2025-26 BOD Candidates
Elections for the 2025-26 Seacliff Board of Directors are coming up soon. Please take a moment to review the list of candidates and bios below.
List of Candidates:
Alex Kaplinsky
Bruce Whale
Buddy Arnheim
Caroline Neal
Don McConnell
Ileana Carreno
Lincoln Watkins
Michael Latif
Stephan Schaem
Tsofit Latif
Winston Welborn
Candidate Bios
Note that some candidates did not submit a bio.
Alex Kaplinsky
I have been a resident of Seacliff Plantation for over 15 years and have served on the Board for six years, including the past two as President. My wife, Tara, and I divide our time between Kauai and Palo Alto, California, and we have raised our three children both on and off the island. Seacliff is our intended permanent home.
Professionally, I have a background in managing technology services companies. Over the years, I have witnessed Seacliff grow and transform from a quiet neighborhood to a vibrant community. This growth has brought with it increased responsibilities for maintaining aging infrastructure and managing the evolving needs of our residents. The surrounding areas, including Kilauea, the Agricultural Park, and the Wildlife Preserve, have similarly experienced significant changes.
I am running for re-election to help address these emerging challenges. Key areas of focus for the Board include managing relationships with our neighbors, overseeing common areas, and enforcing community rules to preserve Seacliff’s character and desirability.
During the last term, the Board successfully accomplished several key objectives, including:
Comprehensive updates to the DRC (Design Review Committee) rules to improve clarity, establish clear processes, and streamline interactions with owners, architects, and builders.
Hiring a professional consultant to support the DRC, ensuring timely responses and providing expert guidance.
Securing easement agreements with the Fish and Wildlife Preserve to formalize resident access to established trails.
Finalizing a land-use maintenance agreement with the Agricultural Park to ensure proper upkeep of shared borders.
Enhancing community security, resulting in a significant reduction in incidents.
Upgrading the front gate and improving the camera surveillance system.
Welcoming two new homes into the community.
Priorities for the Next Term
Looking ahead, I believe the Board should prioritize the following initiatives:
Protecting Viewplanes: More aggressively defining and safeguarding mountain and ocean views to align with the original CC&Rs. Seacliff was originally wide open and I believe views are essential to all homesites and should be maintained.
Aligning Guest House Guidelines: Updating CC&Rs to align with county regulations and reflect the need for more housing flexibility in today’s environment. The county has recently allowed all CPRs to build 800sq foot guest houses with kitchens and I believe Seacliff should follow this example.
Building Reserve Funds: Ensuring adequate reserves to address future infrastructure needs, considering increasing costs and rising demands. This may necessitate future dues increases to prevent large assessments.
Enhancing Security: Maintaining a robust security presence and ensuring rental tenants adhere to house rules, which in the future should include including vehicle registration requirements.
I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to our community and look forward to working together to ensure Seacliff remains a wonderful place to call home.
Sincerely,
Alex Kaplinsky
Bruce Whale
Dear Fellow Seacliff owners,
I fell in love with Seacliff shortly after arriving on Kaua’i and worked for over 10 years on what was ex-HOA President Mark Hurt’s property.
My objectives of being part of the Seacliff Board would be to assist my fellow owners in the development and maintenance of their properties. I would like to see Seacliff develop and have an interactive and thriving community spirit evolve out of this.
I am originally from South Africa, where I studied geology and worked as a professional advertising photographer and later in marketing and sales. I left there in the 90’s and spent some years living in various European cities.
I have a rich background in coastal planning and architecture, starting in Big Sur, California, where I collaborated with leading architects and site planners on projects under the rigorous California Coastal Commission process. In 2000, I relocated to Kauai and interned with Avery Youn, the former County Planning Director and creator of the County Zoning Ordinance. Over the past two decades, I have designed and built over eighty-five homes on Kauai, blending my deep knowledge of coastal regulations with a commitment to thoughtful, sustainable design. Since 2009 I have also worked with Malia Powers as a real estate salesperson and we have achieved much success as a team in this challenging and competitive market. Running two intensive professions alongside each other has been a very enriching experience for me. Malia and I are working in real estate development in the Republic of Palau and we recently purchased a 70 acre private island which we intend to develop with a few interested major boutique hotel brands.
My passions include marathon and ultra-distance running, road cycling, surfing and photography.
