Board of Directors
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Bonnie Monteleone
Executive Director, Director of Science, Research and Academic Partnerships (Wilmington,NC) As the Director of Science, Research and Academic Partnerships for Plastic Ocean Project, Inc. as well as the Executive Director, Bonnie Monteleone is a researcher who has collected plastic marine samples globally including four of the five main ocean gyres, the Caribbean, and has extended this work to Pyramid Lake, outside of Reno, Nevada. Monteleone completed her first field study exploration in the North Atlantic Gyre in July 2009 in collaboration with Maureen Conte, PhD. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and Bermuda Institute of Ocean Science (BIOS). In the fall of 2009, Monteleone accompanied Algalita Marine Research Foundation’s 10-year resampling of the North Pacific Gyre, quantifying the rate of plastic marine debris growth to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, sampling a transect of 3,460 nautical miles (nm). In 2010, she continued her North Atlantic study resampling the same region in the North Atlantic. In fall of 2010, she joined 5 Gyres Institute in a first ever South Atlantic transect sampling for pelagic marine debris traveling 4,270 nm from Brazil to South Africa. In 2012, Monteleone collected samples from the South Pacific as part of the film project, A Plastic Ocean. To date, she has five years of data sets from the North Atlantic. A total of 217 surface samples were collected from all four oceans. Monteleone collaborates with Charles Moore, founder of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation (AMRF), Dr. Marcus Eriksen and Anna Cummings, co-founders of 5 Gyres Institute, Dr. William J. Cooper, University of California Irvine (UCI), and Dr. Maureen Conte, BIOS. In 2012, Bonnie Monteleone and Paul Lorenzo co-founded the 501c3 Plastic Ocean Project, Inc. Monteleone also works in the Chemistry Department at UNC Wilmington as an Administrative Assistant and Plastic Marine Debris Lab assistant working with student Directed Independent Studies (DIS) research. Research projects vary from fieldwork collecting beach samples to lab analysis looking at plastic leachates, persistent organic pollutants (POPs) uptakes, and plastic ingestion by marine organisms. She collaborates with Drs. Pamela Seaton, Brooks Avery, Susanne Brander, and Alison Taylor at UNCW. Bonnie is also an accomplished artist, turning some of the plastic she collects on her voyages into modern artistic masterpieces. This work story boards her research and has become a traveling art exhibit - What goes around comes around. Most recently, she received the Conservation Communicator of the Year, Governor’s Award and nominated for the Cape Fear Woman of Achievement award 2018. She is a member of the Sierra Club Marine Team and on the NC Wildlife Federation's Board of Directors. |
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Paul Lorenzo
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Tricia Monteleone
Vice President, Public Relations Coordinator (Wilmington, NC) Tricia has spearheaded fundraising events since Plastic Ocean Project's inception and is responsible for successfully meeting the financial demands necessary to join Algalita Marine Research Foundation sail across the North Pacific in 2009, collaborate with Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences North Atlantic cruise in 2009, sail across the South Atlantic in 2010 with 5 Gyres Institute, and annual North Atlantic cruises 700 miles off the coast of North Carolina. She lines up venues for our What Goes Around, Comes Around science through art installation that is currently on tour across the United States and organizes speaking events for POP, Inc. to present to people of all ages and grade levels. Tricia also manages all of our social media including Plastic Ocean Project's Facebook, Twitter and blog accounts. Backpacking around the world in some of the more remote places on the planet, Monteleone photographed rivers and beaches spoiled by marine litter. Everywhere she went she was confronted by plastic pollution even in the most beautiful and underpopulated locales. Monteleone has shared detailed accounts on the problems with plastics on the terra ferma in distant regions of the world that only fuels her commitment to POP, Inc. She believes it is from the same brilliant inginuity that created plastics that will help us come up with solutions to plastic marine pollution. |
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Lindsey McCoy
Treasurer (Wilmington, NC) Lindsey McCoy has a master’s degree in nonprofit management and spent 10 years working on environmental education in the Bahamas, islands full of single-use plastic. She and her sister co-founded a company, Plaine Products, that offers shampoo, conditioner and body wash and lotion in aluminum bottles that can be returned, refilled and reused. She is currently on the Board of the Friends School of Wilmington and the Plastic Ocean Project. |
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Claudia Hickey Thompson
