OUR TEAM
Ray Duran
Founder / Executive Director
Ray Duran is a professional captain and mariner with over 20 years working on and enjoying San Francisco Bay and near coastal waters. He is a USCG Licensed 100-ton Master who has served as lead training captain and fleet manager with a Bay Area-based high-speed private commuter ferry service which served passengers from points between South San Francisco, Central Bay, San Pablo Bay and the Carquinez Straits up to Benicia.
His maritime experience also includes at-sea expeditions with a well-respected naturalist-led whale watching and eco-tour operator accumulating countless missions on inland waters and over 200 documented trips offshore to the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary.
It was aboard this vessel which bills itself as a “classroom at sea,” that Ray gained first-hand familiarity with the burgeoning aquatic life while learning to navigate and interact safely in the presence of whales and other marine wildlife that call these local waters home.
An avid sailor with experience as captain of a San Francisco-based charter schooner and as crew aboard a legendary former America’s Cup yacht, Ray also served for years as a member of the Board of Directors and Keelboat Director for the Bay Area Association of Disabled Sailors, helping to make the joy of sailing safe and accessible to differently-abled citizens throughout the Bay Area.
When on land, Ray is a professional marketing specialist having owned and operated an advertising and creative services firm specializing in graphic design, marketing communications, public relations and community outreach.
The BayQuest vision combines his experience as a professional mariner with a deep sense of connection with the vibrant local marine life – and a passion to help protect their vital habitat.
Stephen Kielar
President
An Adjunct Professor in the Oceanography lab at Cal Maritime Academy, Steve Kielar brings a unique blend of science, teaching methodology and vessel operations – along with an endearing wonderment of sea life to the BayQuest team.
Steve is a marine ecologist with years of experience teaching environmental education and oceanography at sea and on land. He received an MS in Marine Biology with a focus on science teaching, applying active learning, assessment and diversity, equity and inclusion strategies into learning.
His experience includes teaching oceanography in the San Francisco Bay and near coastal waters and sailing as a Scientist for Sea Education Association in the Caribbean, Western Europe and the South Pacific.
Before joining Cal Maritime Academy staff, Steve was a professor of Oceanography and Marine Biology at Diablo Valley College and a Biology Laboratory Instructor at San Francisco State University. He is a licensed USCG 100-ton Captain, served as Director of Education for Call of the Sea and as a popular Field Science Educator for NatureBridge in Marin County.
Steve’s passion and energy for the study and preservation of local marine ecology fuels his commitment to responsible stewardship and brings a science/teaching-centered perspective to the BayQuest mission.
Cristina Rubke
Treasurer
Attorney, sailor and adventurist, Cristina Rubke brings wisdom, forward-thinking, and an inclusion-driven perspective to the BayQuest team.
As counsel at Shartsis Friese LLP, a well-respected San Francisco-based law firm, Cristina advises clients on domestic and international trademark matters and manages U.S. and International trademark portfolios for clients in a wide range of industries.
She is a member of the International Trademark Association and a Past President of the San Francisco Intellectual Property Law Association.
From 2012-2020, Cristina served via mayoral appointment as a member of the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which oversees public transportation, traffic and parking in San Francisco.
She has been co-chair of the Bar Association of San Francisco’s Disability Rights Committee and a board member of Disability Rights Advocates of Berkley, California.
An avid sailor, Cristina regularly competes in national and international regattas. She served on the America’s Cup Organizing Committee for the 34th America’s Cup and has served for many years on the board of the Bay Area Association of Disabled Sailors, where she continues to volunteer and is currently Commodore.
She is a graduate of University of California, Berkeley in 2001 and received her law degree from Santa Clara University in 2004.
Andrea Geisinger
Secretary
A USCG-licensed 100-ton master, Captain Geisinger is a talented, disciplined mariner having spent countless seasons piloting a private high-speed commuter ferry and leading sailing excursions on San Francisco Bay and beyond.
Originally from Switzerland, she developed a fascination for the ocean through extensive sailing in the Mediterranean Sea and throughout Europe. Andrea is passionate about empowering women to gain confidence in taking on the helm and leads women’s sailing teams in her position as Instructor at Modern Sailing in Sausalito, CA.