Buddy Arnheim
Greetings fellow Seacliff neighbors. My name is Buddy Arnheim. My wife and I purchased our property at 3891-C Pali Moana seven years ago, and just completed construction of our home. I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, attended college in Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania – Wharton School, came back to the Midwest to attend law school at the University of Illinois, and began my legal career in Chicago at a large law firm. At about that same time I married my high school sweetheart, who remains my sweetheart as we celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary earlier this year (and 41 years together). We live in the SF Bay Area, but expect to spend an increasing amount of time in Kauai as our three daughters are now graduated from college and essentially “launched.” I retired from the practice of law about four years ago, and started a new career in venture capital. I am currently a managing partner at August Capital and a co-founder of its successor fund, Lobby Capital, where we invest in early-stage software startups. I have also served on a number of non-profit boards (most of which focus on youth education) and I am an adjunct professor at my alma matters. In my spare time, I swim, hike, bike, surf, practice yoga, play the guitar, cook, and enjoy my family, friends and nature.
Why you would like to be on the Board:
I have now served on the Seacliff Board for a few years and believe the Board has made some great progress shoring up the Association’s finances, maintaining and improving the common areas, building upon our relations with our neighbors in Kilauea and the Ag Park, and responding to the needs of the Seacliff community. That said, there is more to do as the community evolves and grows. As I spend more time in Seacliff, I am eager to dedicate my time to these and other needs and initiatives.
What Issues are important:
We all became members of the Seacliff Association because we were attracted to its beauty, location, community, tranquility and convenience. It is critical that the Board exercises its oversight to ensure that these characteristics and the needs of its residents/owners are well served. Seacliff is, and must remain, a haven for each of its residents. This means making sure the Association is financially sound, that the common areas are well cared for, and that the Board and management communicate clearly with each member of our community, and that there are strong relations among the residents/owners. There has been a surge of building in Seacliff over the past several years, including the construction of our home, and more is expected. This presents new challenges, and it is imperative that these new challenges are managed in a way that preserves what we all love about Seacliff, while also incorporates best practices. Examples of this include updating and improving the process of managing construction, maintaining good relations with the Kilauea community, and creating and expanding opportunities for Seacliff community to deepen relations among its owners/residents.
Buddy Arnheim
Don McConnel
Aloha Seacliff Community,
I, Don McConnell, would like to become a member of the 2025-2026 Board of Seacliff. My wife and I have been full time residents of Seacliff for more than twenty years. I previously served on the Seacliff Board, but elected to "bow-out" several years ago in order to get some new individuals involved. I'm running again now, because I think we need additional full-time homeowners to be part of the seven member committee.
Besides previous experience on the Seacliff Board and several years as President, I spent many years volunteering at the Kilauea Refuge ending with the restoration of the Kilauea Lighthouse in 2013. I have also served several years on the Board of the Kilauea Neighborhood Association getting to know more towns people and getting more familiar with Kauai County's personnel and procedures.
I am very interested in having Seacliff become less of a "subdivision" and more of a "community". I believe that we need to get to know each other more personally; too many times I see residents that I don't know. I think the Hawaiian concept of 'ohana nui is something we should be moving toward.
Lincoln Watkins
Short biography: I'm originally from the New York City area. I spent my professional life in the finance and investment banking industry in New York. My wife Rebeckah is from Utah. We met in New York, married and raised 5 daughters before retiring to Utah. We have 9 grandkids and have our primary home near Park City. We bought our lot in Seacliff in 2011 and began building in 2015. We love Kauai, the North Shore and Seacliff. We generally spend 4-6 weeks in Utah and then 3-4 weeks in Kilauea. Rebeckah is an excellent chef and I race cars in Utah, weather permitting, and have taken motorcycle trips to some very remote places. We ski a few times a year and are involved in food drives and mentoring teens and young adults.
Why I'd like to be on the board: We've enjoyed the benefits of our lovely neighborhood for nearly a decade and feel its time to contribute some time and effort, if elected, in giving back to Seacliff.
What issues are important to me:
I'd like to see the existing rules governing new construction clarified and strengthened if possible. This also holds true for view planes and view-blocking foliage.
Two big monkey pod trees were nearly cut down near the exit gate within the past 18 months. Fortunately, Ginny intervened just in time and the trees were saved. I'd like a number of trees within Seacliff clearly designated as legacy trees which may be lightly trimmed from time to time but not cut down.
Much of what the Board does is unknown to the residents of Seacliff. I'd like to see a simple summary regularly distributed to all residents describing current issues and conflicts, Board votes and results, proposed donations to the Ag Park, etc.
