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 Environmental Studies Department at UNC Wilmington as an Adjunct Instructor teaching a Plastic Marine Debris Field Studies course and manages a lab 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. She received the Conservation Communicator of the Year 2017, Governor’s Award, Cape Fear YWCA Woman of the Year - Environmental Award 2018, 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
President (Cortland, NY) Paul is a retired Accountant and business owner of Cortland Bookkeeping and Tax Service. He lives in Cortland, NY, the geographical center of the state. He is the co-founder of Plastic Ocean Project, Inc, founded in 2012. Paul's contributions to Plastic Ocean Project, Inc. have been the backbone to the non-profit, providing leadership as president on and off since its inception. His commitment to community and the environment goes beyond this rapidly growing NGO. Paul is on the Board of Trustees for the Cortland YWCA, has served on the Cortland Water Board, the community Historical Society, and has volunteered decades for the American Red Cross, and United Way. Though he lives in his fair city of Cortland, landlocked from the ocean, his passion for the success of this nonprofit has no boundaries.
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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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Jessica Stofko
Secretary (Wilmington, NC) ,Growing up on the east coast, Jessica Stofko has always held the ocean close to her heart. Throughout college she thought beach clean ups were enough to help offset the litter people left behind. Backpacking through Central America she realized the scale of the problem when she saw beaches cluttered with trash and plastics. Garbage was washing up on beach around the world killing sea life and poisoning habitats.
It became Stofko’s passion to spread awareness about the effects of pollution so that future generations can enjoy the beach life she will forever cherish. As President of Sunshine Worldwide, she donated 28 surfboards to children in Aserradores, Nicaragua. She hopes to instill a love for the ocean and motivate their community to do their part to preserve our oceans. Her commitment to helping children drives her efforts to preserve our planet. A degree in Economics & Political Science have nurtured her sense of civic responsibility and strengthened her desire to be a part of the solution. As the NC Area Manager for an after school program she has welcomed yet another opportunity to help spread awareness to children and families that they can make a difference. She has helped families understand that pollution has had detrimental effects on our planet and our health from drinking water to sea life. She believes the issue stems from lack of knowledge about plastics and limited accessibility to sustainable alternatives. Her hope of teaming with POP is to help educate and provide those alternatives for our community and communities afar. She feels it is our duty as educated individuals to spread knowledge and solutions to save our seas and our health. |
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Cassidy Edge
Director of Chapters and Ambassadors (Wilmington,NC) Cassidy was born in Cocoa Beach, Florida and lived in Wilmington, NC since she was three years old. She graduated from UNCW in December 2019 with her Bachelors of Science in Marine Biology. She is now employed at the Lubee Bat Conservancy as an Animal Keeper and now resides in Gainesville, FL. Living on the coast her whole life, Cassidy has an enormous love for the sea and everything in it. She is very passionate about keeping our oceans clean and educating people about the plastic epidemic happening everyday. She was the Social Media Coordinator for the UNCW student chapter of Plastic Ocean Project in addition to being an active member for 2 years in the education committee and community outreach on campus. Cassidy wanted to make sure that she would continue to be a part of Plastic Ocean Project and be involved in educating and helping others start their own chapters! Cassidy holds Plastic Ocean Project near and dear to her heart and wants to help make an impact on others with her passion and love she has for the ocean and keeping it clean.
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Karly Lohan
Assistant Director of Development (Wilmington,NC) Karly grew up outside of Philadelphia, PA and made it a point to pursue her education by the ocean. She received a BS in Biology from Salisbury University in 2018 and is a current student at UNCW in the Master's of Coastal and Ocean Policy program. Karly discovered her passion for environmental advocacy and education as the Student Research Coordinator for Wicomico Creekwatchers, a water quality monitoring program on the Wicomico River. Karly's study abroad experience in Kenya in January of 2019 made her recognize the impacts that consumer societies, such as ours, have on developing countries. Simultaneously, K Karly was blown away by Kenya's focus on sustainability, plastic bag policies, and environmental conservation. After graduation, Karly hopes to use her background in Biology and her newfound passion in policy to translate environmental research into law. Karly hopes that her role as the Assistant Director of Development at Plastic Ocean Project will help expand our outreach and education efforts in Wilmington and beyond! |
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Kelsey Kelly
Marine Biologist and Social Media Coordinator (Wilmington, NC Kelsey is an adventurous spirit who loves natural spaces, outdoor sports, wildlife, and travel photography. She received her Bachelor of Science in Biology from East Carolina University in 2015 and has been teaching scuba diving on the east coast since the beginning of 2016. Kelsey is an environmental advocate, so she incorporates leave no trace practices and ocean education information into every scuba course she teaches. As a diver she encounters a lot of marine debris and has seen firsthand the impact pollution is having on wildlife and the oceans. She believes we can do better, so she has teamed up with Plastic Ocean Project to turn the tide on public awareness and concern for our biological ecosystems. Kelsey’s main role includes conducting environmental education presentations that engage the public by connecting them to science. She also assists with environmental policy work and does event and nature photography for POP when needed. Kelsey also hopes to contribute video footage for science education programs and documentaries initiated by POP in the future. She is excited to join the team and looks forward to the what the new partnership will bring.