She has sailed in the Pacific Cup sailboat race from San Francisco to Hawaii and onward to Kodiak, Alaska with extensive coastal cruising along the west coast.
Andrea joins us after having just served for 4-months as a nature tour guide at Katmai Wilderness Lodge, part of the Katmai National Park at Kukak Bay in Alaska.
Her passion for the ocean environment and marine wildlife combined with the discipline of safe navigation at sea makes her a valuable member of the BayQuest team.
Paul Verveniotis
Director
Paul Verveniotis is a serial entrepreneur and professional mariner who has leveraged his business and maritime skills since the 1980s. After attending the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, he worked as a Senior Aerospace Engineer for the U.S. Navy, responsible for key aircraft systems. He then served as principal in the start-up of a successful engineering and construction company and held executive roles in design and management of global advanced technology projects.
After over a decade of award winning projects, he developed the strategy to convert that firm to an enterprise cloud software company serving Fortune 100 clients, which ultimately led to the acquisition of that company by Oracle. While at Oracle, Paul held an executive role responsible for product strategy of Oracle’s Construction and Engineering Global Business Unit.
During his technical career, he also found the time to work as a professional mariner in various capacities on private and commercial vessels of all sizes. As Chief Operating Officer, he also co-founded the world’s first corporate high-speed commuter ferry company with clients including Facebook and Genentech.
Paul currently focuses on serving as master on commercial luxury passenger vessels and on private yacht deliveries throughout the U.S. West Coast. He also serves as a Qualification Examiner and Instructor in the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary where he evaluates the seamanship, boat handling, navigation and other skills of coxswain and boat crew personnel.
Paul’s current credentials include: USCG-licensed 200 Ton Master Near Coastal; USCG-approved Qualified Instructor; USCG Auxiliary Qualification Examiner; Licensed Mechanical Professional Engineer (PE) in California and other states. California For-Hire Vessel Operator and Licensed Aircraft Pilot.
Jason Blair
Director
Jason is a proven and dedicated team leader in the field of marine science and education both on land and at sea. His unique “science is fun” approach to teaching enhances his natural ability to engage young people in discovering the natural world around them.
Having earned a Bachelor of Science in both Geography and Environmental Studies from Aquinas College in central Michigan, Jason relocated to the Bay Area and began a long career in marine and coastal observancy including serving as field educator for elementary and middle school students in the national parks and became principal investigator of intertidal zones in the Marin Headlands.
Taking his experience to sea, Jason served as a naturalist and wildlife interpreter on board the Oceanic Society’s many public expeditions to the Farallon Islands and honed his expertise observing the sensitive ecosystem which sustains aquatic life on these dynamic waters. His work also includes whale and sea lion research with Golden Gate Cetacean Research in the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary and serving as naturalist aboard a well-respected San Francisco-based whale watch and eco-tour vessel.
A USCG Licensed 50-ton Captain, Jason currently operates the Zodiak transport vessel for National Geographic’s Lindblad Expeditions where he works as a Naturalist exploring the regions of Southeast Alaska, Baja Peninsula and the Channel islands.
He is a gifted educator and brings a wealth of experience and unbridled enthusiasm to the BayQuest team.
Paul Crow
Director
Captain Paul Crow brings a lifetime of seafaring experiences and the discipline of maritime leadership to the BayQuest team. His passion for ocean life, high standards for excellence and dedication to training others have been the hallmarks of his long service in safe vessel operations.
A native of Napa, Paul took to the sea at an early age for an extended two-year voyage of the South Pacific aboard his parents’ retrofitted sailing yawl. This experience – along with being from a fourth generation Merchant Marine family – cemented his path toward a brilliant maritime career.
After working aboard numerous fishing vessels early on, Paul achieved his USCG Master’s License and began operating passenger and car ferries for smaller operations on the Puget Sound. He was then hired by HMS Global Maritime to serve as lead training Captain for car/passenger and high-speed ferry operations in Seattle and around the country. Among his duties were supervising commercial vessel haulouts, training operations managers, training Captains, recruiting for HMS at Maritime Academies’, overseeing new builds, redesigns and refits on an extensive array of commercial boats.
