Our Team
Abbey Seitz
Director of Transportation Equity
Abbey is Hawaiʻi Appleseed's Director of Transportation Equity. In this role, she advocates for transportation and land use policy that improves residents’ access to safe and affordable public transit services, as well as walking and biking infrastructure.
Before joining Appleseed, Abbey worked as a community and urban planner at Planning for Community LLC, a consultancy firm which she founded, and previous to that, SSFM International. Abbey holds a bachelor's in architecture from the University of Minnesota and a master’s in urban and regional planning from the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa.
Arjuna Heim
Director of Housing Policy
Arjuna is Hawaiʻi Appleseed’s Director of Housing Policy. Arjuna is pursuing her master’s in urban planning at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She has contributed research to several affordable housing studies, including the ALOHA Homes study, and the Maui County Comprehensive Affordable Housing Plan. Her research centers on finding equitable solutions to ensure all Hawaiʻi residents can access safe, stable housing.
Christy MacPherson
Director of Community Engagement
Christy is a community organizer, licensed clinical social worker and field instructor for the University of Hawaiʻi Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health. In her role as Hawaiʻi Appleseed’s director of community engagement, she works to cultivate Appleseed’s connections with the grassroots from which the best public policy originates.
Christy is the former executive director of Faith Action for Community Equity, a grassroots, interfaith social justice organization, and was program manager for Family Promise of Hawaiʻi, which serves homeless families with children. Her other social work experiences deal primarily with the areas of substance abuse and mental health. She received her education from McKinley High School, Pacific University in Oregon and the University of Hawaiʻi.
Connie Choy
Director of Development
Connie serves as the lead on Hawaiʻi Appleseed’s fund development efforts. She previously worked at Planned Parenthood Federation of America in New York City, where she was a writer on their Philanthropic Communications team.
Connie was born and raised on Oʻahu and holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and a master’s degree in communication management from the University of Southern California.
Daniela Spoto
Director of Food Equity
Daniela is Hawaiʻi Appleseed’s Director of Food Equity. In this role, she advocates for access to healthy food through programs like SNAP, child nutrition and senior nutrition programs. For the past 10 years, Daniela has been working on health issues and food system change in Hawaiʻi.
Before joining Appleseed in 2018, she led various large-scale federal and state programs, including the Hawaiʻi Department of Health’s SNAP-Ed program, and a City and County of Honolulu initiative to curb underage drinking. She holds a master’s in public health from the University of Hawaiʻi and a bachelor’s in nutrition, kinesiology, and biology from San Diego State University.
Devin Thomas
Senior Policy Analyst, Taxes & Budget
Devin is particularly interested in researching how the dire housing crisis in Hawaiʻi can be alleviated, and this focus informs his work with the Hawaiʻi Budget and Policy Center. Devin obtained his master’s degree in international relations at the University of Edinburgh, where he wrote his dissertation on the motivations of the United States in regard to its interactions with Venezuela.
Having grown up in Hawaiʻi, Devin is ardently committed to giving back to the local community by researching and promoting policies that combat economic and racial injustices.
Gavin Thornton
Executive Director
Gavin joined Hawaiʻi Appleseed in 2012. He became Co-Executive Director in 2016, and Executive Director in 2019. Gavin began his career in the AmeriCorps program in Kona, Hawaiʻi in 2002. Since that time, Gavin’s work has focused on trying to ensure that low-income people have the basic resources they need to build a safe, stable foundation for a successful life.
Gavin serves on the board of Hawaiian Community Assets and is an Omidyar Fellow. He has previously served on the boards of the HMSA Foundation, PHOCUSED, Partners in Care, the Young Lawyers Division of the Hawaiʻi State Bar Association, the Hawaiʻi District Court Rules Committee, and the Board of TeamChild, an organization that assists youth at risk of involvement in the juvenile justice system. For his work in subsidized housing, Gavin was awarded the National Housing Law Project’s annual Housing Justice Award. He is a 2002 graduate of the University Of Virginia School Of Law.
Genevieve Mumma
Food Equity Policy Analyst
As a Food Equity Policy Analyst, Genevieve researches and advocates for equitable food systems in Hawaiʻi, focusing on policy initiatives and data-driven research that promote access to culturally significant and nutritious foods for all.
Before joining Appleseed, Genevieve conducted research and advocated for strengthened democracy and the end of corporate personhood as a Fellow at Democracy Unlimited and Move to Amend. As a Training Fellow for Grassroots Health, Genevieve also promoted health equity in Washington D.C., where she graduated from The George Washington University with a degree in Political Science and Peace Studies. Genevieve has experience studying at The Autonomous University of Madrid and University of the Philippines Diliman, where she developed a strong research background in human rights, local organizing and foreign policy. Being Filipina and growing up on Oʻahu, Genevieve is dedicated to serving the people of Hawaiʻi, especially AAPI/NH and immigrant communities.
