Since 1999, Duane Silverstein has been the executive director of Seacology, an international non-governmental organization with the sole focus of preserving islands – their fragile habitats, vanishing species and historic cultures – throughout the globe.

Before heading Seacology, he was the executive director of the Goldman Fund, one of California’s largest philanthropic foundations, for 18 years. Duane was instrumental in creating and heading the Goldman Environmental Prize, which has been dubbed the “Nobel Prize of the Environment” by National Geographic and news media around the globe. Over his career he has visited more than 200 islands in 83 nations.

Duane has met with presidents of the United States, Secretaries-general of the United Nations, kings, heads of state, and indigenous chiefs throughout the world on behalf of the environment. His work has been covered in media such as Time Magazine, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The New York Times. Articles he has written have appeared in over a dozen international publications. In 2009 he was selected by a public vote as a national All-Star Among Us to be honored by Major League Baseball at the All-Star Game in St. Louis. In 2010, Duane was given the Jefferson Award for Public Service. In giving Duane a 2010 Coastal Hero Award, Sunset Magazine called him a “superhero of the deep.” In 2012, he was invited to give the closing speech on the state of the Earth’s islands for the TEDx conference in South Africa’s Cape Town. In January 2015, His Serene Highness Prince Albert II honored Duane on behalf of Seacology for outstanding innovation in a ceremony in Monaco.

Widely considered one of the world’s foremost experts on islands, he is a National Fellow of The Explorers Club and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. In 2018, he accepted the United Nations Momentum For Change climate action award on behalf of Seacology. In 2018, Seacology was named one of the top 15 US nonprofit organizations to work for. In 2019, Duane was named a Go Blue Award Lifetime Achievement Honoree. Under his leadership, Seacology was nominated for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize. In 2021, he was named an Ocean Hero by The Salty Hands, a Canadian marine conservation organization. In 2022 Scuba Diving Magazine named Duane Silverstein a recipient of their Sea Hero Award. In 2024 in a ceremony at the Wharton School of Business on behalf of Seacology, Duane  accepted the $250,000 Lipman  Family Prize for outstanding vision, inspiration and impact.

Kevin has extensive nonprofit accounting experience. He is a CPA and earned a Masters of Accountancy from Golden Gate University. Kevin’s first experience with nonprofits was living for over three years in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, serving as a volunteer for an international relief and development organization. Kevin loves the win-win Seacology approach to environmental conservation.

Kevin was born and raised in the San Joaquin Valley of California but now lives in Eugene, Oregon (at the southern edge of the Willamette Valley). He loves spending his spare time with family, either along the coast or in the mountains.

Joe joined Seacology in 2014 after several years in both the nonprofit sector and the news media, where he worked as an editor, graphic designer, and occasional reporter. He previously served in the communications department of the Coral Reef Alliance, where among other duties, he helped implement a major organizational rebranding. He also worked for several years as a consultant for The Watershed Project, which works with Bay Area communities to protect local waterways and shorelines.

In his spare time, he enjoys playing and recording music, cycling, scuba diving and photography, and he produces live videos of local and touring musicians for a website he operates.

Erin came to Seacology with a longtime passion for international development, having served as a Peace Corps volunteer as well as a program manager for several international nonprofit organizations. She has extensive experience in project management and a dedication to ensuring that innovative programs are funded and sustainable. She received a B.A. in Russian Studies and Fine Arts from Fordham University and an M.A. in Russian and East European Studies from Georgetown University. Originally from the East Coast, Erin moved to the Bay Area over 10 years ago to attend UC Berkeley, where she received an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Slavic Languages and Literature. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family and doing volunteer work. She also enjoys traveling and learning about new places and cultures.

Katharine has worked in nonprofits for over a decade, primarily focused on creating accessible creative arts and education programs.

