Board of Directors and Staff

Tegan Hoffmann has over 25 years of experience in coastal and ocean conservation and resource management and is one of Coastal Quest’s founding members and the Executive Director of Coastal Quest.  After 15 amazing years founding and leading Blue Earth Consultants, both independently and under the ERG umbrella, she left to focus on fulfilling the Coastal Quest vision and mission. Tegan has deep experience working on domestic and international projects, focusing on building climate resilience, and achieving sustainable resource management and conservation goals.

Tegan has extensive know-how designing, developing, and launching projects, programs, and institutions for private foundations, public agencies, and nonprofit organizations. She has authored several publications and received numerous awards and research grants for her work on conservation, resource management, and building local conservation capacity in the Wider Caribbean, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific, from such organizations as National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s STAR Fellowship, the University of California’s Pacific Rim Research Program, and the U.S. Indonesia Society. She has developed and conducted several trainings in the Wider Caribbean and Indo-Pacific regions for hundreds of community stakeholders on conservation and resource management issues, and has taught several courses at the University of California. Tegan graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and holds Ph.D. and master’s degrees in geography and a B.S. degree in conservation resource studies.

David brings deep experience in politics, policy, management, and systems change.  He served in President Clinton’s White House; worked on Al Gore’s presidential campaign, senior staff to former US Ambassador to China Gary Locke, a variety of policy roles for the governors of California, Washington, and Pennsylvania; and he served in senior management positions under the mayors of New York Michael Bloomberg, San Francisco Gavin Newsom and chief of staff to Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums.  In addition, David has worked in the private sector for Cisco Systems former CEO John Chambers; UC Berkeley’s former Chancellors Robert Birgeneau and Nicholas Dirks; Gavin Newsom’s Gubernatorial Campaign; and was one of the main architects of building the Alice Waters Institute at UC Davis, a consortium of programs designed to teach sustainable organic cooking, regenerative agriculture farming and carbon sequestration best practices and improving K-12 school food systems in California.

David graduated from the University of California Berkeley with a BA in Sociology.

When not at work David enjoys the myriad of activities that comes with raising three wonderful children – Swimming daily (Open water when possible) and eating delicious food.

Cristen Don brings over 20 years of experience working in marine and coastal management on projects benefiting coastal communities and marine ecosystems. 

Cristen joined Coastal Quest in 2023 after having worked for 18 years at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW). During her tenure at ODFW Cristen worked on the planning and implementation of marine protected areas, wave energy policy and planning, and topics related to changing ocean conditions and building climate resiliency in marine systems. For 12 years she led the ODFW Marine Reserves Program for the state of Oregon overseeing a six-person interdisciplinary team that brought together marine science, social science, communications, public policy, and resource management to implement Oregon’s marine reserve system. 

Cristen has extensive experience working with rural coastal communities throughout Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. She has built long-term partnerships with universities, research institutions, and state and federal agencies along the U.S. West Coast as well as with the fishing industry, non-governmental organizations, and community-based organizations in Oregon. She has expertise in strategic planning; administering budgets, contracts, and grants; and developing and leading outreach and community engagement.  

Cristen holds an M.A. from the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs from the University of Washington and a B.A. in Marine Biology from the University of California Santa Cruz. 

Cristen lives on the beautiful central Oregon coast. As an avid surfer, you can find her in the water at her home surf break in South Beach or anywhere between Baja and British Columbia. She loves to travel, hike, mountain bike, ski, and read fiction novels. 

Tina Lee works with people to conserve and manage coastal and marine environments through equitable, locally driven, culturally centered approaches.

Tina joined Coastal Quest in June 2022 with over 12 years of experience leading collaborative projects both in the U.S. and globally.  She has focused her career on convening multi-sector groups to achieve collective outcomes for the coasts and communities—managing federally funded awards, organizing conferences and meetings, partnering with community organizations, strategic planning, and managing committees and partnerships. Most recently, she spent over four years with NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management Pacific Islands region based in Honolulu, HI. There, she supported the launch of the Heʻeia National Estuarine Research Reserve and coordinated the Pacific Risk Management Ohana: a partnership of 100+ organizations building disaster resilience in the Pacific Islands.  She is also a skilled diversity, equity, inclusion and justice (DEIJ) practitioner, and launched a DEIJ Working Group to connect a national system of 30 National Estuarine Research Reserves towards building equity into conservation and research practices. Prior to her position with NOAA, Tina played an integral role in achieving social and ecological outcomes with organizations such as the University of Hawaiʻi, Conservation International, and the Hawaiʻi Conservation Alliance.

