Donna Wieting currently serves as the Director of the Office for Protective Resources at NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service. She has a B.S. in Animal Science from the University of Massachusetts and a Master’s in Marine Science from Louisiana State University. She has been at the agency since 1989 in various roles. 

Dr. Doug Lipton is currently the Senior Research Economist at NOAA Fisheries and a member of the Council of NOAA Fellows. He has a Bachelor’s in Biology from Stony Brook University, a Master’s in Marine Science from the College of William and Mary, and a PhD in Agriculture and Resource Economics from the University of Maryland. He started with the National Marine Fisheries Service as a Sea Grant Fellow in 1979 and was hired by NMFS as a fishery biologist before returning to school for economics. He also worked for Sea Grant as the national economics coordinator.

Dr. Mark Holliday has a B.S. in Biology from SUNY Stony Brook, a Master’s in Marine and Environmental Science from Long Island University, and a PhD in Marine Studies from the University of Delaware. Growing up around the water, Holiday always knew he wanted to have a career in marine science. He came to NOAA after finishing his Doctorate through the Intergovernmental Personnel Act before being hired as a fisheries statistician. He later became the Chief Financial Officer for the Office of Science and Technology.

Dr. Patricia Clay is a fisheries anthropologist with the Social Science Branch of NOAA, where she has worked since 1993. She has a B.A. in Anthropology and Modern Languages from Notre Dame, and a PhD in Anthropology from Indiana University. She works with the NMFS Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, Massachusetts from the NMFS headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Dr. Rebecca Lent knew she would study economics in college after taking a course in high school. She obtained her Bachelor degree in Economics from University of California San Diego and her Master’s degree from San Diego State. After graduation, she worked at Oregon State University in the economics of the salmon industry. While there, she pursued a Ph.D. in Marine Economics graduating in 1984. Dr. Lent worked in academia for 10 years in Quebec before beginning her career at NOAA Fisheries in 1992.

Dr. Richard Merrick is Chief Science Administrator and Director of Scientific Programs at NOAA Fisheries. He has a B.S. and Master’s from Clemson University, two Master’s from Oregon State University in Marine Resource Management and Biological Oceanography, and finally a PhD in Fisheries from the University of Washington in Seattle. Merrick began his career with NOAA as a contractor in 1983, working in Alaska and the Arctic. He then moved to the Northeast Fisheries Science Center and continued working for the conservation of marine mammals.

Dr. Rita Curtis is the Chief of NOAA Fisheries Service Office of Science and Technology, Economic and Social Analysis Division. Dr. Curtis first began working with NOAA in 1999 as an economist for the Office of Science and Technology. In 1999, she completed her PhD in Agriculture and Resource Economics from the University of Maryland. Beforehand, Dr. Curtis worked at the Pacific Islands Fishery Science Center in Hawaii studying the longline fleet.

Roger Griffis is a climate change coordinator for NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service. He has a B.S. in Biology from Carleton College and a Master’s in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from UC Irvine. Griffis grew up in Minnesota with a fascination for lakes and streams, and was particularly inspired by the complexity of ecosystems. Wanting to play a role in protecting the environment, he was led to conservation work through the Knauss Sea Grant Fellowship in Washington D.C in 1994.

Mr. Rauch is Deputy Assistant Administrator for regulatory programs of NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service. After receiving a B.A. from the University of Virginia, he received a M.S. from the University of Georgia with the goal of becoming a forest ecologist scientist. He then earned a J.D. from Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College and worked for the U.S. Attorney’s Office on the spotted owl litigation team. He was transferred to NMFS where he first worked on salmon cases before becoming Assistant Section Chief where he oversaw all NMFS litigations.

Dr. Susan Abbott-Jamieson is a retired anthropologist with the Social Sciences Branch of NOAA, where she worked as the Senior Social Scientist in the Office of Science and Technology in the National Marine Fisheries Service. She joined the Air Force after high school, and later received a B.A. from Idaho State University and a Master’s and PhD. in Anthropology from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.