School of Law (1997). 

She is a licensed attorney with the Hawaiʻi State Bar Association and worked for the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation to advocate for native Hawaiian access and gathering rights, water rights, and protection of Hawaiian ancestral burials. She then moved back to Molokaʻi and served as Director to the Molokaʻi Rural Development Project.

She led training and education initiatives through the University of Hawaiʻi Maui College - Molokai and partnered with a number of community organizations to strengthen the capacity of the workforce and local economy. 

She is now an Associate Professor of Law and Hawaiian Studies and is part of Hui ‘Āina Momona, a consortium of scholars at the University of Hawaiʻi - Mānoa charged with addressing compelling issues of Indigenous Hawaiian knowledge and practices. Malia is a Hoʻoponopono Peacemaker through the instruction of hulu kūpuna Aunty Lynette Paglinawan. Malia is co-founder and emeritus board member of Sustʻāinable Molokaʻi, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that focuses on maintaining Molokaʻi’s cultural legacy of ʻāina momona (abundant land) while embracing modern pathways to a sustainable future. 

She is former poʻo of the ʻAha Kiole o Molokaʻi, a local and Indigenous governance system that works with government agencies and lawmakers at the county, state, and federal levels for the protection and care of the natural environment, cultural sites, and resources.

She sits on the ʻAha Kuapapa (steering committee) for the Kaliʻuokapaʻakai Collective, committed to protect and restore wahi kūpuna, empower community-based stewardship of our cultural sites and native burials, and responsibly steward ʻike Hawaiʻi. Malia has served on a number of boards, councils, and commissions. Specifically for Molokaʻi, she served as former chair of the Molokaʻi Planning Commission; former chair of the Molokaʻi Island Burial Council; and currently serves as the Molokaʻi representative to the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council. 

She has been involved in landback efforts for Molokaʻi for many years and helped to organize the Molokaʻi Pule Oʻo prayer march in 2017 when Molokaʻi Ranch first announced its intention to sell its landholdings. Malia currently serves as a board member for the Molokaʻi Heritage Trust.

Facilitation Team

  • Land Back Manager

  • He kama kēia o nā ʻāina aloha o Molokaʻi. Mai nā kumu kūpuna o Hālawa a i ka wela o ka lā i Kaluakoʻi.

    I am who I am because of my ʻāina, kūpuna, mākua, hānauna, and our collective kuleana to our moʻopuna.

    Generationally, we know the importance of the pilina between ʻāina and kānaka and how the two remain inseparable.

    I was raised on Hoʻolehua Homesteads while going to school at Pūnana Leo o Molokaʻi and later Ke Kula Kaiapuni o Kualapuʻu where community and culture are central to learning and life.

    I then went on to be a boarder at Kamehameha Schools where I graduated high school and remained on Oʻahu to continue my education at UH Mānoa.

    I graduated from UH Mānoa in 2017 with a double bachelors in Hawaiian Studies and Psychology and have chosen to continue my education there as a PhD student in Political Science.

    My commitment to Molokaʻi keeps me hungry to learn as much as I can, especially while away so that I could grow into the community member my community raised me to be.

    I'm grateful now for this opportunity to utilize the resources Iʻve gained over the years in service to Molokaʻi, our ʻāina aloha, and our community.

    Ua hoʻi hou he kama o nei ʻāina aloha ʻo Molokaʻi nui a Hina.ion text goes here

  • Senior Advisor to Land Back Initiatives

  • Matthew Kamakani Lynch serves as Co-Facilitator and Senior Advisor to the Molokai Heritage Trust Landback initiatives.

    He is an Artist whose chosen canvas for the past decade has been Institutional Transformation, and has been selected as a 2024 Bertha Artivist Fellow.

    He has worked to create conditions that are conducive to catalyzing transformation within legacy institutions such as Higher Education and Executive Leadership across sectors.

    After surviving a 10-year career in mortgage banking & real estate finance during his 20s, Matt has worked to replenish his karmic bank accounts by participating in a broad range of community-based sustainable development projects around the world.

    He returned to Hawai'i and became a founding board member of the Hawaii Green Growth Local 2030 Hub, a co-founder of The Albizia Project, and recently stepped away from almost 10 years of public service in his role as the first Director of Sustainability Initiatives for the ten campuses of the University of Hawai'i System. While at UH he helped to establish a diverse array of programs ranging from the UH System Office of Energy Management to the UH Mānoa Truth Racial Healing & Transformation Center.

    Matthew has consistently worked his way to the top tier of performance in the varied sectors where we has participated: banking, community development, higher education, public service, and the arts.

    In addition to serving as Senior Advisor to Landback Initiatives for Sustʻāinable Molokai, he serves as a teaching faculty member on Harvard's Executive Education for Sustainability Leadership program, and is working on a suite of creative and land-based restoration projects.