Tina holds a B.S. in Biology with a focus in Ecology, Behavior and Evolution from the University of California San Diego, and a dual M.A. in Natural Resources/Sustainable Development and International Affairs from American University in Washington D.C. and the U.N. University for Peace in Costa Rica.

She speaks Mandarin and Spanish and enjoys spending time in the ocean, traveling, and making noodles from scratch.

Hewad Rafiqi joined Coastal Quest in 2023 and has more than 13 years of experience in working with federal government agencies and non-profit development organizations in leading financial and budget management positions. Prior to joining Coastal Quest, Hewad worked with the World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) for three years where he was responsible for financial and budget management of all the projects and grants of the Afghanistan country office and managed the administrative budget for the World Bank offices in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and UAE. He has worked as Senior Budget Specialist for four years for USAID (United States Agency for International Development) managing finance for complex development projects and grants on a country level. He has received several awards for his work from USAID’s Mission Head and U.S. Ambassadors. Hewad has also worked with United Nations, Foreign Commonwealth Office, and the United Kingdom Trade and Investment Department in different key financial positions. He has extensive experience in financial management, financial analysis, accounting, budget development and management, internal control, donor relations, financial modeling, and reporting. 

Hewad holds MBA from the University of Liverpool, U.K., and has an advanced diploma in Management Information Systems. He likes building intricate financial databases and reporting systems. 

Hewad speaks Pashto, Persian, Urdu, and Hindi, likes beaches, and is an ocean enthusiast. 

Sadie joined Coastal Quest in October 2022 bringing 16 years of experience working with local and global environmental NGOs. She is passionate about building meaningful partnerships and working closely with diverse communities.

During her tenure as a Bay Area sustainable business leader, Sadie worked with environmental non-profit, government agencies and community organizations to advance their mission and provide impactful solutions. She is skilled in strategic planning, identifying key resources, and driving multi-faceted projects to fruition. Sadie feels strongly that collaboration and the sharing of ideas brings about long-lasting, meaningful solutions that better meet our community’s needs.

For the last 5 years, Sadie has been working with diverse partners to engage Bay Area community in Climate Resilience awareness. She developed and implemented complex community engagement strategies to drive support and capacity for the protection of the San Francisco Bay. Through community outreach, stakeholder engagement, volunteer management, project management, and communications strategies, Sadie amplified the work of dozens of local organizations and elevated their impact.

Sadie has a strong foundation in project management and philanthropy and is passionate about building inclusive, collaborative outcomes for protecting the coastal areas from the impacts of climate change.

Sadie holds a B.A. in Art History from the University of California, Los Angeles and a M.A. in Coastal Zone and Natural Resource Management from San Francisco State University. Sadie lives with her family in the Bay Area and enjoys sharing the joys of tide pooling.

Natalie joined Coastal Quest in February 2023 with 6 years of experience in environmentally focused project management. Natalie brings expertise in technical writing, outreach, and stakeholder engagement, along with a passion for nature-based adaptation solutions, coastal ecology, and water quality issues. Having worked in environmental education, energy resource management, GIS, and environmental consulting, Natalie has extensive experience coordinating with stakeholders, creating solutions that benefit communities, and effectively communicating about environmental issues.

Most recently, Natalie managed municipal streetlight LED conversion projects, where she oversaw project implementation, outreach, urban design, and economic modeling. These projects helped cities decrease their carbon footprint dramatically and save millions of city dollars.

Natalie holds a B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from University of California, Santa Cruz, where she assisted in research on elephant seal and sea lion population dynamics, and a M.S. in Environmental Management from University of San Francisco where she completed a master’s project synthesizing and comparing the benefits of blue carbon sequestration methodologies. She loves invertebrates (marine and terrestrial), biking, and bad horror movies.

Lilja brings skills in project management, research, sales, and customer service to Coastal Quest. She has experience in sustainability, law, and the public sector.  

Lilja graduated with honors from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a B.S. in Environmental Studies. While going to school, she volunteered both in the Riparian Invasion Research Laboratory and the Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration. Upon graduation, Lilja led the sustainability department at Trentadue Winery and gained valuable experience in event coordination. 

Overall, Lilja is a self-starter and team player who is passionate about environmental justice.