I'd also like to see the Board reach out to others who regularly use Kilauea Road (the Lighthouse, KCA, homeowners on Kilauea Road and Kaupea Road, etc.) to petition the County to finish paving Kilauea Road from Titcomb Street to the end of the road (the Lighthouse). The stretch of Kilauea Road just prior to reaching Seacliff is very rough.
Mike Latif
Aloha Seacliff Plantation Owners,
I’ve been a board member for Seacliff Association since 2012. During my Seacliff Board terms I was able to negotiate the agreement with the AG park to allow us a 20’+ corridor cushion along our shared borders. I’ve participated in talks with fish and wildlife regarding our easements. If you should elect me to serve on the board, I will continue to work with my fellow board members to insure that we address the needs of individual home owners while preserving the quality of life that attracted us to live at Seacliff Plantation. I will continue to be the liaison between our association and the community, ag park, and wildlife refuge promoting a good neighborly relationship.
A little history about myself:
After graduating, as a Pharmacist, from Wayne State University Pharmacy School in 1981 and prior to moving to Kauai, I got a real estate and building contractors license, in order to better manage a real estate partnership. We moved to Kauai permanently, October 1988 from Michigan, to complete building and open the 1st pharmacy on the north Shore. We created a store that mirrored our outlook on how health should be maintained with a holistic approach including alternative therapies. (We had a lot of ideas but ran out of space to do them all). We have evolved the pharmacy into a full compounding pharmacy facility that received accreditation from PCAB. I’ve been a board member on the Kilauea Neighborhood Association (KNA) for a few decades and am still active. I’ve been a board member for Seacliff Association since 2012. I’ve coached youth soccer, tennis, and baseball for the community for 12+ years. My family & I are very proud community members. My real estate experience started in Michigan and continued on Kauai with building my own home, remodeling of the pharmacy, creating a lab facility and other real estate projects.
If elected, one of the things I would like to negotiate with the AG park is to make a corridor between the ag park and the gates of Seacliff to allow pedestrians an alternative place to park and walk into Seacliff. I feel that this would be a good investment for Seacliff by eliminating all the parked cars that are potentially hazardous since they block the view of cars and pedestrians exiting and entering Seacliff.
Mahalo,
Mike Latif
Winston Welborn
Aloha Seacliff Plantation members,
I have served on the Board for the last two years. It has been an honor to serve, learn more about Seacliff issues, meet other owners, and lend my mana’o as a longtime Kauai resident. I also worked with other BOD members to create our new website seacliffplantation.org.
As a Seacliff BOD member, I will continue to support the neighborhood and its owners. I support responsible decisions. I will dedicate my time and be a fair, objective listener.
Navigating the future of Seacliff is a sensitive and vital issue. More homes will be built, density will increase, existing infrastructure may be strained, and Kilauea community concerns will need to be addressed. As an owner and BOD member, I will work to preserve our wonderful open spaces. Seacliff is a special place in the coolest town in Hawaii (IMHO).
The County of Kauai recently amended building codes for CPR properties on Kauai. The new code states that every CPR unit may build a guest house with larger square footage and a kitchen. Seacliff CC&Rs still follow the old rules. In 2025, I will propose a motion that amends our CC&Rs to follow the Kauai County building code.
I am available to discuss this with any of our members.
Personal Background
Professionally, I’ve worked as a boat captain, shiatsu therapist, firefighter, and paramedic. Over 20 years ago, I focused my career direction on graphic design, marketing, and tech. In 2002, I founded Wasabi Design, an award-winning advertising agency located in Hanalei. Wasabi served as a springboard for Hawaii Life Real Estate Brokers.
As a Hawaii Life leader and owner, my contributions spanned many areas, including the company concept, name, and brand, UI/UX design, graphic design, creating and managing the creative team, business development, public speaking, PR, copywriting, photography, video, and art direction (to name a few).
In 2022, I sold my interest in Hawaii Life. Currently, I am working on various personal projects and as the Creative Director for Gather Vacations.
I’ve been a Kauai North Shore resident since 1978. Education includes Island School, Kapaa High School, St. Mary’s College, and Clemson University. I’ve always enjoyed writing, so I studied English Literature in college. My design skills come from self-learning and working with talented designers, marketers, and content creators.
I’m a proud father and husband of nearly 30 years. For fun, I enjoy cycling, kiteboarding, adventure fly fishing, hiking, travel, snow sports, nature, photography, and walking with my best friend Riku (a Jack Russel).
My most vital skills are listening, observing, and simplification.
Thank You,
Winston Welborn
