The Architects of Ecological Literacy

Our leadership team represents a unique intersection of scientific rigor, operational excellence, and community mobilization. We are bridging the gap between mountain headwaters and marine health through data-driven stewardship.

Kate B.
Chairman of the Board

Director of Strategic Growth & Institutional Integrity

Kate Beckett is a master of organizational excellence and a champion of professional transparency. As a past recipient of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award—the nation’s highest presidential honor for performance excellence—Kate brings a level of strategic rigor rarely seen in grassroots environmentalism. With a 30-year track record of 100% success in grant writing and federal consortia building, she specializes in transforming visionary ideas into sustainable, high-impact institutions.

  • The HMS Role:
    Kate serves as the architect of our Governance Framework. She oversees the strategic development of HMS, ensuring that our Platinum-level transparency isn’t just a badge, but a foundational practice. She is the lead strategist for our grant-seeking initiatives and corporate partnerships, translating our “Sentinel” data into compelling cases for institutional support.
  • The Mission Impact:
    By implementing rigorous internal controls and performance metrics, Kate ensures that HMS remains a “High-Reliability Organization.” Her leadership guarantees that every dollar invested in the Vital Cycles mission is managed with the highest level of accountability to our donors and the 52 towns we serve.

Steve H.
Charter Board Member

Director of Field Operations & Logistical Intelligence

Steve brings a career-long mastery of complex logistics and precision data to the HMS leadership team. A military veteran and former State Cartographer for New Hampshire, his expertise ensures that HMS field operations—from mountain headwaters to coastal estuaries—are executed with technical excellence and local insight.

An avid outdoorsman who has spent decades exploring New Hampshire’s waterways and trails, Steve possesses an intimate, “boots-on-the-ground” knowledge of the Granite State’s geography. His personal passion allows him to translate complex environmental data into a narrative that resonates with the local community.

  • The HMS Role: Steve serves as the lead architect for our Geodata Strategy. He oversees the integration of high-accuracy mapping within the HMS Stewardship App, ensuring that every “sheesh” moment logged by our Guardians is spatially verified and scientifically actionable.
  • The Mission Impact: Steve bridges the gap between digital data and the physical world. He coordinates the deployment of our Sentinel Surveys, ensuring our “Empowered Guardians” are equipped with the navigational tools and local context needed to monitor the Vital Cycles across our 52-town watershed.

David Miller
Founder & Executive Director

David is a geoscience educator and systems thinker dedicated to demystifying the complex ecological cycles that sustain the Seacoast. With an M.A. in Geoscience and a deep background in geology, he recognized that the greatest threat to our watershed was a “literacy gap”—the distance between seeing environmental change and understanding its root causes. David founded HMS to bridge this gap, turning his passion for the Piscataqua into a scalable model for community-driven environmental reconnaissance.

  • The HMS Role:
    David is the primary architect of the Vital Cycles curriculum and the HMS Field App logic. He translates complex nutrient data—Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Carbon cycles—into the accessible “Sentinel” framework that allows our Guardians to monitor the health of the 52-town watershed in real-time.
  • The Mission Impact:
    By leading our boat-based and terrestrial Sentinel Surveys, David moves the organization beyond simple observation into high-utility data collection. His leadership ensures that every “sheesh” moment recorded in the field is backed by geological context and a “Source-to-Sea” understanding of the region’s health.
  • I’m transforming a 30-year career into a unified front:
    • The Foundation: Geosciences & Geochronology (UT Dallas / Beta Analytic).
    • The Engine: Systems Architecture & Global Scaling (Amadeus / Bose).
    • The Wildcard: Crisis Leadership & High-Stakes Operations (Firefighter / Paramedic / Divemaster).
    • The Mission: Headwaters & Marine Stewards.

Our Commitment to the Watershed

“As the Board of Directors for Headwaters & Marine Stewards, we pledge to uphold the highest standards of scientific integrity and fiscal transparency. We are committed to ensuring that every data point we collect and every dollar we receive serves the singular mission of tracing and protecting the Vital Cycles of our 52-town Seacoast watershed.

Through our Sentinel Surveys and educational initiatives, we promise to remain accountable to our community, our environment, and our donors, moving from observation to action for the health of our region from Source to Sea.”

David Miller | Kate Beckett | Steve Huebner
Board of Directors, Headwaters & Marine Stewards (HMS)