RACHEL MEDLEY
Rachel joined the WAN executive board in 2022, which has expanded her creative side while making friendships across the marine sectors. She is currently in the Presidential Management Council Interagency Rotation Program (PMC-IRP) cohort 21 working on the Justice40 initiative within the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Rachel has worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) since 2006. In 2018 she joined the NOAA Ocean Exploration program as the Chief of the Expedition and Exploration Division. Rachel also serves as the NOAA-appointed co-chair of the Inter-Agency Working Group on Ocean Exploration and Characterization (IWG-OEC) established in 2020 as part of the National Ocean Mapping, Exploration, & Characterization (NOMEC) strategy under the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP).
Rachel is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College with a BA in Geology. She also holds a Masters of Science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in Geosciences. In 2009, she received her Masters in Ocean Mapping and IHO-Category A certification from the University of New Hampshire, Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping/Joint Hydrographic Center.
Outside of work she enjoys traveling and exploring the world with her husband and three children.