Katharine has a passion for the intersection of social and environmental justice, art, and community, and loves finding sparks of creativity at every opportunity. Katharine has also led a varied artistic career, from being a published author to performing professionally with several dance and theater companies. These days, you can often find Katharine playing shows with the band The Forgetmenauts around the San Francisco Bay Area. Katharine also enjoys swimming, hiking, traveling, and sewing outlandish costumes. Katharine has a BA in English from Vassar and an MFA in Creative Writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Amanda has a longstanding passion for the natural world and environmental preservation. A native of southern Florida, she grew up with a deep love for beaches, mangroves, and marine life. She graduated with a degree in Environmental Earth Sciences from The Johns Hopkins University in 2009 and has since worked in a variety of fields, including public health, sustainable food systems, and private education. She is thrilled to now be a part of a team who shares her passions for preservation and helping local communities. Amanda enjoys hiking, cooking, sewing, vegetable gardening, and playing the piano and hammered dulcimer.

Karen has been with Seacology since it became a staffed organization in 1999 and has been working on international conservation issues for nearly 30 years. She has experience ranging from small village-based organizations to world-renowned foundations and has worked with all aspects of non-profit administration and management. Karen’s primary responsibilities at Seacology include managing the Dominican Republic National Mangrove Initiative and our work in Africa, as well as Guatemala and El Salvador. She previously oversaw the Sri Lanka Mangrove Conservation Project. She formerly served as Seacology’s Program Manager, overseeing all of our field representatives and projects throughout the world.

Karen is a graduate of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, where she received a bachelor’s degree in creative writing. She has served on the board of directors of several civic and charitable organizations, as well as the Contra Costa (CA) County Planning Commission and Contra Costa Commission for Women. After over three decades in the west, Karen has returned to her home state of Vermont, where she enjoys hiking and trail running, Nordic skiing, and spending time with horses.

As program manager, Mary works with Seacology’s worldwide network of field representatives to develop and monitor Seacology-funded projects. A highlight of the job is visiting island communities across the globe that are striving to protect their local environments.

Mary has had a lifelong fascination with the natural world, especially its wildlife. She earned a B.S. in ethology and evolutionary biology at the University of Illinois, and her interest in environmental policy led her to law school at the University of California at Berkeley (Boalt Hall). While there, she served as an editor on the environmental law review Ecology Law Quarterly and worked for the National Wildlife Federation. She came to Seacology from Nolo, a mission-driven publisher of plain-English legal materials for nonlawyers, where she oversaw the editorial and production departments.

Mary loves just being outdoors, but especially when she gets to hike, backpack, or snorkel. Inside, she’s happiest reading or baking. She’s served on local nonprofit boards and as a volunteer at various animal shelters and with groups helping the unhoused.

Maximilian, better known as Max, has long valued service and conservation in his life. Growing up in San Diego, California, Max spent his formative years along the SoCal coast. He graduated with a Bachelors in English from UC Berkeley before moving to the East Coast to get a Masters in Politics and Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Before joining Seacology, Max worked as an Anti-Money Laundering consultant, advising on risk and regulation practices. He also served as a communications director for a Bay Area nonprofit focused on advocacy for survivors and those living with mental health issues. There, he supported the organization’s growth and expansion during its initial years, with a focus on centering the community’s voice in the organization’s outreach efforts.

In his free time Max loves taking his friends to explore the local parks where they can appreciate the beauty of Northern California. He also enjoys creative writing, salsa making, HBO shows, and an iced mocha on the weekend.

Leela Padmini Batuwitage is a chartered civil engineer with a Ph.D (The Netherlands) and three master’s degrees: Master of Engineering (Sri Lanka), Master of Science (Ireland), and Master of Public Administration (Harvard University, USA). She has been actively involved in sustainable development issues over the last 23 years at local and global levels. She was the Additional Secretary (Environment & Policy) of Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Environment when she retired in 2011. After retirement, she continued her professional career as a consultant in the field of sustainable development. She believes that learned societies should sustain efforts towards complete synchronization to see a healthy planet with smiling people everywhere in the world.

Tyrone has extensive experience in Grenada and the region as an advocate for environmental protection, community development, and children’s rights. After working with the Grenada Planned Parenthood Association for 10 years, he was coordinator of the Inter-Agency Group of Development Organizations and the Grenada National Coalition on the Rights of the Child. These umbrella agencies grapple with a host of social issues, primarily poverty, education and training, domestic violence, and social and legal needs. He is now the director of the Legal Aid and Counseling Clinic, the island’s leading social justice agency.