Secretary (Wilmington, NC) A 2016 move to Wrightsville Beach, NC where she lived along Banks Channel, ignited a passion for POP, Inc. As a producer for Coastline on WHQR 91.3 FM, Claudia interviewed Bonnie Monteleone for an episode exploring the health of the Atlantic Ocean, central to this area’s recreation, industry and lifestyle. After visiting EXPO 216 and viewing the scale of plastic pollution, in combination with the feedback from airing Bonnie’s interview, water cooler conversation began dictating the problem of plastic marine debris on a consistent enough level for Claudia to feel the need to become directly involved with POP, Inc. A 2006 graduate student from University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications, Claudia pursued social-interest investigative reporting in both public radio and broadcast television. In giving a voice to those who face injustice, Claudia won a regional Edward R. Murrow award for investigating fraud, abuse and mismanagement of federal tax dollars by the Oneida Housing Authority in Wisconsin. She previously won a regional Edward R. Murrow award for investigating the unscrupulous prescribing practices of opioids by a rural doctor as well as the culture of psycho-pharmacological abuse and the difficult landscape for law enforcement, medical examiners and pharmacists in the prescription drug epidemic of one Florida county. Claudia now hopes to give a voice to the devastation caused by marine debris and is looking forward to working closely with POP, Inc. and producers of the anticipated documentary If the Ocean Could Talk as she learns more about the interactive threat of plastics as pollutants across the globe, and strives toward developing solutions with the POP, Inc. team. |
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Sam Athey
Director of Chapters (Toronto, Canada) As DoC, Sam works to broaden POP's volunteer network through the establishment of chapters and the recruitment of community ambassador. She also works to provide support to POP's chapters and volunteers. Sam was one of the founding members and President of the first college chapter of Plastic Ocean Project, UNCW POP. Her leadership and passion for saving the oceans from marine debris has helped make the UNCW POP chapter extremely successful in being a role model of sustainable practices for the community, encouraging the reduction of single use plastic, and supporting local Ocean Friendly Establishments. She has also helped initiate the Hope Spot: Hatteras campaign in an effort to ensure the protection of one of the most diverse and vibrant ecosystems along the east coast. For her efforts she was awarded the Lumina News 2015 Person of the Year award and the 2018 Plastic Ocean Project Volunteer of the Year award. Sam received her B.S. with honors and M.Sc. in Marine Science from the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where she conducted research on microplastic ingestion in marine species. She is currently completing her Ph.D. at the University of Toronto, studying microfibre and chemical loss from clothing in the context of ecotoxicological effects of micrfibres in Great Lake ecosystems. Learn more about microfiber pollution and her research through Sam's blog: the Microfiber Pollution Project! |
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Caroline McGann
Volunteer Coordinator (Wilmington, NC) Caroline is a junior at UNCW. She is studying marine biology in hopes of doing marine mammal rehabilitation in her future. She got involved with POP her sophomore year of college. She then spent a semester in Australia at James Cook University scuba diving and gallivanting across Australia. Upon her arrival to UNCW, she was asked to be the volunteer coordinator for Plastic Ocean Project. This is an incredible opportunity and she is very excited to be apart of something so amazing. In addition to POP, she is also a study abroad ambassador, apart of swim and scuba club, an event coordinator for UNCWeekends, a volunteer at the Ft. Fisher Aquarium, a volunteer with MarineQuest, and a DIS student with Dr. Jessie Jarvis. Caroline has a passion for environmental conservation and can't wait to help clean up this planet! |
Michelle Kunstmann
Web and Copy Coordinator (Wilmington, NC)
As our Web and Copy Coordinator, Michelle works to spread the mission of Plastic Ocean Project with the public and get the word out about the plastic epidemic plaguing our seas. Having grown up by the ocean, Michelle strives to educate the public on green living, the wonders of marine animals and encourage sustainability. If it's a sunny day you can find Michelle enjoying the beach, hanging out at the local coffee shops or attempting to surf. After graduating from UNCW this spring, Michelle hopes to use her education to have an impact on the rescue, rehabilitation and education efforts for marine animals and their habitats.
Web and Copy Coordinator (Wilmington, NC)
As our Web and Copy Coordinator, Michelle works to spread the mission of Plastic Ocean Project with the public and get the word out about the plastic epidemic plaguing our seas. Having grown up by the ocean, Michelle strives to educate the public on green living, the wonders of marine animals and encourage sustainability. If it's a sunny day you can find Michelle enjoying the beach, hanging out at the local coffee shops or attempting to surf. After graduating from UNCW this spring, Michelle hopes to use her education to have an impact on the rescue, rehabilitation and education efforts for marine animals and their habitats.
