Our Staff

Program Director

Program Director, Melissa Fleming, Ph.D., is joined by her daughter and Monitoring Assistant, Kit Ellsworth. who is observing the baiting and setting of traps used for Green Crab Monitoring. 
Melissa Fleming, Ph.D., Program Director, received the science reins from founding partner Joleen Palmer at the first of the year. Melissa earned her doctorate from UW in Animal Behavior, has taught several undergraduate research courses and did her post-doctoral fellowship at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. She subsequently worked in conservation genetics studying endemic mammals of the North Pacific coast. She’s lived in Kitsap County since 1999 with her husband, John Ellsworth, and their daughter Katherine (Kit). She is a life-long learner who has thoroughly enjoyed her immersion into environmental science since joining Stillwaters in early 2018.

Administrative Director

Terry Pereida, Administrative Director, received the business reins from founding partner Naomi Maasberg the first of May. Terry grew up on California’s central coast and earned her degree in Communication Studies from UC Santa Barbara.
​She worked in aerospace and then technology before going back to school for her teaching credentials and taught in the classroom at the high school level for 20 years. She and her husband,​​Dano, moved to Kingston recently from Kailua-Kona, Hawaii and survived their first real winter here. Terry and Dano love experiencing nature’s seasons in Washington and look forward to meeting their Kingston neighbors in the community.

Program Assistant

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Hanna Brush, program assistant, joined Stillwaters in August of 2021. Hanna graduated in 2021 from Tufts University, where she double majored in biology and environmental studies. During her time at Tufts, she studied the ecology and nectaring behavior of Puget blue butterflies in southwest Washington’s native short grass prairies. A recent transplant from Portland, Oregon, she is enjoying getting to know life on the water at her home on Miller Bay. Hanna enjoys learning about the plants and animals of this unique estuary environment.