It was around this time, Paul and his wife, Tracy – a decorated commercial airline Captain – purchased and extensively retrofitted their 75-foot expedition vessel, Elizabeth Ruth. Designed to withstand the challenging waters of the Bering Sea, ER has provided nearly 25 years of coastal cruising adventures for the the Crow family – including their two sons who are now 5th generation Deck / Engineer Officers with the Washington State Ferry system.
During a two-year stopover in the Bay Area, Paul took a Captain position with San Francisco Bay Ferry (WETA) before returning home to the Puget Sound as a Captain with the Kitsap Transit high-speed ferry system.
Now retired, Captain Paul and Tracy are heading up naturalist-led instruction/educational expedition flotillas aboard Elizabeth Ruth – which serves as lead vessel – in the Salish Sea, Desolation Sound, British Columbia Coast and the Inside Passage of Alaska. Helping to introduce the wonders of these important ecosystems to students, researchers, citizen scientists and nature enthusiasts is central to its mission.
Firuze Gokce
Project Lead - Acoustics
Firuze Gokce is an experienced digital marketing professional and nonprofit executive who brings a passion for the conservation of whales and a fascination with the audible underwater world to the BayQuest team.
She currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the American Cetacean Society – San Francisco and has served as project lead for OrcaSound.net, an acoustic monitoring organization that provides open source underwater recordings of whales in the Salish Seas.
As an accomplished digital artist, Firuze has amassed an impressive body of artwork depicting the spectrographic sound signatures of orca whales immersed in moving abstracts of undersea life.
A serial entrepreneur since 1997, she has co-founded three start-ups and received international recognition as a judge for Affiliate Marketing Awards in the United States. Firuze’s work has helped to empower a number of prominent nonprofits such as American Cetacean Society, San Francisco Chapter, SharkStewards, Empowering the Turkish American Community, Tech Bay Area Advocates, and the SDG Impact Accelerator.
As project lead for our passive acoustic monitoring initiative, BayQuest SeaSounds Project, Firuze will leverage her global contacts to foster collaborations with marine engineers and bio acousticians from corporate, government and academic institutions around the globe.
Dan Leininger
Trusted Advisor
Dan Leininger, LCDR USN (Ret) is the Northern California Regional Manager for the Maritime Institute – the largest private company in the U.S. certified by the U.S. Coast Guard. His responsibilities include teaching a variety of courses leading to Merchant Mariner Certification. He holds a USCG 100-Ton Master License (Near Coastal) with Radar, Sailing and Towing endorsements.
Upon retirement from the Navy, Dan worked in the high tech industry for 10 years as a Program and Project Manager. Following that, he returned to the waterfront in various roles, including Harbor Master, Sailing Programs Director and as the Executive Director of America True, a non-profit organization that provided on-the-water opportunities to underserved young people in the Bay Area.
Dan has significant volunteer experience in the non-profit sector. He provided training and leadership as a Board Member for the Bay Area Association of Disabled Sailors for 10 years. He is a founding member of the Alameda Community Sailing Center, where he continues to serve on the Board of Directors for over 10 years.
Dan is an avid supporter of marine wildlife preservation and a well-respected professional in the San Francisco maritime community. He has helped prepare hundreds of students for work in a variety of positions on San Francisco Bay and beyond. He brings a wealth of experience, compliance and discipline to the BayQuest team.
Heather Richard
Trusted Advisor
Heather Richard has served countless missions as a Naturalist/Wildlife Interpreter aboard a well-respected whale watch and eco-tour vessel in the San Francisco Bay, The Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary and the Southeast Farallon Island.
Currently a PhD student in the Ecology and Environmental Sciences department at the University of Maine, Heather received her MS at San Francisco State University working with biofilms on microplastics in the fabled lab of Dr. Edward Carpenter, a pioneer in phytoplankton ecology, ocean acidification effects and microbial ecology.
Heather also worked with an early team of scientists collecting and researching microplastic particles in the sea and near coastal waters. She is driven by her passion for understanding coastal processes and a strong desire to sustain natural resources and increase climate change resiliency.
As a trusted advisor during our start-up phase, Heather offers extraordinary vision and the discipline of hard science to the BayQuest team.