Meet the Team
Meet the people helping connect neighbors, strengthen local relationships, and grow resilience across Puna Makai.
EJ Paterson
A resident of the Red Road for more than 20 years and having 4 generations at one time or another living in Puna, I’m grateful to have the opportunity to serve the Red Road community bringing forth the past, anticipating the future and working in the present.
I bring 60 some years of volunteer experience at the local, regional and national level and experience working in state government to efforts to create a volunteer system of emergency response and relief and to renew the Red Road Corridor Management Plan to focus on our present and future concerns.
Kristen McCormack
Kristen McCormack is an educator, artist, acupuncturist, bodyworker, and mother who has called Puna Makai home for 11 years. For the past six years, she has served as a volunteer community organizer, fundraiser, and event producer, supporting educational programs for keiki as well as art, music, and healing initiatives for the community of Lower Puna. She has also served as a Vibrant Hawaiʻi Resilience Hub event coordinator and volunteer for the past three and a half years.
At RRRN, she serves as outreach program director, event organizer, and volunteer coordinator, while also supporting grant writing and emergency planning. At the heart of her offerings is a love for helping our community feel connected, supported, and part of something meaningful. She brings creativity and care to her work, creating opportunities for neighbors to come together and share their gifts.
Lisa Albrecht
Treasurer and KRG Project Manager, Red Road Resilience Network
I have been coming to the Red Road to visit family here since 2005. I was inspired to get involved in Disaster Recovery and Resilience efforts after seeing the impacts of the 2018 lava flow on family and friends and the local area. Since moving to the Red Road full time in 2024 (refugee from Portland), I have become a member of CERT, joined the board of the Red Road Resilience Network, and am working on getting my chainsaw team certification.
My particular interests are making learning about emergency preparation and resilience entertaining and memorable, building community-powered mutual aid networks, collecting stories of local resilience, and community-based economic development. I am putting my professional survey researcher skills to work to help the RRRN collect useful and usable data about our local needs, our available resources and skills, and how to bridge the gaps between them. I look forward to getting to know more of the amazing people in this community!
Deborah Nickel
Deborah Nickel is a retired counseling professional with a graduate degree in transpersonal psychology and a longstanding interest in emotional well-being, personal growth, and community building. Since making Hawaiʻi Island home, she has become increasingly involved in efforts that strengthen connection, communication, and mutual support among neighbors.
Her work with the Red Road Resilience Network focuses on community outreach and the emotional support side of resilience. She helps represent RRRN at community events and coordinates the outreach table at Uncle Robert’s Saturday Market, sharing information and helping residents connect with the network and its resources. As a board member, she hopes to help foster a more connected, prepared, and resilient Puna Makai community.
Hazen Komraus
Lived here more than 25 years. Off-grid builder interested in sustainable living, that means resiliency. Many hands make light work. Since no good deed goes unpunished you might as well have company!
Scott Laaback
Board member, RRRN Emergency Command Group Chief
Center for Getting Things Started (C4GTS); director, DISH (Delicious Inspirational Sustainable Hospitality) initiative; farm to fork farmer chef connecting people, place, and nature through locally produced food.