David Berreby, Red Hook Boaters Committee Chair
David Berreby joined the Red Hook Boaters Activity Committee in 2008 and has been a mainstay member ever since. He has helped grow the Boaters’ free public paddling program from a small band of paddlers into a mainstay of summer in Red Hook, featured in festivals, guidebooks, journalism and even a Spike Lee movie (Red Hook Summer) in which David (or at least his well-worn paddling headgear) makes a split-second cameo. A longtime Dredgers supporter, David has helped secure grants and has long been active in cross-club NYC paddling activities such as City of Water Day, Sebago Canoe Club’s All-Club Invitational, and the Downtown Boathouse/Manhattan Community Boathouse annual spring kayaking conference for clubs from throughout the region.

Eymund Deigel
Eymund Diegel is an environmental planner specializing in local water quality issues. He collects old maps and cool stuff for the Proteus Hall of the Gowanus, and is mapping historic streams as part of the Secret Gowanus Canal Superfund Tourism Project. He first became interested in boating when Switzerland defeated America to win the America Cup, making him realize that if landlocked mountaineers could sail , canoeing on a sewage free Gowanus had even better odds.

Ted Gruber, Long Island City Community Boathouse Activity Committee Chair
Ted Gruber was an active participant when the LICCB Activity Committee started in 2007 and continued to volunteer for almost a decade.  He has led many voyages and events for LICCB and has over 16 years of kayaking and trip leading experience. Prior to retirement in 2010, he owned a manufacturing company in Greenpoint.  Ted is respected in the NY-NJ harbor paddling community and has assisted on swim events with several swim organizers and has volunteered with the Gowanus Dredgers, KSI, Green Shores NYC, NBBC & Hunters Point Park Conservancy.

Celeste LeCompte
Celeste LeCompte focuses on creating an informed, engaged public through her work in media, community engagement, and more. A lifelong lover of waterways, she grew up monitoring water quality on the Sangamon River and Goose Creek in Illinois and has explored rivers and coastlines as a journalist and paddler across the United States, China, and Panama. Since 2012, she has helped organize lectures, events, and concerts on boats in San Francisco and New York City. She curates our Paddle-In Movie Night events and serves as the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club’s representative on Gowanus CAG committee.  She is also a board member with the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing and the Spring Street Climate Fund. She’s a trustee with Awesome on the Water, which gives away $1,000 a month to people making creative projects on waterways around the world.

Annette Pierce, Kayak Staten Island Activity Committee Chair
Annette Mae Pierce began kayaking in 2008 after attending her first Kayak Staten Island event. She has been a devoted KSI volunteer ever since and most recently has helped to take over some leadership of the organization after the unfortunate death of beloved former Kayak Staten Island commodore Jacky Krogh- those are some big water shoes to fill! Annette has worked in the non-profit sector for many years and currently works in the social justice space, with particular emphasis on issues of inequity in post-secondary education. At heart, Kayak Staten Island’s mission is an equity mission and Annette is committed to ensuring that aspect of KSI’s community work and environmental stewardship is thoughtfully maintained. Outside of work, Annette is an avid polar plunger in Staten Island’s local waters, runner, urban container gardener, radio and events dj and wannabe welder.