Meet the Team
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Ian Smith
Executive Director
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Rishi Sethi
Filmmaking Educator
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Phillip Thompson
Filmmaking Educator
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April Claus
Conservation & Environmental Educator
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Camden Johnson
Aqua Lab Adventures Project Leader
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Morgan van der Linde
Aqua Lab Adventures Educator
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Clayton Ritter
AmeriCorps Member
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Katelyn Rupert
Watersmith Apprentice
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Brennan Emerick
Filmmaking Apprentice
Board of Directors
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Alison Schuster - President
Alison Schuster is a paddleboard and yoga instructor in the Pittsburgh area. She brings a diverse background as an attorney, pilot, tv host, and high school teacher to the organization, as well as a passion for preserving and celebrating the natural world.
As a teacher and mother of three, she encourages her students of all ages to find a balance between the body and the mind that transfers to their everyday lives. This balance includes a respect for the environment around us, and she loves to introduce people to our waterways and the beauty of the outdoors. She believes in the power of education to transform lives and connect people of all ages and backgrounds.
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Andy May - Secretary
Andy has been involved with the First Waves program since its inception as a volunteer. His involvement has given him a way to share his passion of spending time outdoors and on the water with a new generation of youth, many of which are experiencing outdoor recreation for the first time. His professional background as engineer and MBA are well suited to assist the Watersmith Guild as secretary in the organization.
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Andrew Wantland - Treasurer
Andrew is the Head of Supply Chain Management and Commercial Management for a global refractory supplier. He has nearly 15 years of supply chain, logistics, and procurement management.
He has always shown a propensity for the outdoors, but as generally a solitude, introspective activity, he wanted to bring others into what can’t be described without experiencing. With that, he has joined the Watersmith Guild to bring this opportunity to others who might not have been able to experience the joys of the environment.