Surfrider

by Caroline Shannon (Dayton, Ohio)

It’s uncommon for a C-Suite executive to hope for the demise of her company. Many of them are just praying they stay afloat. But when you are working to preserve the stunning waters and beaches that surround the world, coming to a time where your work is no longer needed — well, that would be heaven. That’s at least why Michelle Kremer, the Surfrider Foundation’s Chief Operating Officer, is keeping her fingers crossed. Because, for her, losing her job means she has accomplished exactly what she set out to do.

“Preserving and enjoying the beauty of our coasts is something that is very important to me,” Kremer said of her position at Surfrider. Created in 1984 in Malibu, CA, the Surfrider Foundation was established as a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the world’s oceans, waves and beaches. Since then, the foundation has gained more than 50,000 members and implemented 80 chapters across the world, including locations in Australia, Japan France and Brazil, in addition to its 60 spread throughout the United States.

“We have over 100 current coastal campaigns going on at the moment,” Kremer said, pointing to one of the foundation’s current projects, Save the Gaviota Coast, a campaign to thwart development of the last untouched stretch of coastline in southern California.

The foundation is also responsible for several victories in an effort to preserve the Earth’s natural water habitats, including their 1991 winning of the second largest Clean Water Act suit in American history which found two Humboldt County pulp mills with more than 40,000 violations of the law. It was these accomplishments that turned volunteerism into a career for Kremer.

After earning two degrees — one in print journalism and another in political science — from the University of Southern California and her law degree from Western State University, Kremer took on a position at a large law firm. But she soon found herself feeling restless and began volunteering at Surfrider in 1993. Once she got involved she never looked back: “I just couldn’t see myself doing that (working at a law firm) for the rest of my life.”

Perhaps, it has something to do with her roots in Laguna Beach, CA, the place where she spent her childhood and currently calls her home. “I spent most of my life on the beach and in the water,” Kremer said. It’s that passion for the water and its creatures that Surfrider seeks from each staff member and volunteer who steps foot on its beaches.

Kremer is most proud of the foundation’s 111 coastal victories she has seen accomplished in just the last three years. “At Surfrider Foundation every minute contributed counts, every focused talent counts and every cent contributed and invested counts,” CEO Jim Moriarty writes in his online message. “This is not abstract to us. In fact it’s crystal clear, like we expect the oceans to be.”

Sparkling, just like Michelle Kremer’s vision for the foundation, a hope that one day surfing the wave will outweigh pushing for the protection of the waters on which she surfs: “The ideal is to be so good at what we do we put ourselves out of business,” she says with a smile.