Tyrone has had internships and working experiences in North America, Europe and Africa. He currently serves on various regional and international social justice boards and committees, as well as on expert panels in U.N.-specialized agencies.

A native of the Caribbean, Leida has always been attracted by colors and sound: The colors and sounds of nature; the colors and sounds of people; the chatter of tropical birds and frogs; the song of humpback whales; and the beat of Salsa and Son. Leida loves nature and people, so you can say she is a nature lover and a people person.

That is why she works in the sustainable management of natural resources with local people to facilitate their engagement with their natural environment and improving their livelihoods. Leida has a master’s in landscape and environmental planning from Germany and over 25 years’ professional experience in the intergovernmental and not-for-profit sectors, working on sustainable and social development issues. She consults on land-use planning, civil society strengthening, sustainable livelihoods, gender equity, respect for cultural and ethnic diversity, empowerment and skills training for grassroots groups, and international development and conservation. Most recently her focus has been on biodiversity conservation, coastal and marine management, and climate change mitigation.

Pisit Charnsnoh is well-known in the environmental movement for his work to protect mangrove forests in his home country. A winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2002 and one of the cofounders of the Mangrove Action Project, he was one of the early high-profile advocates of defending mangrove forests. Since the mid-1980s, Pisit has worked to unite disenfranchised fishing communities in Thailand. His persistence in this mission has resulted in meaningful government action to promote local management of mangroves and other vital coastal resources.

Lynn grew up in the land-locked Midwest of the United States but grasped the first opportunity to move to a coastal area, working as a financial analyst. She later traded her pinstripes for a wetsuit, and as dive instructor, logged dives on six continents. She eventually settled on the five-square mile island of Saba, in the Dutch Caribbean. There she co-owned a scuba diving center for more than 30 years while spearheading a range of programs focused on enhancing environmental awareness, cultural heritage, sustainability, and uniting communities. Lynn’s innovative approach was recognized by the Women Divers Hall of Fame with her induction in 2013.

Claudio earned his bachelor’s degree in marine biology from the Universidad Austral de Chile and studied the Integrated Management of Coastal Zones at Guadalajara University in Mexico. Since 1998, he has led various projects concerning the conservation biology of coastal zones. From 1999 to 2003, Claudio was coordinator of the Biodiversity Program for Comité Nacional Pro Defensa de la Fauna y Flora’s Valdivia regional office. He led private land conservation initiatives and implemented the first private protected coastal area in the region.

In 2003, he founded Conservación Marina, a Chilean NGO promoting the protection of marine biodiversity along the Chilean coast. As the organization’s director, Claudio has led projects related to marine mammal research, conservation of migratory shorebirds on Chiloé Island, and planning for the sustainable use and conservation of Mocha Island. He has led nine conservation planning processes and has trained many professionals and conservation practitioners from private and governmental agencies in Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, and Cuba.

He lives in Valdivia with his two children and wife. Claudio loves hiking, mountain biking, and sea kayaking.

Krishna is an attorney at law and a natural scientist with a postgraduate degree in marine management. He spent eight years working for the Government of Jamaica as their technical adviser on coastal issues. During that time, he led numerous interdisciplinary teams responsible for natural resource management and regulating physical development. Krishna spent a number of years working as an environmental consultant, using his experience to help formulate policy and contribute to management plans while he studied law. His work included a short stint in London, where he worked in sustainable development for an inner London borough. He is now back in Jamaica, where he is working for a major law firm in downtown Kingston. Krishna enjoys photography, scuba diving, playing squash, and camping out with friends.

Simon has degrees in marine biology and fisheries from Edinburgh and Louisiana State Universities and has worked in this field since 1990. He moved to Micronesia in 1997 and has traveled extensively in the region supporting conservation and aquaculture projects. From 2002-2006 he was the marine program advisor for the Conservation Society of Pohnpei, a leading grassroots NGO.

