Every member of Marine Conservation Institute’s staff and board possesses an exceptional suite of skills and talents. Marine Conservation Institute staff members have a wide range of expertise in both natural and social sciences essential to marine conservation. Marine Conservation Institute's board of directors has the ultimate responsibility for our program activities and compliance with all appropriate state and federal laws.
President: Elliott A. Norse
Executive Assistant to the President: Beth Pike
Vice President for Government Affairs: William Chandler
Vice President for Science: Lance Morgan
Director, High Seas Program: Jeff Ardron
Director, Coral Conservation: Sandra Brooke
Director, Special Projects: Jennifer Felt
Director, Ocean Policy: Julia Hathaway
Marine Biogeographer: John Guinotte
Conservation Scientist: Mark Richardson
Senior Policy Analyst: Hannah Gillelan Goldstein
Ocean Conservation Analyst: Russell Moffitt
Conservation Advocate: Emily Douce
Postdoctoral Fellow: Sara Maxwell
Ocean Policy Fellow: Margaret Cooney
Conservation Science Fellow: Shelly Magier
Ocean Policy Intern: Bette Rubin
Vice President for Operations: Caryl García
Director of Development: Michael Zwirn
Accountant: Joan Inge
Accounting Assistant: Lan Tran
Accounting Clerk: Vani Gujjar
Jeff Ardron
Director, High Seas Program (Washington, DC) - Mr. Ardron holds an M.Sc. in Environment and Management from Royal Roads University, Canada, receiving the Chancellor’s Award for the highest standing in his year. Prior to that, he studied at University or Toronto (Engineering) and University of Waterloo (Integrated Studies). He maintains his involvement in British Columbia, Canada, where he is from, as President of the Board for the Pacific Marine Analysis and Research Association (PacMARA). In addition to leading our High Seas Program, he co-leads our Surveillance and Enforcement of Remote Maritime Areas (SERMA) project. His marine experience began in the fishing sector, later moving to the conservation sector, then federal government and working within international conventions. Previously, he was a senior scientific advisor on marine protected areas (MPAs) for the German Federal Agency for Nature. While in Europe, he was active within OSPAR (regional seas convention of the NE Atlantic) leading several aspects of MPA network assessment. A specialist in systematic conservation planning, he is a frequent guest lecturer, and has consulted widely, recently for conservation planning projects in West Africa, Canada, and the UK. A central interest is the bridging and communication of marine science and policy. He serves on several steering and advisory committees, including the High Seas Alliance, the Sargasso Sea Alliance, and the Global Ocean Biodiversity Initiative. In his current position at Marine Conservation Institute, he leads teams developing solutions to issues surrounding high seas conservation.
Sandra Brooke
Director, Coral Conservation (Bellevue, WA) - ): Dr. Brooke’s primary objective is to identify sensitive coral reefs to advocate for their protection from damaging human activities, especially bottom trawling, and to ensure adequate enforcement of regulations so that sensitive ecosystems are truly protected. After completing undergraduate and masters degrees in England, Dr. Brooke spent a few years working in mosquito control in the Cayman Islands, where she learned to dive and thereby discovered marine ecosystems. She then obtained an M.A in Marine Biology from Virginia Institute of Marine Science and a Ph.D (2002) from the University of Southampton UK, where her research examined reproductive ecology of a deep water coral Oculina varicosa. Dr Brooke's recent research efforts have focused on deep coral ecosystems in the Norwegian Fjords, Aleutian Islands, US South Atlantic Bight and Gulf of Mexico. Since joining Marine Conservation Institute in 2008, she has worked to locate and win protection for deep-sea coral ecosystems, including post-Deepwater Horizon oil spill damage assessment. She has also worked extensively on shallow coral reefs in the Caribbean and south Florida. She has courtesy research faculty position at the University of Oregon and serves on the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s Coral Advisory Panel.
