From early childhood, Jeanne has felt a deep connection to the dolphin world. In middle school, Jeanne prepared an in depth study of the dolphin brain. She was fascinated to discover how large a dolphin's brain really is. During her research, she found recording of dolphin sounds underwater. From that day forward, Jeanne felt intimately connected to the spirit of the dolphin. Later, Jeanne received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics with a minor in Computer Science from Polytechnic Institute of New York. When she needed a thesis project for her Masters Degree in Statistics from New York University, Jeanne again turned to the dolphins.

At that time, the only dolphins available to her were the ones housed at The New York Aquarium. Timidly, she approached the caretaker of The New York Aquarium and asked if there was a dolphin project she could work on. Dr. Nightingale immediately directed her to two beluga whales that were giving birth in a few weeks. From this, Jeanne was able to coordinate a research project on the nursing behavior of beluga calves. She organized 300 volunteers to record the lockon and lockoff behaviors of two new beluga calves birthed at the aquarium - Hudson and Casey. With the help of Professor Simonoff of NYU, Jeanne then went on to not only complete her thesis, but also to have her 15 page article published in the very reputable journal - Zoo Biology "Nursing behaviors of beluga calves (Delphinapterus leucas) born in captivity" 16(3):247-262. Professor Simonoff then went on to include Jeanne's work in his book, "A Casebook For a First Course in Statistics and Data Analysis."

Jeanne has a lot of experience in teaching. Teachers have surrounded Jeanne all her life. Her father was a teacher for over fifty years at McKinley Junior High School in Brooklyn, New York. Immediately graduating from college, Jeanne started a teaching position at Poly Prep Academy - a prestigious college preparatory school in Brooklyn, New York. That started Jeanne's extensive Mathematics teaching career from grades 6 - 12 and beyond to include college level at University of Missouri, Kansas City. Upon coming to Kauai, Island School hired Jeanne to teach high school Mathematics, including calculus. After only two years at Island School, Jeanne was promoted to become the first Head of the Mathematics Department at Island School. As department head, Jeanne established a K through 12 mathematics curriculum using Saxon Mathematics. This program was so effective it helped students to get acceptance into prestigious colleges like MIT, Stanford, and ULCA.

In 1991, Jeanne married Dr. David Russell and together they had two wonderful light beings - Alexandria and Sean. When David finished his Oral Surgery training at UMKC, Jeanne knew she wanted to live near the water and the dolphins. With a hope and a prayer and one child still in diapers, David and Jeanne moved to Hawaii.

One evening while running Reiki on her husband, Jeanne became aware of dolphins peering in at her window. The reiki was very powerful and effective that night. From then on, it was revealed to her the dolphin's true desire to work with mankind, to create a center where other could experience the joy, compassion, and love of the dolphin. Such a place would be to service many different forms of healing modalities with the running theme of Healing, Enlightenment and Illumination. Thus birthed the idea of DolphinTouch - a center where dolphins and mankind could harmoniously work together.