Our Board

Board members gathered in 2019 at Tulalip Tribes’ Hibulb Cultural Center. For more about our board today, see below.

About the NFCC Board

Designed for functionality and independence, the NFCC is a “virtual” organization, with a very small but agile staff. This approach allows it to engage some of the best and brightest researchers, experts, and problem solvers to work on individual projects as needed.

The organization is governed by an active and prominent Board of Directors whose members are recognized throughout the nation as experts in science, public interest advocacy, environmental policy, fisheries journalism, tribal, and industry perspectives. Together, they represent a wide range of diverse interests in fisheries, the effects of climate change on our oceans, and years of experience in the field.

Statement from the Board:

Our mission is to ensure a future for the biodiversity of our oceans and the billions who rely on its abundance by fulfilling our role as a trusted educator and arbitrator within the fisheries community and beyond. We form a bridge between the various sectors of the fishing community, environmental groups, government agencies, and the public by presenting in plain terms the many issues facing our ocean today; by tackling carbon emissions at the root (the source of so many urgent problems); creating forums where divergent points of view can be expressed and examined and conflicts resolved collaboratively, with no predetermined outcomes; developing mechanisms to improve the collection and flow of important information; and facilitating the development and implementation of innovative problem-solving approaches. We welcome and value all stakeholders with respect for all and bias towards none. We have spent decades earning the trust of those who make their livelihoods on the water and are thus equipped for this work as few other organizations are.

Brad Warren
President
National Fisheries Conservation Center

"For a quarter century NFCC has held a determined line: We aren’t here to fight over the fish. We’re here to make sure there are fish. That priority has guided our work from the start. That’s why our focus has evolved. Our early concentration on fisheries management turned toward deeper water as we learned that all fisheries face an underlying challenge: ensuring the ocean itself can still make dinner for billions of people. Today the greatest single threat to healthy oceans and fisheries is carbon pollution and its litany of consequences. Few challenges are more galvanizing, and few are more daunting. I am grateful and amazed at the talent and generosity that our board, staff, volunteers, donors, and allies and friends continue to bring to this effort. Thank you all."

Jessica Hathaway
Senior Consultant
National FishermanOcean Strategies Inc.

Jessica Hathaway is a senior consultant for Ocean Strategies, a public affairs firm specializing in fisheries, seafood and marine resources. Before joining Ocean Strategies, she was editor of National Fisherman magazine for more than a decade. She also serves on the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute’s Communications Committee.

Daniel Grosse
Co-Founder
TerrAqua Environmental Science and Policy, LLC

Evan Nelson

Evan’s interest in Global Ocean Health started with Brad, who through his reverence for nature, stirred Evan’s memories of outdoor adventures with his father.  Working with Amazon means less adventures today, but it has given Evan a breadth of analytical experience that may be useful to an environmental organization.  Since 2015, Evan has used skills learned during his economics PhD to analyze program impacts or forecast for the retail website, physical stores, and the lending program.  He now leads a team of eight economists dedicated to maximizing the productivity of thousands of AWS sales representatives.   When not at work, he can be found walking his dog, lifting weights, reading, working on an epic fantasy novel, or learning to cook from his talented wife.

Alyson Myers

Human impacts on Nature prompt rethinking--to restore natural systems, on which we depend, while creating economic goods. Our largest ecosystem, the ocean, is the best example; it provides food, absorbs CO2, and importantly, can provide climate solutions. My work focuses on optimizing aquaculture systems to assist ocean health, including: macroalgae that convert CO2 to harvestable form, and shellfish that clean water. Collaborations between NFCC, tribes, entrepreneurs, and ocean workers can scale solutions. Answers are all around if we pay attention. NFCC finds ways to lift solutions to the surface, prioritizing Nature and humankind in symbiotic relationship. Observation, trial and error, and working together will get us there.

Fraser Rieche

Kevin Scribner

"NFCC has the appetite and capacity to be bold AND wise. We are confident but not brash; we sense urgency, but won’t be rash; we aspire to be accurate, but not over-analyze; and we will humbly learn along the way—all while infused with the attitude that challenges are opportunities in disguise."

Eric Scollard
Carbon Robotics

"Having spent decades helping build technology companies that invented solutions to unlock productivity of human capital and new business models, I have realized that we need to apply that same energy and focus to tackling the global challenge of ocean health.  NFCC is leading the way with practical approaches to bring groups that rely on our oceans to the table in order to make lasting progress.  Technologies that reduce carbon emissions and, more significantly, remove carbon from the oceans are necessary to provide leverage to the actions and intentions of stakeholders committed to de-carbonization efforts in the oceans and on land. "

Emeritus Board Members

Brad Matsen

Mark Lundsten

Dr. Martin Hall
Head of Tuna-Dolphin Program
Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission
mhall@iattc.org

"I believe that intelligent fishers and sensible environmentalists share basic goals, but that a history of conflicts and an inability to communicate frequently hide this fact. Organizations like the NFCC can help bridge this gap, building on common ground, and developing models that can be used to address fisheries conflicts and find solutions that allow the sustainable use of the oceans."

Suzanne Iudicello Martley
Iudicello & Assoc. Consulting
suzanneiudicello49@gmail.com

"Arguments about fishery management are all too often conducted passionately by folks who would rather fight than win. In contrast, NFCC is an organization that attracts leaders who are open to listening to other points of view, discussing alternatives and options that lead to win-win solutions."

Sam Chen
Independent Aquaculture Consultant
Hudson Valley Fish Farms
samuelchen@hudsonvalleyfishfarms.com

"Growing up on an island, I have always found the oceans to be both a fascinating and mysterious place.  A favorite pass-time throughout my childhood was fishing off the docks of a local marina and always being surprised at what I would catch to bring home for dinner.  I think these experiences during my formative years cultivated a passion for understanding the complex ecosystems in which we live and a realization that there are many interactions between ocean and land systems.

Over the past five years, I’ve dedicated my life to finding ways to grow shrimp and salmon on land using best practice technologies from adjacent fields.  Working with recirculating aquaculture systems, I began to see the challenges of controlling different environmental conditions to allow life to flourish. This foray into the deep has sparked a new-found appreciation for the chaordic design of nature and highlighted for me how little we actually know about the world that we live in.

I believe that humankind has both the capacity and intent to impact nature in significant ways.  I am honored to join the NFCC as a board member to shape and chart an intentional journey to leave our world in a better place through connecting, igniting, collaborating, learning and mobilizing."

In Memoriam

Terry Williams
Fisheries, Natural Resources, and Treaty Rights Office Commissioner
Tulalip Tribes

"NFCC brings us new information and processes to understand the latest changes in policy and ocean conditions that are coming, and how we can address them, so that tribes can act as leaders. It gives us a broader picture of what’s impacting us and how we can shape it."