Currently, Simon is director of the Marine and Environmental Research Institute of Pohnpei, an NGO dedicated to developing sustainable aquaculture in rural communities in Micronesia. In this role, he travels through the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau working with conservation groups and communities. Simon has been the Seacology representative for Micronesia since 2004.

Marilen Enseñat was born and grew up just steps from the Mediterranean Sea, so it’s no surprise that she has always had a passion for the ocean, above and below the water’s surface. In her youth, she was an avid snorkeler. She began working as a swimming teacher but switched, just months later, to a career as a professional dive guide and instructor. Her work has allowed Marilen to log more than 10,000 dives around the world. Over the years she has worked in Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Indonesia and of course, the Mediterranean Sea.

Marilen says she has often felt the need to give something back to the seas and oceans, and in Seacology found the ideal path to that goal. She joined Seacology as our field rep for Spain in 2019.

Since March 2007, Sione has been the executive director of the Tonga Community Development Trust, a nonprofit that works with disadvantaged communities to foster self-reliance. Tonga Trust projects range from health, water, and sanitation to disaster preparedness, environmental protection, climate change adaptation, good governance, democracy, and voter education. Before joining Tonga Trust, Sione was a national project coordinator in Tonga’s Department of Environment for two consecutive regional projects. First, the Ha’apai Conservation Area Project under the South Pacific Biodiversity Conservation Program from 1995-2001. Second, the Nukuhetulu Waste Reduction Pilot Project under the Strategic Program for the International Waters of the South Pacific from 2002 to 2007. Both programs used a community-based participatory approach to conservation. In 1994 Sione obtained a Master of Arts in sociology from the Australian National University in Canberra.

Michelle is an environmental engineer with a master’s in natural resource management and environmental studies, with a focus on coastal and marine management and climate change, from the University of the West Indies in Barbados. She has worked in the field for about 15 years in the Bay Islands of Honduras. She was raised in mainland Honduras and moved to the Bay Islands in 2002, eager to discover her island roots, and made it her home. Ever since, she has been working with the local municipalities, central government, local and international organizations, and communities for the protection, conservation, and sustainable development of the islands. She believes that empowered communities can inspire growth, influence change and awareness to break barriers and take control of their quality of life. Michelle loves nature and enjoys the calm island community, family history research, traveling, and island food.

Marcio Halla is an agronomist who graduated from Sao Paulo State University (Brazil) in 1996, and earned a master’s degree in Territorial Planning at Santiago de Compostela University (Spain) in 2014. He has participated in the Environmental Leadership Program at the University of California at Berkeley and in LEAD, a two-year sustainable management training program with sessions in China and Canada.

Since 1997, Marcio has carried out integrated sustainable development projects, working close to riverine and coastal traditional communities in the Atlantic Rainforest and the Amazon region, as a coordinator of NGO programs and as a consultant. He has participated in projects on topics including sustainable management and ethical trade of forest, agroforestry and organic agriculture and aquaculture products; community based ecotourism; strengthening associations and cooperative institutions; participatory methodologies; forest certification; and ethical biotrade verification.

Vineeta has a Ph.D in cultural geography and has done research on traditional lifestyles of indigenous people in remote areas. She was awarded fellowships from the East-West Centre in Hawaii, the Australian Federation of University Women, and the Norwegian Research Council. Her quest to understand traditional, sustainable use of ecological resources led her to live among Trans-Himalayan nomads, Lakshadweep Islanders, and the Sámi reindeer herders in the Arctic. She is the author of the book, Living on the Move, the Bhotiyas of the Kumaon Himalayas.

She is a founder and trustee of the Centre for Action Research on Environment, Science and Society. CARESS tries to help stem the rapid loss of cultural and natural biodiversity and focuses on the revival of traditional values among island and mountain people. Vineeta coauthored The Children’s Perception of the Environment: a teachers toolkit for coastal and marine areas in Asia, published in 2009 by IUCN. Vineeta has been at the heart of coral reef affairs involving island communities in South Asia since 1997. She is the regional coordinator for the Global Socioeconomic Monitoring Initiative for Coastal Management (SocMon) South Asia and the lead author of the SocMon SA guidelines.

