KATY BLAND (she/her)

RAQUEL BRYANT

CRISTINA CHUNG ROBINSON (she/her)

Living on unceded Acjachemen and Tongva lands in Southern California, Cristina Robinson (she/her) is the Research & Necropsy Biologist at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center where she supports marine mammal rehabilitation, conducts postmortem research to support conservation efforts, and serves as a drone pilot for special rescue operations & NOAA-led large whale entanglement responses.

As an enthusiastic scholar, Cristina has a Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology from California State University of Long Beach where she did fieldwork for the Shark Lab & undergraduate research in the reproductive laboratory, which first ignited her interest in anthropogenic impacts on the enviornment. 

She received a Master’s Degree in Environmental Science & Management from the University of California, Santa Barbara, specializing in Coastal Marine Resource Management and Pollution Prevention & Remediation, and gained policy & regulatory experience as a NOAA Fisheries Pathways intern for the West Coast Region’s Protected Resources Division. 

Before graduate school, Cristina advocated for coastal communities & healthier ecosystems by providing hands-on watershed education, developing environmental science curriculum, executing outreach events, and providing engaging science communication on various platforms for 5 environmental nonprofits in Orange County. 

As a life-long ocean advocate & educator, Cristina pours her passion into the community through organizing beach clean-ups, monitoring local sea turtle populations, providing sustainability resources, and giving guest lectures to inspire the public to take intentional actions as conscious consumers to respect ocean wildlife & co-exist, with the natural resources we share and depend on, in harmony together.

ISA DEL BELLO (she/her)

BRITTANY DOLAN (she/her)

Brittany Dolan is the Necropsy Manager at The Marine Mammal Center, with experience in stranding response, rehabilitation, research, and nonprofit management. Throughout my career, I have worked closely with to support wildlife conservation and public engagement initiatives. My background includes animal care, necropsy, environmental education, volunteer management, and organizational development. I am passionate about building collaborative partnerships and advancing conservation goals.

TIFF DUONG (she/her)

Tiffany (Tiff) Duong is an explorer, award-winning storyteller, and environmental creative who believes wonder is one of conservation’s most powerful tools. A life-changing dive in the Galápagos inspired her to leave corporate law and build a life helping others experience the ocean—and the parts of themselves that feel most alive there. An interdisciplinary creative, her work spans journalism, documentary film, virtual reality, experiential art, expedition leadership, and public speaking—all grounded in the belief that care begins with connection.

Tiff founded Ocean Rebels, a storytelling collective helping scientists and conservation organizations turn impact into stories that move people to action. She also co-founded Tela Coral, where she leads storytelling for Honduras’ remarkable “Rebel Reef,” and The Seabirds, an all-women’s expedition collective expanding who gets to participate in science and exploration. An active member of The Explorers Club and WINGS Women of Discovery, she has carried expedition flags to Antarctica and Arctic Norway, led and supported scientific expeditions across Central and South America, and created large-scale environmental art exploring our relationship with the ocean.

Whether she’s writing, diving, speaking, or leading expeditions, Tiff is most at home in moments that help people see the world differently than they did before. She believes the stories that stay with us are the ones that return us to something essential: our place within the living world. She believes this reconnection is one of the most powerful ways to cultivate curiosity, belonging, and lasting action for people and planet.

TORRI ESTRADA (he/him)

SPENCER FIRE (he/him)

MEGHAN GAHM (she/her)

Meghan Gahm is a Biologist whose career has focused on research and regulatory efforts to reduce anthropogenic impacts to protected species. Growing up in southern New Hampshire, is where she first developed a lifelong passion for the outdoors and the ocean before pursuing a B.Sc. in Narragansett, R.I., and a Ph.D. in New Orleans where she specialized in developing and testing experimental fishing gear to reduce sea turtle bycatch in various trawl fisheries. Currently based in Washington D.C., Meghan works with the National Marine Fisheries Service Office of Protected Resources in Silver Spring, MD, where she focuses on large whale protection and conservation efforts under the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act.

AMANDA HOLDMAN (she/her)

Amanda Holdman is a marine acoustician in the Passive Acoustics Branch at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Her research focuses on listening to the ocean to study marine life and the environment. She leads the field deployments of  passive acoustic hydrophones (underwater microphones), which quietly record sounds from whales, dolphins, fish, humans and weather. Using this technology, she is able to track protected species, identify where fish gather to spawn, study ocean noise, and monitor the health of the ocean soundscape. For example, she uses autonomous gliders, underwater vehicles, to locate endangered right whales and helps create slow zones to reduce the risk of ship strikes.  In addition, she provides support for NOAA’s Advanced Tech Program, which develops new surveys, technologies, and analysis methods to improve fish stock assessments and overall ecosystem health.

NARGIS MIRZAIE (she/her)

KIM SAWICKI (she/her)

Kim Sawicki is the founder of Sustainable Seas Technology, where she works alongside commercial fishermen, scientists, and resource managers to develop practical solutions that protect marine life while supporting sustainable fisheries. A former paramedic and epidemiology student, she believes the best conservation happens when people with different perspectives work together. She is happiest on the ocean, learning from others, and building bridges between communities that care deeply about the future of our shared world.

