Executive Director & Founder
Chris Elisara, Ph.D.
A visionary educator, social entrepreneur, and filmmaker, Dr. Chris Elisara and his wife Tricia founded CCSP in 2002. A native New Zealander, Dr. Elisara earned a B.A. from the University of Auckland, an M.B.A. from Eastern University, and a Ph.D. in cross-cultural education from Biola University, CA. More recently he founded the Center for Environmental Leadership in Buffalo, NY, and in late 2011 Dr. Elisara became the inaugural chair of the World Evangelical Alliance's creation care task force. Closer to home Dr. Elisara is a board member of the Volcan Mountain Foundation, a conservation organization which has preserved over 17,000 acres of critical habitat in San Diego County.
New Zealand Staff
Nathan Peace - INterim Program Director
Nathan was born in New York City but spent his childhood in New Delhi, India and on the tropical island of Penang, Malaysia. While completing a degree in International Development and Political Science at Houghton University, Nathan participated in two study abroad programs in Tanzania and Rwanda sparking a love for the natural and cultural world of East Africa. After graduating from Houghton, Nathan returned to East Africa where he spent 5 years managing a vegetable farm, coordinating study abroad programs, and enjoying some of the most incredible wild spaces on the planet. Whether it's East Africa, New York, or New Delhi, Nathan loves the process of digging into a place–learning the birds, the plants, the food, language and community–and he’s very excited to get stuck into life in Kaikoura!