Zafer Kızılkaya is a professional conservation photographer and marine conservationist. Having civil engineering and coastal zone management degrees, his passion for marine conservation and photography brought him to the Indo-Pacific region, where he worked over 10 years in tropical marine conservation projects and National Geographic assignments. He returned to Turkey and In 2012 co-founded the Mediterranean Conservation Society, dedicated to establishing marine protected areas in the eastern Mediterranean.

He has been awarded the Whitley Fund for Nature Award (2013), the UNDP Equator Prize (2014) with the Gökova Bay Community Conservation Project, the Whitley Gold Award (2017) and the Goldman Environmental Prize (2023) for establishing 350 km² of new Highly Protected Marine Areas in Turkey. He champions a participatory marine resource management model that engages a wide range of stakeholders in monitoring, evaluation, and program design. He focuses on replicating the successful Gökova Bay Marine Protected Area model in other parts of Turkey and conserving endangered species like the Mediterranean monk seal.

Ferdie  has been Seacology’s Philippines field rep since 2007. A scuba instructor since 1990, Ferdie teaches SCUBA every now and then, but his primary occupation is managing the family farm in Tanay. Ferdie also writes a blog which, among other things, discusses his visits to Seacology projects.

Ferdie worked in the Philippine Senate from 1998 to 2004, assisting technical working groups on the Senate Committee on the Environment. In that time he saw the passage of landmark laws, such as the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999 and the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and attended the College of Law at the University of the Philippines.

Arnaz decided to settle in New Zealand with her family in 2014, drawn by its sheer natural beauty and the spiritual connection that traditional Maori people have with their land. She loves its unique biogeographical diversity, which spans the subtropics to the sub-Antarctic, and takes every opportunity to explore it as a keen scuba diver, hiker, kayaker, and fungi enthusiast. Arnaz was Seacology’s representative in Indonesia for 12 years and for a decade before that was involved in marine research, conservation, education, and tourism all over the Indonesian archipelago. She has a B. Commerce degree from the University of British Columbia, but her heart has always been firmly rooted in ecology, conservation, and respect and appreciation of local cultures.

Enrique is an expert on South American camelids and other wildlife. He has traveled widely in Peru, working with rural communities and learning their traditional knowledge. Working in the field for 15 years, he has done work in the mountains, rainforest, and coastal hills, searching for guanacos (Lama guanicoe), and leading the rural development program of OIKOS, a nonprofit conservation organization in Peru.

Enrique graduated from the Veterinary School of San Marcos National University in Peru and now leads postgraduate short-term courses there in wildlife conservation and biodiversity management. He also teaches about indigenous ancestral knowledge, adaptation to climate change, and sustainable conservation for rural communities.

J-Hude or “John-C” lives in Cameroon and represents Seacology with communities on the islands of the West Africa coast. He holds  postgraduate (D.Sc./Ph.D.) degrees in Forestry and Environmental Science from the Atlantic International University in the USA and the University of Douala in Cameroon.  He has more than 10 years of professional experience in the field of wetlands and terrestrial forest, working  with local communities to develop  conservation and sustainable livelihoods in Africa. He currently serves on various landscape projects of the Ministry of Environment and other United Nations specialized agencies as project coordinator and facilitator.

Dishon, our first field representative in this region, works to expand Seacology programs in the islands off the East African coast. Dishon has a master’s degree in zoology from the University of Nairobi, Kenya. His professional experiences have included extensive work with local communities to promote conservation and sustainable livelihoods. He is currently marine and coastal resources program coordinator for the East African Wildlife Society.

Erik has been working in Madagascar every year since 2000, studying the behavioral biology and conservation of one of the most critically endangered primates in Madagascar, the silky sifaka (Propithecus candidus). He earned his Ph.D. from Cornell University and his master’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley. Currently, he is the Conservation Program Director for Lemur Conservation Foundation. He previously served as the project director of Duke Lemur Center’s SAVA Conservation Project. Erik is also a member of the Madagascar Primate Specialist Group of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Since 2014 he has served as an executive editor of the journal Madagascar Conservation and Development.

