Marine Section Board of Directors (@SCBMarine)
President: Dr. Shaili Johri 
| Website | Google Scholar
Postdoctoral Scholar, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University
Shaili 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
Prior to joining Oceana, Katie worked in the Arctic, the waters of the eastern tropical Pacific, the U.S. Congress, and the State Department’s Office of Marine Conservation. Katie’s science policy work continued with the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation and, most recently, with The Pew Charitable Trusts, where she ran a marine conservation and fisheries grantmaking program.
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: Mohammad Arju | Website
Communications Coordinator, ICCA Consortium
Mohammad Arju is a conservation practitioner specializing in marine and coastal conservation and is an independent writer on environmental issues. Arju worked with local and international conservation groups in Bangladesh, helped organizations in India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and the United States in collaborative projects. He is currently the Communications Coordinator at the ICCA Consortium— the global coalition for Indigenous Peoples and Local Community Conserved Areas (ICCAs). He also leads a social enterprise named Sagar Seba (Marine Extension Service) in the Bay of Bengal region.
Diversity Officer: Dr. Shaili Johri
Dr. Shaili Johri is originally from India, got her Ph.D. in genetics in the US, and is now pursuing postdoctoral work at Stanford University. Her work is aimed at informing conservation policy and reducing illegal wildlife trade through scientific research, community partnerships, and knowledge exchange across disciplines. In her capacity as the Diversity Officer of the Society for Conservation Biology Marine Section, Shaili engages in addressing challenges around justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion (JEDI) in marine conservation in partnership with members of the JEDI committee and SCBM board.
Education Officer: Patrick Goff
Member at Large: Nicole L. Crane
Policy Officer: Emily Knight
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 Section. 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 section 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 Section board member is a volunteer and serves a three-year term. Terms are staggered such that not all officers retire each year.