Cliff Hutt

National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Cliff Hutt is a fisheries management specialist with NOAA Fisheries in the Office of Sustainable Fisheries. Cliff specializes in fishery management and policy, and the collection and analysis of fishery catch and socioeconomic data to support the management and conservation of tunas, billfish, and sharks.  His recent major projects include efforts to improve agency recreational data collections including expansion of electronic data reporting, and socio-economic studies of HMS recreational and commercial fisheries.  Cliff is a graduate of Virginia Tech, Tennessee Tech, and Mississippi State University where he received his Ph.D. in Fisheries Science.  Cliff previously served on the WAN Executive Board from 2016 to 2018.

Anna-Marie laura

Ocean conservancy

Anna-Marie Laura is the Senior Director of Climate Policy at Ocean Conservancy, where she leads the organization's efforts towards achieving 100% clean ocean energy. With over 15 years of experience, she has advanced policies to protect the ocean and coasts and address climate change. Her previous roles include working as a Director of Policy and Strategic Partnerships at Rare, a conservation non-profit, and serving as Ocean and Coastal Policy Advisor for U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. Anna-Marie was a Knauss Sea Grant Fellow in 2010. She holds a B.S. in Marine Science from the University of South Carolina and a Master's in Coastal Environmental Management from Duke University.

G. Mark Miller

Green Water Marine Sciences Offshore Inc. (GMSO)

Captain G. Mark Miller is a retired NOAA Corps officer and the President and CEO of Greenwater Marine Sciences Offshore Inc. (GMSO). GMSO supplies crewed research vessels for coastal and near-shore projects. Mark is a 20-year veteran of NOAA, where he commanded and operated research vessels and established the NOAA Small Boat Program. He is a member of The Explorers Club and holds a USCG Master Unlimited – Oceans Merchant Mariner Credential. After retiring in 2019, he founded GMSO with a commitment to supporting fellow veterans.

Jacques Oliver

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Jacques Oliver is a prior Executive Board (EB) member for WAN and was honored as the 2024 Woman of the Year (WOTY). A senior regulatory scientist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Water, he is a driving force for the development of water quality standards and regulatory oversight. He also administers a national nutrient pollution control program. His work focuses on implementing the Clean Water Act and collaborating with state, tribal, and federal programs to reduce nutrient pollution.

Makeda Okolo

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance

Makeda leads SDZA’s engagement with local, State, Federal, Tribal, and International government partners. Prior to joining SDZWA, she dedicated 20+ years to Federal Service. She held senior positions in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and with the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Makeda began her career on Capitol Hill, working there for 11 years focused on environmental and energy policy. She holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies from American University and a dual M.S./M.P.P. in Conservation Biology/Sustainable Development and Environmental Policy from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Susan Roberts, PhD

National Academies of Sciences

Dr. Roberts is the Director of the Ocean Studies Board in the Program on Earth Systems and Resources at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. She has 18 years of experience in laboratory and field research and for over 25 years has directed studies on ocean policy and supervised the activities of the Ocean Studies Board. She has overseen the publication of more than 50 volumes of scientific review and analysis for a broad range of ocean and coastal topics. Dr. Roberts received her Ph.D. in marine biology from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography where she studied the physiology and biochemistry of deep-sea organisms. She is a is a member of the Board of Directors for the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, a fellow of the Washington Academy of Science, and a fellow of the AAAS.

Dr. Kathy Sullivan

Dr. Sullivan is a distinguished scientist, astronaut, and executive. She was one of the first six women to join the NASA astronaut corps in 1978 and holds the distinction of being the first American woman to walk in space. She flew on three space shuttle missions during her 15-year NASA tenure, including the mission that deployed the Hubble Space Telescope. Dr. Sullivan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Earth Sciences from the University of California at Santa Cruz and a Ph.D. in Geology from Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and numerous other professional associations.

Christy Goldfuss

Christy Goldfuss, former managing director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), rejoined American Progress as the organization’s senior vice president for Energy and Environment Policy. As managing director, Goldfuss helped develop and implement the Obama administration’s environmental and energy policies, including the Climate Action Plan, then-President Barack Obama’s major initiative to combat climate change. She co-chaired the Council on Climate Preparedness and Resilience and identified priorities for protecting the country against the worst impacts of climate change.

Dr. Marcia McNutt

Dr. McNutt is a geophysicist and president of the National Academy of Sciences. From 2013 to 2016, she served as editor-in-chief of the Science family of journals. Prior to joining Science, she was director of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) from 2009 to 2013. During her tenure, the USGS responded to a number of major disasters, including earthquakes in Haiti, Chile, and Japan, and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. McNutt led a team of government scientists and engineers at BP headquarters in Houston who helped contain the oil and cap the well. She directed the flow rate technical group that estimated the rate of oil discharge during the spill’s active phase. For her contributions, she was awarded the U.S. Coast Guard’s Meritorious Service Medal.

Dr. Nancy Knowlton

Dr. Nancy Knowlton has been a scientist with the Smithsonian since 1984, first in Panama at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and now at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. She has also been a professor at Yale and at the University of California in San Diego, where she founded the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She is the author of Citizens of the Sea, former Editor-in-Chief of the Smithsonian’s Ocean Portal, and contributes regularly to the global ocean conversation via @seacitizens. She is a winner of the Peter Benchley Prize and the Heinz Award, and in 2013 was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Rita Colwell

Dr. Rita Colwell is a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland at College Park and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and President of CosmosID, Inc. Her interests are focused on global infectious diseases, water, and health. She has authored or co-authored 17 books and more than 800 scientific publications.

 Dr. Colwell served as 11th Director of the National Science Foundation and Co-chair of the Committee on Science, National Science and Technology Council.