William Chandler
Vice President for Government Affairs (Washington, DC) - Mr. Chandler directs Marine Conservation Institute’s Washington, D.C. office and leads our policy advocacy work. He is a leading authority on the National Marine Sanctuaries Act. Prior to joining Marine Conservation Institute, Mr. Chandler managed the Department of Conservation Policy of the National Parks Conservation Association, a nonprofit citizens' organization that protects America's National Park System. Before that, Mr. Chandler was president of his own natural resources policy consulting firm, which conducted program evaluations and policy analyses for nonprofit and private clients. He also founded and published "Land Letter," a newsletter for conservation professionals, and served as research director and editor of the National Audubon Society's Wildlife Report. Mr. Chandler has extensive experience in the political arena. He was a legislative assistant for members of the US Senate and House of Representatives, the legislative representative of The Nature Conservancy, and a regional study director for the National Commission on Water Quality, which evaluated the effectiveness of the Clean Water Act. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from Stanford University, and a M.A in Government from Johns Hopkins University.
Margaret Cooney
Ocean Policy Fellow (Washington, DC) - Ms. Cooney received her B.S. in biology from the University of Mary Washington. She went on to spend two years as a researcher at the National Zoo in Washington DC, where she studied Golden Lion Tamarin behavior, Sea Otter nutrition, and Giant Panda reproductive physiology. She received her M.S. in Sustainable Development & Conservation Biology from the University of Maryland, where her graduate research focused on conservation and management issues surrounding Crown-of-thorn starfish (Acanthaster planci) outbreaks. During graduate school she worked with Conservation International on a management plan for a proposed protected area in Guyana, as well as with World Wildlife Fund on elephant populations and crocodile monitoring in the Congo Basin. Since joining Marine Conservation Institute her primary responsibility has been to lead the research on interagency governance of marine protected areas in support of Marine Conservation Institute’s Pacific Island Conservation Program. Other work includes collaboration with staff on Marine Conservation Institute’s enforcement and ocean acidification projects. In her spare time she thoroughly enjoys being a personal assistant (aka “Mom”) to a small, adorable, tyrannical, 2-year-old.
Emily Douce
Conservation Advocate (Washington, DC) - Ms. Douce graduated from Texas A&M University in Galveston, Texas with a B.S. in Marine Biology. Upon completion of her studies in Texas, Emily taught high school chemistry and environmental science for two years in a challenging, yet rewarding atmosphere. In 2008, she moved to Washington D.C. to pursue and complete a M.A. in Environmental and Resource Policy at George Washington University. Since her arrival to Washington D.C. and prior to Marine Conservation Institute, Emily worked for a member of Congress and worked in an environmental nonprofit dealing with issues concerned with the implementation and compliance of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Emily originally joined Marine Conservation Institute as a fellow before becoming a full-time employee. Now as a conservation advocate, Emily primarily works with federal agencies to analyze marine conservation programs and their budget needs, and educates policy makers about the impacts of ocean acidification.
Jennifer Felt
Director, Special Projects (Washington, DC) - Ms. Felt’s work at Marine Conservation Institute is focused on managing our multifaceted MPA work in the Pacific Islands. Before joining Marine Conservation Institute, Ms. Felt lived in Costa Rica and worked as the Regional Director for Humane Society International’s (HSI) Latin America office overseeing several programs including: stopping the illegal trade in wildlife, HSI’s participation in the regional effort to maintain the ban on commercial whaling, campaign to end to shark-finning, and environmentally friendly cacao production. While working with HSI, Ms. Felt served as a liaison to the Trade and Environment Policy Advisory Committee, which provides the U.S. Trade Representative with policy advice on issues involving trade and the environment. She also developed and managed a program in Central American and the Dominican Republic to stop the illegal trade in wildlife and improve compliance to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Ms. Felt joined the Peace Corps and spent two years as a volunteer in Honduras after receiving her bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Vermont (UVM).
Caryl García
Vice President for Operations (Bellevue, WA) - Ms. García oversees the Marine Conservation Institute’s operations, including the annual budget development and implementation process. She monitors financial statements to ensure revenues and expenditures are on track, and she oversees and directs organization’s financial accountability and internal control system. Ms. García has more than 25 years of experience in non-profit management and economic development. She holds a Master’s of Science in Foreign Service (with concentrations in economic development and international relations) from Georgetown University, Washington, DC.
