Clarisa is the founder and Executive Director of Reef Without Borders. A Filipina-American with 25 years of scuba diving experience in Philippine waters, she has watched the reefs of Cebu change dive by dive across a quarter century and decided the only honest response was to do something about it. She founded Reef Without Borders in 2026 and incorporated it as a Texas nonprofit with a mission to restore coral reef ecosystems across the Indo-Pacific.

Before Reef Without Borders, Clarisa spent 15 years in operations and communications leadership, including as Operations Director at International Business Times managing 50+ staff across six countries and 19 million monthly visitors, and as Communications and Marketing Director at St. Michael Catholic Church in Houston. She holds Google certifications in project management, data analysis, digital marketing, and analytics, and university certifications in digital marketing strategy, viral marketing, and positive psychology. She built and manages the Reef Without Borders website, content strategy, donor communications, and grant program independently. She is a single mother to one son, 16 years old, who is a Mensa member.

There are people who talk about saving the reefs. Dindo Paquibot has been underwater doing it. A PADI-certified Dive Instructor with over two decades in Philippine waters, he has logged dives at Tubbataha Reef, Coron, Apo Island, Balicasag, Panglao, Quattro Islas, and virtually every significant reef system in the Philippine archipelago. Born and raised in Lapu-Lapu City on Mactan Island, he earned his PADI Instructor rating in 2007 and has spent his career in the water ever since.

From 2019 to 2024, Dindo was a member of Protect Maribago Bay, a coral reef restoration organization registered with the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission. Working alongside an American conservationist through The CORE Divers, he spent five years building coral nurseries and transplanting coral fragments into degraded reef zones in Maribago Bay. As Director of Dive Operations, he leads every Reef Rescue mission, selects the sites, briefs the team, and makes every safety call in the water. His word on whether a dive goes or stands down is final, always.

John Joseph Florido grew up on land his father planted with 3,000 trees. That property in Carcar City, Cebu has been in the Florido family for over forty years. His father bought it, cleared nothing, and built instead: two homes, a tennis court, and a life overlooking a coastal mangrove forest. John grew up inside that decision. Conservation was not a concept he learned in a classroom. It was the view from his front door.

His academic path reflects the same instinct to go where the problem is. He began university studying medical technology, drawn to systems that keep living things alive, then shifted to aeronautical engineering at Cebu Aeronautical Technical College: two disciplines with the same underlying logic: understanding how complex systems hold together under pressure. As Community Engagement Coordinator, John builds and maintains the relationships between Reef Without Borders and the local communities surrounding our Phase 1 sites in Moalboal, Malapascua, and Olango Island. He is the organization's first point of contact in Cebu and ensures that restoration work does not happen to communities but with them. The mangrove forest his family looks out over is still there. John intends to keep it that way.

Clarice Eufre Chavez graduated summa cum laude in pharmacy and has built a career defined by two things: rigorous professional standards and genuine care for the people in front of her. Over 25 years of practice as a licensed pharmacist, she has worked directly with communities to make quality healthcare accessible, consistent, and personal. She founded and operates two pharmacies of her own, built from the ground up as businesses rooted in trust and service. Running those pharmacies for years gave her something a degree alone cannot teach: an instinct for what makes people feel heard, supported, and valued at work.

That instinct is exactly what Reef Without Borders needs as the organization grows. As Manager of People and Culture, Clarice brings the same precision she applies to patient care to the way the team operates. She leads onboarding, volunteer coordination, team communications, and the internal culture that holds the organization together across continents and time zones. She understands that the people behind a mission are as important as the mission itself, and that a team which feels supported does better work in the water and out of it.

Clarice joined Reef Without Borders because she believes that conservation is a human problem as much as an environmental one. The reefs survive if communities fight for them. Communities fight for them if people feel connected, included, and moved to act. Building that kind of culture, from the inside out, is the work she was made for.

Joseph Ryan Consul brings over two decades of high-level brand leadership and market-building experience to Reef Without Borders. His career has been forged across Southeast Asia's most competitive consumer landscapes, directing major category portfolios in the Philippines and Vietnam for household names including San Miguel Foods, Universal Robina Corporation, MoneyGram International, and RFM Corporation. Joseph holds a Bachelor of Arts in Legal Management from the University of Santo Tomas and pursued post-graduate studies in Marketing at the UST Graduate School of Business.

Currently directing the regional marketing architecture and commercialization strategy for URC Vietnam, his portfolio includes iconic brands such as C2 Iced Tea, Rong Do Energy Drink, Cream-O, and Dynamite confectionery. Joseph's expertise lies in reading market pulses and building deep consumer connections. Whether launching premium global brands like Moccona and L'OR through strategic international alliances, or revitalizing staple beverage portfolios like Selecta and Sunkist, his focus has always been on sustainable, long-term brand equity over fleeting impressions.

What Joseph brings to Reef Without Borders is a rare asset in the conservation space: elite commercial strategy applied to a purpose-driven mission. He understands how to navigate cross-cultural audiences, cultivate genuine corporate partnerships, and translate complex narratives into sustained, meaningful engagement.

Joseph's connection to the marine environment is deeply personal. For over a decade, the ocean has been both his sanctuary and his arena. He has been an integral part of the Philippine Kiteboarding Association (PKA) since its inception in 2013, serving as one of the visionary minds behind a national Tour that has spanned over 10 years and more than 40 kitesurfing competitions across the archipelago.

As a passionate kitesurfer and a certified IKO (International Kiteboarding Organization) instructor, he has competed in and won awards across numerous regional events, mastering conditions that demand absolute focus and calm under pressure. But for Joseph, the sport is inseparable from the environment that sustains it. A fierce advocate for beach cleanliness and coastal preservation, his years on the water have given him a front-row seat to the vulnerabilities of our marine ecosystems.

At Reef Without Borders, Joseph channels this lifelong bond with the sea into leading the organization's brand strategy, donor acquisition, and corporate partnerships. He brings the same rigor, creativity, and energy to protecting Asia's coral reefs that he once used to shape its consumer landscape, ensuring that the stories of our oceans are not just told, but truly heard.