THE BRAINS BEHIND

KAI PONO SOLUTIONS

A young woman with blonde hair wearing a white bucket hat and gray hoodie, smiling outdoors near rocky formations.

  • I grew up on the Big Island of Hawai’i. While the name makes it sound big, it is really just a tiny island with a population of just around 190,000. In Hawai’i, the ocean is your life line. I have spent just about every day of my life near a body of water. With that being said, I have seen the ocean in many different forms. From the most crystal clear water you have ever seen, to an ocean that looks like it is consisted of chocolate milk.

    This is usually due to a storm. After a big rain, I realized that it wasn’t very safe to be frolicking through waves the same way I do on a sunny day. I didn’t necessarily understand why this was, until I sat down and talked to my dad about it. He explained to me that substances that flow down a storm drain are exposed into waterways unfiltered and untreated.

    Fast forward 4 years later and I am College Senior at San Diego State University. As a business major, I have had multiple failed attempts at an entrepreneurial journey. When I stopped forcing fake interests that I had acquired while hanging around with friends or classmates, I genuinely found my passion around sustainability, and the ability to give back to my beautiful home.

    Here I am now, creating the concept of my dreams. I am more fulfilled now, and this project has moved me more than anything I have ever worked on. I feel so lucky to introduce this design to the world alongside my co-founder (my dad) and my mentors.

    xx

    Navy

Man in a white button-up shirt and beige pants standing on a lush green golf course with the ocean and palm trees in the background. He has a tattoo on his right arm and wears a leis around his neck.

  • I have been in the construction business for 33 years now.

    I began as a laborer, working for a structural concrete company that specialized in roads, bridges and flood control. I eventually worked my way up to carpenter, carpenter foreman, superintendent, and lead superintendent. I oversaw multi-million dollar projects, mostly in the flood control division.

    Through many years of following guidelines for storm drain protection, I realized the criteria’s were mostly eyewash and not effective. I felt the need to design something that would actually protect waterways, and I did. The design of Kai Pono Solutions was created 20 years ago and still remains relevant and effective to this day.

    Fast forward 20 years and the product I designed was still just a drawing. My daughter came to me in her Senior year of college and told me that she wanted to bring it to life. She wanted to give her best effort at protecting our oceans, lakes, rivers, and other bodies of water.

    I was thrilled, and very proud of her passion to bring this vision to life.

    Aloha,

    Dan

  • A smiling man with long brown hair wearing a navy cap and a black jacket, standing outdoors in a snowy forest with snow-covered trees in the background.

    Jack Dickson

    Lead Structural Engineer

  • A young woman smiling at sunset on the beach, wearing a black tank top with 'Kai Pono Solutions' written on it and blue jeans.

    Lanie Schwartz

    Director of Marketing

  • Stylized wave icon with water in shades of blue inside a circular border.

    Edward Banuelos

    Lead Mechanical Engineer

  • A young man sitting on a boat with a river and lush jungle in the background.

    Bailey Schantz

    Lead Chemical Engineer

Three people in a canoe or kayak on the ocean with a landmass in the distance. One man is in the foreground wearing sunglasses and a T-shirt, and two women behind him are smiling and waving, one wearing a hat and tank top.
A person is sitting on a paddleboard with a dolphin swimming close nearby in the water.
A woman in a swimsuit swimming underwater among a pod of dolphins, taking a selfie with a phone.
A smiling girl with blonde hair riding on the back of a man with sunglasses on his head on the beach at sunset.
Six women on surfboards holding hands in the ocean near a tropical shoreline with trees and a partly cloudy sky.
A woman swimming underwater in a black swimsuit with clear blue water and sandy ocean floor.
A person on a paddleboard observing a whale breaching the ocean surface during daylight, with a swimmer nearby.
Six people stand-up paddleboarding on the ocean, each on their own colorful paddleboard, paddling through the blue water.
Three people paddleboarding on the ocean, two women and one man, with a partly cloudy sky in the background.
A woman swimming underwater in clear blue water with an island full of palm trees and cottages in the background.
Underwater scene of four young women in swimsuits swimming in the ocean, one holding a volleyball, with sandy ocean floor visible.
A man and girl at the beach holding stand-up paddleboards, with the ocean and palm trees in the background.
A woman with long hair is kneeling in the shallow ocean water with her back to the camera. She is wearing a floral bikini bottom, a strapless top, and a flower crown. Her arms are raised out to the sides as water splashes around her, with a clear blu
A woman wearing a blue bikini standing in the ocean, smiling, with a paddleboard nearby during a sunny day.
A man carrying a woman on his shoulders by a small pond in a lush green, hilly area.