Marine Program Board of Directors (@SCBMarine)
President: Dr. Shaili Johri 
| Google Scholar
Postdoctoral Scholar, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University
Dr. Shaili Johri is a genomicist who works in the field of marine sciences and conservation. Her work is aimed at reducing knowledge gaps in elasmobranch conservation through scientific research in the Indian Ocean, community partnerships and knowledge exchange across disciplines. Genomics research by her group aims to inform conservation policy, reduce illegal fisheries and wildlife trade and build capacity for biodiversity and fisheries monitoring.
Past-President (most recent): Edward Hind-Ozan | Google Scholar
Head of Fisheries Social Science at Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Edd is a marine social scientist working across disciplines and sectors, including toward the integration of stakeholder views and knowledge in marine management and policy.
Past President: Dr. Kathryn Matthews | LinkedIn
Chief Scientist, Oceana, United States
She oversees Oceana’s co-chairing of the Coalition for Fisheries Transparency, as well as the monitoring and evaluation program. Her varied work environments have included Arctic ice caps, Capitol Hill, international treaty negotiations, and the waters of the eastern tropical Pacific. After 10 years in research, she returned to Washington DC, her hometown, to work as a legislative fellow in the U.S. Congress and then for the Office of Marine Conservation in the U.S. State Department. Katie continued her science-based policy work with the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation and then with The Pew Charitable Trusts, where she ran a marine conservation and sustainable fisheries grantmaking program. She also served on the Society for Conservation Biology’s Board of Governors, heading its Marine Program’s board of directors as president (2017-2019). She has an M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in Earth and Environmental Science.
Secretary: Dr. Heather Penney
Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada Dr. Heather Penney Recently completed her Ph.D. working on the reproductive ecology of salmonids and other freshwater spawning fishes. She then worked at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (Government of Canada) focusing on Atlantic cod stocks. Now, in her postdoc she is working on optimizing sea cucumber harvest and aquaculture, working with fishers and processors to develop the fishery while continuing to protect the resource.
Communications Officer: Andrew Kornblatt | Website
Communications Coordinator, United States
Diversity Equity and Inclusion Officer: Sarah Ater
DEI Coordinator, Kenya
Science Officer: David Shiffman
Science Program Coordinator, United States
Dr. David Shiffman is an interdisciplinary marine conservation biologist who studies threatened sharks and how to save them, as well as public perception (and misconceptions) about these topics. He is a faculty research associate at Arizona State University’s Washington, DC Center. He is a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Ecosystem Science and Policy from the University of Miami, and is an alum of the Liber Ero Postdoctoral Fellowship in Conservation Leadership. In addition to more than 50 peer reviewed scientific journal articles that have over 1,000 citations, his writings have appeared in National Geographic, Scientific American, the Washington Post, and a monthly column with SCUBA Diving Magazine. He is the author of “Why Sharks Matter,” a book on shark science and conservation that resulted in a 50+ city international book tour. This will be his 6th IMCC.
Education Officer: Patrick Goff
Member at Large: Nicole L. Crane
Policy Officer: Emily Knight
Early Career Resarcher/Student Officer: Laura Nieminen
BSc (Hons) Marine Biology, University of Portsmouth, UK
Laura Nieminen started her BSc at Portsmouth University in 2017 and is graduating in July 2020. Her dissertation looks at industrial illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing in the high seas, and how to tackle this issue by protecting the high seas with MPAs and effective, overarching governance.
Contact
You can reach the SCB Marine board with general enquiries by emailing scbmarinecomms@gmail.com. To reach a specific board member, email us or click on the Twitter links above.
Future Members
If you are interested in being a member of the Marine Board, you must be a member of SCB and a member of the Marine Program. Generally, 2 to 4 board members are elected annually. The Call for Nominations goes out in November or December, and the election runs in December. Each year program members receive a notice via the Marine Listserv about the open positions and the start of the election process. For more information about getting involved with this board, please contact a board member or info@conbio.org. Each Marine Program board member is a volunteer and serves a three-year term. Terms are staggered such that not all officers retire each year.