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Scott C. Davis
Business Development & Analytics Intern (Wilmington, NC) In his current role as Business Development & Analytics Intern for Plastic Ocean Project Inc., Scott Davis aims to grow POP’s international presence, build new partnerships, and manage existing projects. He is the co-founder of Natural Bridges, LLC. Their business aims to distribute green technologies throughout the globe, specifically to island nations, in order to mitigate pollution and climate change environmental impacts. Travels throughout North America, South America, Caribbean, and Europe have exposed him to the real-world, environmental impacts felt from a global reliance on plastics. Scott received his B.S. B.A. in Economics from the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where he contributed to research in environmental economics. He is currently completing a dual MBA program at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, and University of Valencia, studying international marketing in the context of differences in green technology product adoption processes between the Caribbean and Latin America. |
Board of Advisors
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William (Bill) J. Cooper, PhD
Bill is a Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Irvine. in 1988 I earned a Ph. D. in Marine and Atmospheric Chemistry from the University of Miami. I shifted to the University of California at Irvine in 2006 to serve as the Director of the Urban Water Research Center and as Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. I retain appointments in Chemical Engineering, as well as in the Department of Policy, Planning, and Design in the School of Social Ecology. My present research interests include carbon cycles in oceanic and fresh water, the application of free radical chemistry for the treatment and environmental photochemical fate of emerging chemicals of concern and disinfection by-products, and, the application of advanced oxidation processes for the ship-board (oil tanker) control of invasive species. I have published over 250 papers and book chapters, and edited 8 books. In November 2011 I was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). |
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Lisa Rider
Lisa is an Eastern NC native, a sailor, surfer, paddler, dive master and is steeped in the reality of the situation with plastics. She works at the Onslow County Waste Management Facility and brings the full understanding of the impacts of plastics as a waste management issue to the table. She has received her educational background from UNC School of Government Chapel Hill, North Carolina Financing Solid Waste Programs, North Carolina, UNC School of Government 2009 to 2010 · Chapel Hill, North Carolina Supervisory Management Program, Clayton College of Natural Health Class of 2007 · Naturopathy · Birmingham, Alabama, Coastal Carolina CC Class of 2003 · Associates in Arts · Jacksonville, North Carolina, and Cape Lookout Marine Science High School Class of 1997 · Morehead City, North Carolina. Her most recent work was doing global outreach as crew for eXXpedition Amazon. She received the 2014 CRA Recycler of the Year Award and has been volunteering for NCBS and Ocean Conservancy for 27 years now. "Collaboration", Lisa says, "is the key to any successful project, program, organization." |
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Kurt Lieber
Founder and President of Ocean Defenders Alliance (ODA) Kurt's non-profit organization is based out of Huntington Beach, CA. ODA’s lofty goal is to “work for a debris free sea” and fits seamlessly with Plastic Ocean Project’s mission. Working with volunteer scuba divers, ODA has removed 33,000 pounds of abandoned fishing nets, 28,000 pounds of marine debris, 27,000 feet of trap lines and over 300 abandoned lobster traps. The vast majority of the nets, lines and debris were manufactured with some form of plastic, mostly nylon and polypropylene. Kurt has been scuba diving all around the world since 1974 and has witnessed firsthand the drastic reduction in bio-diversity in our underwater world. At the same time he has seen our oceans treated as a universal garbage dump. As we all know, the vast majority of this marine garbage is plastic. If there is any hope of restoring our oceans to their once vibrant state, something needs to be done with this debris. This is why Kurt supports POP - a beacon of light in an otherwise bleak looking future. He shares our belief that we owe it to ourselves, future generations, AND all the wildlife that we share this planet with, to stop putting this toxic debris in the water in the first place. We can then focus our energies on removing this plastic plague. "I feel that POP is doing a great job of searching for practical solutions to these issues. I am honored to be on the advisory board, and am in awe of this dedicated group of volunteer scientists, researchers, students and caring people. Way to go, Team POP!" |
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Jo Ruxton
Producer, A Plastic Ocean and Co-founder Plastic Oceans Jo's 7 years with World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) Hong Kong Jo Ruxton established their marine conservation programme that started in 1990. She left HK to work at the BBC Natural History Unit and contributed to celebrated The Blue Planet production team. Over the past 18 years she has been involved in numerous underwater filming projects around the world, from Antarctica to the pristine reefs of the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean. In 2009, after leaving the BBC, she began to raise funds to make a documentary about the problems of plastic in the worlds’ oceans and co-founded the Plastic Oceans Foundation. The internationally award winning documentary feature film, A Plastic Ocean, was completed in 2016 and has been distributed globally since January 2017. Together with her colleagues, she is currently taking the message of the film forward through education and science programmes. She gives presentations around the world to students of all ages, members of the public, businesses and corporations to raise awareness of the plastics issue and to create a legacy for the film. |
Founding Members
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Rear Admiral Leendert "Len" Hering, Sr.