Erik’s fieldwork has garnered considerable media attention, including televised feature films (BBC, Dan Rather Reports, Animal Planet) as well as newspaper and magazine coverage. In 2010, his “Saving the ‘Ghosts’ of Madagascar” made the cover of Smithsonian Magazine. He has been Seacology’s Madagascar field representative since 2009.

Samuel Emmanuel Ledo Pontes works as Seacology’s field representative with the island communities of the Bijagós Islands Archipelago. He has a master’s degree in Ecology and Nature Conservation from Ulyanovsk State University in Russia, and has worked for more than five years in the fields of biodiversity conservation and community development. His daily work is related to tracking and monitoring biodiversity at the Ministry of Environment, specifically at the Institute of Biodiversity and Protected Areas.

Marisol Rueda Flores was born in Cuernavaca, Morelos and moved to La Paz, B.C.S. in 2005 to do her master’s in science on Marine Resources Management with blue whales. Since then she has been working in environmental education and conservation programs in La Paz, B.C.S., Costa Rica, and the Galápagos Islands. Her work has involved cetaceans, marine invertebrates, sea turtles, and tortoises, among others. In 2010, she moved to Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, and became Mexico’s Coordinator for the Healthy Reefs Initiative, focusing on the conservation of the Mesoamerican Reef.

Marisol’s passions are scuba diving and traveling around the world to get to know new places and cultures. Whenever she has free time, you can find her exploring the bottom of the ocean.

Pettine was born and raised on a copra plantation in Fiji. After living abroad, she is happy to be back at her family home, just outside the small township of Savusavu on Vanua Levu Island, bordering the ocean. She has a passion for both the land and the sea and is an ardent protector of both. She is an entrepreneur and administrator with experience in both government and the private sector. Pettine is the only woman ever elected to the Savusavu town council, where she led initiatives to improve land use and protect the environment.

Cecilia’s approach to conservation has been shaped by exposure to a wide range of environmental challenges. Working in an NGO, Vida Silvestre Uruguay, gave her a broad knowledge of national and local needs. She worked at the local level with communities near the Río Uruguay, promoting monitoring actions with fishermen, and with communities near the Atlantic Ocean in an environmental education program. At the national level, she was part of the team that was in charge of realizing the goals and the spatial design of the National System of Protected Areas for 2015-2020. Currently, she is working with the private sector to promote actions that conserve biodiversity.

Cecilia has a bachelor’s degree in biological science, with a specialization in ecology, from the Universidad de la República in Uruguay. She also holds a diploma in management and conservation of natural resources (Ducks Unlimited Mexico, with the endorsement of the Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Mexico). She is working toward a master’s in agricultural science with a social science focus at the Universidad de la República.

Marcos Leonardo Terete Toj, born in Antigua, Guatemala, is a primary school teacher and a teacher of Spanish as a second language. He has taught at the Rural Mixta San Miguel Milpas Altas public school for 20 years. He has a long history of promoting projects that improve living conditions for his students and provide much-needed support for his school. He is very interested in sustainable development as a way to conserve the natural beauty of Guatemala, which is known as the Land of Eternal Springtime.

Marcos joined Seacology in June 2019.

Tuaine Tuara is a conservation advocate from Mangaia. In 1999 she and her husband founded the Mangaia Tanga’eo Environmental Rangers, an award-winning NGO promoting environmental awareness and education among Cook Islands children. Formerly trained as a nurse, Tuara manages her family’s bakery while continuing to work with local environmental groups as an advisor and mentor to support conservation issues.

Chris grew up in a small coastal town in Australia and has loved the ocean all his life. He received a bachelor’s degree in development studies and cultural change from the University of Macquar in Sydney. He then worked in sustainability and community engagement around Australia. Later, he began collaborating on research projects with local NGOs in Malaysia. Since then, his passion for the region, its environment, and its cultural diversity has led him to a range of projects focusing on sustainability, renewable energy, and cultural development. He has also been passionately involved in climate change activism. The Guardian named him as “one of the top young campaigners to watch” before the 2016 Paris Climate Conference.