Hannah Gillelan Goldstein
Senior Policy Analyst (Washington, DC) - Mrs. Goldstein has worked for Marine Conservation Institute in several capacities since 2001. She received her Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center in 2000 and then served as a legal intern at the Council on Environmental Quality during President Clinton's final months in office. Mrs. Goldstein has run her own legal practice doing estate law and been Associate Attorney for a small firm in Washington DC doing everything from lobbying to Commercial Law. During school, she interned or worked with National Marine Fisheries Service in Hawaii and the National Wildlife Federation on sea turtle conservation and litigation, the State of Hawaii Attorney General doing environmental compliance work, Environmental Research Foundation as a research assistant on issues of toxics and human health, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service doing a relocation study on the endangered Northeastern Beach Tiger Beetle. Since adopting her first child from Ethiopia, Mrs. Goldstein has been juggling motherhood with continued work for Marine Conservation Institute, and has found the opportunity to keep her hand in current and cutting-edge work at Marine Conservation Institute a rewarding one. Mrs. Goldstein received her BA from St. John's College and did coursework in Israel with the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies.
John Guinotte
Marine Biogeographer (Bellevue, WA) - Dr. Guinotte is a marine biogeographer with Marine Conservation Institute. He received his Ph.D. in Tropical Environmental Science and Geography from James Cook University. Dr. Guinotte has spent the last ten years investigating the potential implications of climate change and ocean acidification on coral ecosystems. He was a research scientist with the Kansas Geological Survey-University of Kansas. As a researcher at the Australian Institute of Marine Science, he predicted coral reef habitat in the Coral and Timor Seas, investigated climate change / ocean acidification related threats to shallow water coral ecosystems, and used modeling techniques to identify high value target areas for marine protected area designation. Dr. Guinotte’s current research focuses on: predicting global deep sea coral habitat, identifying deep sea coral areas that will be less likely to be impacted by ocean acidification, investigating the mineralogy of Alaskan deep sea corals / developing ocean acidification risk assessments for Alaskan coral areas, and identifying seamounts on the high seas. In addition, Dr. Guinotte is working with several partners to develop regional scale working groups to identify ocean acidification research, monitoring, and adaption strategies.
Vani Gujjar
Accounting Clerk (Bellevue, WA) - Ms. Vani received her Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with Financial Accounting as major from Kuvempu University, India. She completed her Basic and Intermediate Accounting from Fullerton College, California and worked as an Accounting Coordinator at a leading e-marketing firm in Seattle Area supporting different areas of Finance. Ms. Vani volunteered in several non-profits, including Northshore school district and libraries. She enjoys working for Marine Conservation Institute where people are highly focused on protecting our oceans which makes a difference in the environment.
Julia Hathaway
Director, Ocean Policy (Washington, DC) - Julia joins Marine Conservation Institute after serving as legislative staff for the House of Representatives' Committee on Natural Resources, where she focused on legislation to protect oceans and wildlife. As Director of Ocean Policy, Julia has oversight of, and responsibility for, all Marine Conservation Institute policy development and execution in the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government. She has held numerous positions in the conservation community focusing on federal policy-making, advocating on behalf of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ocean Conservancy, and the International Fund for Animal Welfare. Her previous stint on Capitol Hill included working for two Members of the Florida Delegation. Julia holds a Masters of Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Management, and a B.A. from The George Washington University.
Joan Inge
Accountant (Bellevue, WA) - Ms. Inge received her Bachelor's Degree in Accounting from Thiel College in Greenville PA. She spent a semester in Liberia, West Africa, as an international student. As an undergraduate, Joan focused on the field of nonprofit accounting as her career choice. Upon graduation, Ms. Inge worked for Greenpeace, combining accounting and direct actions for the environment. Subsequently she worked for several non-profits, including NIRS (Nuclear Information and Resource Service) and two Seattle-based organizations serving the homeless. In joining Marine Conservation Institute, Ms. Inge has returned to her environmental roots and her interest in protecting our oceans. She enjoys her weekends spent hiking along Pacific Northwest beaches with her husband and dogs.