SETH SYKORA-BODIE (he/him)

Dr. Seth Sykora-Bodie is a conservation scientist, geographer, and environmental policy specialist who works for the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. Seth is broadly interested in protected areas, wildlife conservation, social-ecological systems, and environmental decision-making. He completed his Ph.D. at Duke University, where his dissertation focused on global efforts to establish a network of marine protected areas in Antarctica using interdisciplinary methods such as participatory mapping, surveys, interviews, statistics, and predictive forecasting.

Previously, Seth was a Chateaubriand Fellow in France, an Endeavour Fellow in Australia, and a Knauss Marine Policy Fellow in NOAA’s Office of Protected Resources, and he is currently participating in the IUCN-WCPA’s Fisheries & Conserved Areas Taskforce. He has managed a sea turtle conservation program for the World Wildlife Fund, worked on climate policy and river restoration for the U.S. Department of the Interior, and spent time as a park ranger in the Caribbean. He holds a master’s degree in public policy and a master’s degree in sustainable development and conservation biology from the University of Maryland, and undergraduate degrees in political science, geography, and French from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania. He has lived abroad in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia, and in his spare time enjoys playing soccer, sailing, skiing, diving, and horseback riding.

REBECCA TODD (she/her)

For over 30 years Rebecca has advised organizations, individuals, and businesses in matters related to environmental, educational, contractual, employment, and non-profit management. Prior to joining the Connecticut River Conservancy in October 2023, Rebecca served as General Counsel for Antioch University, and worked as a lawyer in private practice and for state government. Rebecca litigated cases for the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, Inc. (now Earthjustice) in Seattle and the Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. in New York City. Rebecca also teaches environmental law and legal advocacy nationally and internationally, particularly throughout India for the last twenty years.

Rebecca grew up in the Connecticut River watershed and helped raise two kids, chickens, and vegetables on an old farmstead along the river in New Hampshire. Happiest outside, Rebecca has been a sea kayaking and rock climbing guide, a ski instructor and mountaineer, and is currently cultivating a burgeoning passion for the sport of rowing.

MARCY WEST LYMAN (she/her)

I live with my husband Daniel along the Merrimack River in Manchester, New Hampshire where we raised three children, and now have three grandchildren. I have been involved in the city’s schools, and volunteer teaching English with the city’s immigrant and refugee community. Grounding activities include gardening, reading, hiking, travel including road trips and camping, French and now Spanish language classes. I have worked for over forty years in the fields of natural resource policy, community-based natural resource conservation and management, and philanthropy. My focus has been primarily on forestland and water conservation, though work included river conservation and acid rain. Of particular interest has been efforts to identify opportunities for integrating environmental conservation, economic development, and equity.

SARAH WINTER WHELAN (she/her)

Sarah Winter Whelan is an ocean advocate, recovering lawyer, mom, and mid-western transplant to New England. After falling in love with the ocean as a kid, Sarah carved out a career in ocean protection as a lawyer, researcher and advocate. Today, through the Healthy Ocean Coalition, Sarah helps educate people about the ocean’s importance by equipping and amplifying the voices those living with the reality of ocean policies to those with decision-making power. When Sarah isn’t working, she’s exploring New England beaches with her family – yes, even during winter – reading books, enjoying (and sometimes surviving) her tween and teenager, and contemplating her next ocean tattoo.

CALLAN YANOFF (she/her)

Callan Yanoff is a passionate ocean steward, fisher, collaborator, and policy advocate. Based in Washington, D.C., she currently serves as a Program Director with the Ocean Defense Initiative, working on sustainable ocean governance with a focus on fisheries management and national security.  Before joining ODI, she advanced international fisheries initiatives through capacity building and treaty negotiations at NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Law Enforcement and the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Marine Conservation.  Callan earned her M.A. in Marine Affairs from the University of Rhode Island, where her research examined shellfish aquaculture development in New England. 

When she’s not working, you’ll usually find Callan at the coast with her Airedale terrier, Auggie, eating seafood and fishing for cobia, or at home curled up with a good historical fiction novel.

FEINI YIN (they/them)

feini is a journalist, community organizer, and fishmonger living in Lenapehoking known as Philadelphia and the Delaware Bayshore. feini is the communications director at the North American Marine Alliance, a fishermen-led organization that is building a broad movement for a healthy ocean commons, thriving fishing communities, and seafood systems centered on values like ecological care, community resilience, sovereignty, and local economies. They serve as an advisor for Fishadelphia, a community seafood program in Philadelphia that connects family fishers and shellfish harvesters on the Jersey Shore with seafood lovers in the city. They are working on a multimedia storytelling project, called “Our Fishing Log,” which is about Philly’s local fish, people who love fish, and the ways fish connect us to the world, each other, and ourselves. Previously, feini worked as a reporter for the New York Times and Philly’s NPR station, organized around mental health and harm reduction, and taught art and journalism to youth.