Champion at the Helm; Renewable Energy Integration (San Diego, Ca) Hering (U.S. Navy, retired), is a prominent military and civilian sustainability leader with a broad background in energy and environmental issues and is currently the Executive Director of the The California Center for Sustainable Energy. His passion is educating people on the dangers the future holds without taking responsible actions to secure the nation’s energy independence and to preserve water, air quality and other resources. A native of Portsmouth, Va., Hering retired from the Navy in 2009 after more than 32 years of service. He was noted as one of the Navy’s top experts in base operations and facility support with an emphasis on sustainability and the environment. While in the Navy, Hering’s efforts included everything from renewable energy to responsible water use and conservation. He was responsible for building a team recognized throughout the Department of Defense as the best in environmental protection and sustainable innovation. Within three years, the team reduced energy consumption by nearly 42%, diverted 75% of Navy waste from landfills and reduced water consumption by more than one billion gallons, saving tens of millions of taxpayer dollars. Hering instigated wind, thermal, photovoltaic and conversion technology at all levels in Navy facilities. President Bush awarded Hering a 2005 Presidential Award for Leadership in Federal Energy Management in recognition of efforts reducing oil spills and for recycling. In 2009, Hering joined the University of San Diego, where as vice president for business services and administration he initiated numerous sustainable measures on the campus. Within the two years he served, USD installed the largest solar system of any private campus in the country, instituted the most comprehensive water abatement project in the school’s history and reformed numerous business practices to help control costs. His efforts resulted in saving more than 3 million gallons of water per year and more than $1 million in electrical costs. Hering’s endeavors include the founding of what is now the largest sustainability business partnership in San Diego County, the San Diego Regional Sustainability Partnership, a consortium of business, government, academic and community organizations promoting practices that support a sustainable future for the region. |
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Diana Dehm
Sustainability Visionary (Huntington Beach, Ca) Diana is biography Host, Sustainability News & Entertainment®Radio, Multinational Sustainability correspondent & Advisor CEO, Sustainable Business Partnerships™, LLC. Diana Dehm has an extensive record of success in both the public and private sectors as a public speaker, radio and TV personality, social entrepreneur & CEO, sustainability correspondent & consultant and team builder, community out-reach innovator, and educator in the of world sustainability. “She is the human dot connector for bringing the most Innovative Sustainable Solutions to the table for Planetary Sustainability”. Diana is the CEO & Founder of Sustainable Business Partnerships™, LLC. Consulting (WBE, DBE, SBE Certified Company) “Driving sustainability business innovation through strategy to implementation within Fortune 500 Companies". She is the Host & Founder of Sustainability News & Entertainment® Radio, a platform for sharing inspiring stories and sustainable solutions for the planet. As an active public speaker and strategic visionary linking business strategy with business outcomes, she believes that people are at the heart of driving sustainable change, and “We are all in this together”. She has learned by hands-on entrepreneurialism, and creating successful, exciting, fun communication models; we can support our next generation’s needs through non-traditional economics, positive human impact, and developing innovative ways to lower our environmental footprint collectively. Prior to Founding Sustainable Business Partnerships™ and Sustainability News & Entertainment® Radio, she was a Vice President/Partner with Haley & Aldrich and ERM, both global environmental consulting firms, where her responsibilities included Fortune 500 Global EHS Consulting, Business Development, Partnership Development, Consortia Management, Communications, Media, and Sustainability Services. Prior to consulting, she was an Manager for Hewlett Packard and Waste Management (Formally Wheelabrator- Frye/Allied Signal). Diana’s technical consulting and advisory experience includes 20 years of corporate EHS compliance, CSR, Fortune 500 consortia deployment, sustainability innovation, go to market product and service strategy, branding, and communications. She excels at building highly-effective collaborative innovation teams on the global scale for companies and partners including: Hewlett Packard, AT&T, General Electric, NBC Universal, Major League Sports, Entertainment Industry, Entrepreneurs, Military, Federal Agencies, Non-Profit Organizations, K-12 Students, and Colleges & Universities, and many others. Today, Diana’s mission is to work collectively to bring world-wide sustainability solutions to the forefront through media, connection, and education, while continuing to connect the dots with sustainability “solutioneers” from across the nation and around the world to focus on what she calls her TOP 10 Planetary Challenges (i.e., renewable energy, clean water management, zero waste, education, consumerism, clean technology, positive human impact, clean oceans, climate change, and infrastructure/transportation). |