Shelly Magier
Conservation Science Fellow (Glen Ellen, CA) - Ms. Magier received her bachelor’s degree from Bowdoin College in 1999 with a degree in Biology. After college she worked for Heal the Bay on urban stormwater runoff issues and stream water quality monitoring in watersheds feeding the Santa Monica Bay. In 2003 she received her master’s degree from the Donald Bren School of Science and Management with a focus on water resources. Subsequently Ms. Magier worked for various environmental consulting firms, and worked on a variety of projects ranging from arid land restoration in the Mojave desert, to vegetation mapping, riparian corridor restoration and historical ecology research on the Santa Clara River. Ms. Magier’s research at Marine Conservation Institute focuses on the historical ecology of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument.
Sara Maxwell
Postdoctoral Fellow (Glen Ellen, CA) - Dr. Maxwell’s work at Marine Conservation Institute as a Postdoctoral Fellow is focused on the management of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, and issues surrounding marine spatial planning in the US. Dr. Maxwell attended University of Florida where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation. She then spent four years as a Conservation Scientist with Marine Conservation Institute. Sara returns to Marine Conservation Institute after recently completing her doctoral work in Ocean Sciences at the University of California Santa Cruz. Her dissertation research involved the effectiveness of marine protected areas for top predators along both the US West Coast and the coast of Central West Africa. Dr. Maxwell worked with the Census of Marine Life’s Tagging of Pacific Pelagics project, focusing on conservation gaps on the US West Coast and the use of the National Marine Sanctuaries by marine mammals and seabirds. Additionally, she conducted a project deploying satellite transmitters on endangered sea turtles to determine how MPAs can better protect them in Gabon and the Republic of Congo.
Russell Moffitt
Ocean Conservation Analyst (Glen Ellen, CA) - Mr. Moffitt graduated from Dartmouth College with a B.A. in Environmental and Evolutionary Biology. Prior to coming to Marine Conservation Institute, he worked in Hawaii with the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, conducting oceanographic and ecological research at coral reef ecosystems across the Pacific, including places where Marine Conservation Institute works to protect such as the Pacific Remote Island Areas and the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Russell has also conducted reef biodiversity assessments with the Census of Marine Life (CoML) Census of Coral Reefs project and has recently been developing and deploying a standardized method to assess cryptic biodiversity on reefs worldwide using advanced molecular techniques. Russell is particularly interested in the interactions between marine biological communities and their physical environments and how those processes are affected by climate change. At Marine Conservation Institute, Mr. Moffitt works on identifying biological hot spots on the high seas and other areas in need of protection, and works as a member of our team in analyzing geospatial data, particularly on issues related to marine spatial planning.
Lance Morgan
Vice President for Science (Glen Ellen, CA) - Dr. Morgan is a marine biologist and leads Marine Conservation Institute’s science program. He received his Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of California-Davis (1997) and did postdoctoral research at Bodega Marine Laboratory and NOAA Fisheries before joining Marine Conservation Institute in 2000. His research interests range from zoology to conservation science and he has studied taxa as diverse as deep sea corals and sea lions. He supervised the identification of Marine Priority Conservation Areas from Baja California to the Bering Sea for the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, and was co-PI on the California Ocean Uses Atlas. He has authored reports on the impacts of fishing methods on marine life as well as scientific papers on marine protected areas. He has field experience as a SCUBA diver, aquanaut and submersible pilot from a number of sites. He is currently the Chair of the Cordell Bank Sanctuary Advisory Council.
Elliott A. Norse
President (Bellevue, WA) - Dr. Norse has worked at the conservation science-policy interface for his entire career. After earning his B.S. in Biology from Brooklyn College, he studied the ecology of blue crabs in the Caribbean for his Ph.D. at University of Southern California and his Postdoctoral Fellowship at University of Iowa. Starting in 1978 he worked at the US Environmental Protection Agency, President’s Council on Environmental Quality (where he defined biological diversity as conservation’s overarching goal), Ecological Society of America, Wilderness Society and Ocean Conservancy before founding Marine Conservation Institute in 1996. Dr. Norse’s 150+ publications include 4 books: Conserving Biological Diversity in Our National Forests (1986), Ancient Forests of the Pacific Northwest (1990), Global Marine Biological Diversity: A Strategy for Building Conservation into Decision Making (1993) and Marine Conservation Biology: The Science of Maintaining the Sea’s Biodiversity (2005). He is a Pew Fellow in Marine Conservation and Adjunct Professor of Marine Conservation Science and Policy at Duke University Marine Laboratory, served as President of the Society for Conservation Biology’s Marine Section, received the Nancy Foster Award for Habitat Conservation from the National Marine Fisheries Service and Brooklyn College named him its 2008 Distinguished Alumnus.
