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Leimana Pelton
Dean Johnston

Affiliations and Endorsements

Having studied with master builders and experts from across the globe, the Architectural Chairman of the Hawaiian Chapter of the American Bamboo Society, Leimana Pelton, feels the Big Island is now ripe to launch a viable bamboo-related industry. During his research, our Chairman of the Board, Mr. Pelton, traveled to bamboo Mecca’s like the Philippines, Colombia, Brazil, and Vietnam and has had the outstanding opportunity to study and build with renowned bamboo architect, Simón Vélez.

Also on Bamboo Village’s Board of Directors is University of Hawaii at Manoa researcher, Dean Johnston, who is coordinating species specific research in architecture, entomology, engineering and agriculture sciences that will lead to breakthroughs in tissue culture propagation and to widespread acceptance of bamboo as a coded building material. The exciting news of Mr. Johnston’s preliminary tests indicate that our preferred species of treated tropical bamboos are bug resistant and several times stronger than conventional building materials!

Mary Ryan is the secretary on the BVH Board of Directors. She graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in Anthropology.She went on to become a counselor at the Hawaii State Department of Health. After some time she became a Parent Facilitator for the Research Corporation of Hawaii in the Public School System.

For the past 20 years she has been involved in agriculture; owning and operating a diversified farm including cut flowers, bonsai and bamboo. Mary brings her grassroots enthusiasm and ideals to Bamboo Village Hawaii.

Sunnye Newport, Project Coordinator: she brings 15 years of accounting, program management and computer knowledge to our headquarters office, along with her keen interest and participation in our bamboo way sustainable lifestyle.

Multi-talented staffers and community-minded supporters from around the island and beyond are beginning to get involved in this exciting movement toward bamboo. Samuel Galluzzo was immediately attracted to the elegance of bamboo as a building material, and he has been instrumental in helping us form our corporate structure and written presentations. Sky Kubby has been another great asset with his endless energy, positivity, and promotional work. In addition, several global experts in the field have endorsed Bamboo Village’s goals and ideals of community empowerment.

Affiliations and Endorsements >
Bamboo experts and pioneers who we have been and are currently affiliated with around the world. All of which have visited and shared with us here on the Big Island.

We also stay in close ties with other related organizations both local, national, and international. Bamboo Village Hawaii is developing lines of communication with INBAR (International Network of Bamboo and Rattan), the American Bamboo Society and A.W.I.S.H. (A World Institute for a Sustainable Humanity); as well as local institutions like the Hawaiian Economic Development Council, Department of Hawaiian Homelands, Hawaiian County Research and Development, Fuku Bonsai Nursery, Big Island Resource Conservation and Development and others.

If you have expertise in non-profit work or would like to get involved in this exciting, community-minded project, please contact us to begin a dialog with one of our board members. Contact board@bamboovillagehawaii.org.