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Martha Lyons
Director of Technology and Innovation (Palo Alto, Ca) Martha is a Silicon Valley Technology and Business Strategist and has over 25 years of experience leading the initiation and development of innovative capabilities in collaboration with Fortune 500 companies. While at HP Labs and HP Services, she led multiple demonstration projects aimed at incubating solutions at the intersection of emerging technologies, business models, and customer needs resulting in numerous technology transfers. Projects spanned domains such as experimental economics, prediction and forecasting, residential and commercial energy management, document categorization and automated classification, and advanced visual analytics of data sets. Martha also led the HP Services CTO Innovation Program while advising customers on innovation best practices in corporate environments. While in HP Services she drove the Services Innovation agenda and led emerging R&D projects to bring new electronic support, remote sensing and monitoring, predictive analytics, automated assessment, and energy management services to market and improve HP’s delivery of services. Martha has also held a variety of technical, management, and strategy positions in HP’s Office of Strategy and Innovation and in HP’s Global Operations. Martha is passionate about environmental sustainability and using analytics to automate and improve the delivery of services. She is also dedicated to designing services and products which combine and address business, technology, and customer experience innovations holistically throughout the project lifecycle. Martha also volunteers at Sustainable Silicon Valley helping to design the EcoCloud collaboration and innovation portal. Martha grew up in New York City and attended Duke University as an undergraduate and the University of Texas at Austin as a graduate student in Computer Science. She has two boys, 18 and 15 and enjoys all outdoor activities, socializing with friends, reading, and speculating about the future. |
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Kellie Johansen
Director of Operations and Outreach (NH) Kellie had been the Director of Community Based Services for Easter Seals NH with over 23 years of experience in non-profit management. At Easter Seals, she managed the delivery of a wide array of services, including; employment, residential, and clinical for adults with special needs throughout the state of NH. Kellie is responsible for pioneering program models that have become the standard for service delivery in NH for adults with developmental disabilities, one of these programs received a Service Innovation Award from our National Affiliate. Along with adults with special needs, she has initiated programs for Seniors and was part of an implementation team for our Veterans Count program that provides support to our nations Veterans and their families. The Easter Seals NH customer service program was developed by Kellie which addresses both the organizational culture and training aspects of service excellence. Kellie led a team of 30+ managers and 150+ direct service staff who are responsible for delivery of $17M of services throughout NH. She oversees an extensive training and quality assurance program and is a member of several internal and external collaborative teams. Kellie is most known for her visionary thinking and leadership. She has an ability to motivate staff teams and create synergistic environments where staff can work with shared purpose and are mission-minded. She is a certified DiSC trainer and uses this as a platform for mentoring and working within programs on team building and interpersonal and communication issues. Kellie has a life-long love of the ocean and all of its gifts. She and her four children spend most of their recreational time along the seacoast. They can be found surfing, splashing, walking, tidal pooling and playing on the beaches. Their appreciation of the ocean, beaches and marine life enlists her passionate concern for its future and desire to contribute to its preservation. Kellie also believes that taking care of our planet is essential our physical and spiritual wellness. Kellie grew up on Cape Cod in Massachusetts and has lived in the Seacoast of NH for the past 20 years. She has a BS in Human Services with a concentration in Early Childhood Education from Springfield College and is currently enrolled in their graduate program for Organizational Leadership. She is a coach for Girl on the Run, an international program that teaches girls to run a 5k, while focusing on wellness. She is a fitness enthusiast, loves being outdoors, especially cycling. |