Beth Pike
Executive Assistant to the President (Bellevue, WA) - Ms. Pike received her B.S. in Psychology/Biology at Long Island University – Southampton College. She worked for many years as a naturalist on whale watch charter boats in Maui, HI. She also worked for six years as an Associate Scientist with the Right Whale Research group at New England Aquarium in Boston, Mass. She moved to North Carolina and earned her M.E.M. at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment in 2008. Her thesis work tied the movements of critically endangered right whales and the tidal movement of their prey in the Bay of Fundy. She also earned a Certificate of Geospatial Analysis from the Duke University Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab. She has worked for the past few years as a naturalist and mate on small cruise ships sailing in Alaska, British Columbia, the South Pacific, and Mexico.
Mark Richardson
Conservation Scientist (Washington, DC) - Mr. Richardson graduated from Binghamton University with a B.A. in German and received his Master of Public Administration degree from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. Prior to joining Marine Conservation Institute, he worked in Washington, DC as a program analyst with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he conducted performance evaluations of federal public health programs. He recently completed a Master of Science in Sustainable Development and Conservation Biology at the University of Maryland, where his graduate work focused on marine conservation and included a capstone project to develop a stand-alone monitoring tool for evaluating the success of marine reserves in the Coral Triangle region. Mr. Richardson first joined Marine Conservation Institute as an Ocean Policy Fellow in 2008, supporting its advocacy for the creation of several new marine national monuments to protect pristine coral reef atoll ecosystems in the Pacific. As a Conservation Scientist, he now analyzes domestic and international fisheries law enforcement issues in the Pacific region and works closely with federal partners on the recovery of the endangered Hawaiian monk seal. In his spare time, he enjoys being outdoors, and volunteering at a local wetlands sanctuary.
Bette Rubin
Ocean Policy Intern (Washington, DC) - Ms. Rubin recently received her Bachelor’s degree in Classics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In the past, she has worked for Ocean Alliance and the Cape Ann Whale Watch in Gloucester MA, and studied marine biology on the island of Grand Manan in New Brunswick, Canada. She is thrilled to be part of Marine Conservation Institute’s team.
Lan Tran
Accounting Assistant (Bellevue, WA) - Ms. Tran received her AAS Degree with honors, in Accounting from South Seattle Community College. She came to this country from Ho Chi Minh, Viet Nam in 2001, where she worked for more than six years as an Accountant for Procter and Gamble. At that time, Ms. Tran received extensive formal training in Principals of Accounting. Currently she serves as the Bookkeeper for Total Living Concepts, a private non-profit organization that provides services to adults with developmental disabilities, in addition to her work as the Accounting Assistant for Marine Conservation Institute. Ms. Tran was born very near the sea, and has always loved the ocean and nature. At Marine Conservation Institute Ms. Tran is able to express her love for the oceans and is pleased to help support Marine Conservation Institute’s effort to ensure permanent protection of the seas. In her free time, Ms. Tran enjoys traveling with her husband and daughter. She plans to one day travel to Norway, to visit relatives and friends and to see the Arctic Sea in person.
Michael Zwirn
Director of Development (Washington, DC) - Michael joins Marine Conservation Institute with more than fifteen years of experience in environmental protection, policy, and advocacy, including his recent tenure as Director of U.S. Operations at an international conservation organization working in Southeast Asia and the Russian Far East, during which he directed the organization’s fundraising, government relations, and outreach to partner organizations. Previously, he worked in fisheries and ocean conservation policy, fundraising, and project management at the Wild Salmon Center and the Global Environment Facility. At Marine Conservation Institute, his role involves building and maintaining relationships with foundations, corporations, government agencies, and individual supporters to secure the funding needed to advance the organization’s conservation mission. Michael holds a Master’s degree in International Environment and Resource Policy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, where his research focused on environmental and development issues in the Middle East, and a BA in International Relations from Carleton College. He also studied environmental studies and management at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies in Israel.