Rein Terrado
Community Engagement Specialist, Food Equity
Rein is Hawaiʻi Appleseed’s Community Engagement Specialist for Food Equity. In this role, she builds, maintains, and strengthens relationships with community leaders and people in the food security space with targeted focus on organizing at the state and local levels to advance Appleseed initiatives and policy priorities that impact the people of Hawaiʻi.
Before joining Appleseed, Rein worked as a disability rights outreach advocate for the unserved and underserved population across Hawaiʻi. She also worked as a parent consultant to help families and schools understand the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and how to use it to benefit children with all disabilities. She is a voting member of the Hawaiʻi State Council on Developmental Disabilities (DD Council) and the Hawaiʻi Early Intervention Coordinating Council (HEICC). Rein has educational background in journalism, communication management, and theology and divinity. She was born and raised in the Philippines, and has called Hawaiʻi home since 2007. Rein is passionate about issues impacting the unserved and underserved communities, immigrant populations, and individuals with disabilities in Hawaiʻi, food access and security included.
Susan Le
Senior Policy Analyst, Affordable Housing
Susan serves as Hawaiʻi Appleseed’s Senior Policy Analyst for Affordable Housing. In her role, she focuses on advancing Hawaiʻi Appleseed’s mission of creating a Hawaiʻi where everyone has access to a safe, healthy, and affordable home. To strengthen the organizations collective efforts, she focuses on researching housing policy, and educating the public on local housing issues and solutions, developing effective advocacy strategies, and fostering relationships between key housing stakeholders.
Susan brings a diverse background to her role. With previous experience as a program manager and AmeriCorps Vista at Hawaiʻi Habitat for Humanity, Susan transitioned from a career in process improvement within the aerospace and biomedical engineering field. Her professional experience enables her to approach housing advocacy work through an analytical and problem-solving lens.
Trinity Gilliam
Transportation Equity Policy Analyst
Trinity is Hawaiʻi Appleseed’s Transportation Equity Policy Analyst. In this role, she will research and advocate for accessible transportation policies at various government levels, focusing on improving access to walking, biking, and transit options for low-income and marginalized communities in Hawaiʻi. She promotes the benefits of equitable transportation infrastructure for all by maintaining a well-informed perspective on relevant issues and working with legislators, agencies, businesses, and community groups.
Trinity brings a diverse background in agriculture, legislative research, and her AmeriCorps VISTA role, which emphasized equitable and accessible transportation in Hawai’i. Her personal experience growing up in a rural area with challenges related to food deserts and limited safe transportation options ignited her passion for improving transportation infrastructure as it relates to accessibility and autonomy.
Will Caron
Director of Communications
As the communications director at Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice, Will oversees the development of the communications tools, media and messaging the nonprofit uses to advance public policy that puts Hawaiʻi’s people first.
Will was born and raised on Oʻahu and graduated from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM) in 2012. Will has worked in professional media since 2008, beginning with editorial positions at Ka Leo O Hawaiʻi, the college newspaper at UHM. After graduating, Will worked as a writer and editor at The Honolulu Weekly, The Hawaii Independent and Summit before joining Hawaiʻi Appleseed in 2018.
Will is a founding board member of Young Progressives Demanding Action (YPDA) and a graduate of Hawaiʻi Alliance for Progressive Action’s Kuleana Academy. He has been involved in legislative advocacy since 2017, when he brought YPDA into the Hawaiʻi Tax Fairness coalition to help secure a state-level earned income tax credit in Hawaiʻi.
Will White
Deputy Director
Will is an experienced advocate, community organizer, and all-around policy wonk, who has dedicated his professional career to advancing equitable public policy for communities across the United States. A graduate of Kamehameha Schools and proud son of Kalihi Valley, Will spent the last 20 years on the U.S. continent working as a community organizer, policy advocate (and sometimes nightclub doorman) in both New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area.
For seven years, Will served as the Senior Director of Policy and Government Affairs at United Way Bay Area, where he worked to increase the minimum wage, improve access to healthcare for undocumented immigrants, and expand tax credits for working families. Having returned home in 2021, Will has had the opportunity to serve in the Hawaiʻi State Governor’s Office and the State Department of Budget and Finance before joining Hawai’i Appleseed. Will holds a bachelor’s degree in history from New York University and a master’s in urban policy analysis and management from The New School.