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Andie Roylance
Research and Operations Assistant (Wilmington, NC) Growing up in a beach community gave Andie her passion for environmental conservation and preservation, resulting in her involvement with the smoking ban on the local beach. Andie later combined her enjoyment of science, community outreach, and the environment by coordinating and hosting a litter cleanup event on her high school's campus for her Graduation Project. Having taken a gap year before college, Andie worked as an intern for The Plastic Ocean Project to include leading and assisting on several research projects. Andie is attending the University of North Carolina Wilmington as a freshman and is double majoring in Anthropology and Biology. She is actively involved with the on-campus student chapter in addition to working for The Plastic Ocean Project.
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Douwe van Schie
Creative and Copy (Lisbon, Portugal) As our Graphic Designer, Douwe converts our messages into beautiful and clear visuals. He makes our communication easier to digest and more fun to read.For almost 1.5 years you could find Douwe in his campervan along the Spanish, Portuguese and Moroccan coastline. In this time he worked as a Freelance Graphic Designer for several Dutch companies, surfed a lot and explored the beautiful coastlines of these countries. This is also when he saw some of the effect of plastics on our eco-system firsthand. Now living in Lisbon, Douwe wants to use his professional skills to make the world a better place.
At the moment you can find Douwe working and surfing in Lisbon, Portugal. |
Plastic ocean project chapters
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Sam Shores
President of UNCWilmington Plastic Ocean Project Sam is an undergraduate student at the University of North Carolina Wilmington Honors College pursuing a Bachelor of Science in marine biology with a concentration in marine conservation. Sam is the current President and Videography Committee Leader of the UNCW Plastic Ocean Project student chapter and was previously the student organization’s Vice President and Fundraising and Marketing Committee Leader. He has conducted research analyzing microplastics in the gastrointestinal tract of Bahamian fish species from the Exuma Sound and hopes to transition into a career studying essential fish habitats. He also works as a videographer and multimedia specialist for the UNCW Honors College and Predictive UX. Sam is a part of the documentary team for “If the Ocean Could Talk” and aspires to use film to help the world break free from plastic.
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Luke Anders
President of Topsail High School Plastic Ocean Project Luke ignited the first high school chapter in 2019. He continues to work hard with his board members, fellow students, and local community members conducting cleanups, creating educational videos on how to reduce waste, and help recruit local Topsail businesses to become part of our national Ocean Friendly Establishment program. Luke is also an ocean advocate through surfing.
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Board of Advisors
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William (Bill) J. Cooper, PhD (Gainesville, FL.)
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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Michael Fishbach
Michael is the Executive Director of the Great Whale Conservancy and has 26 years experience studying blue and other large whales in the U.S. , Mexico, Canada and the Azores. He has advocated for their protection from ship strikes and other threats, from Sri Lanka, to Chile, the U.S. and New Zealand. Michael conducts annual field research on the blue whales in the Sea of Cortez off the coast of Baja California, where for the past 23 seasons he has tracked some of the oldest and most well known whales, among hundreds of others. In 2011, Michael and his small crew rescued a young humpback whale from a fishing net. Their video, "Saving Valentina", has been viewed over 50 million times and Michael has appeared on the Today Show, CBS Inside Edition, 20/20 Nightline, National Geographic Travel channel, two BBC specials and Nat Geo spacial. He has lectured on the plight of blue whales in the Explorers Club, the College of the Atlantic, The Los Vegas Public Library System, among many others. He has given 2 TED X Talks, one in the U.S. and the other in the Netherlands. Michael is currently the Executive Director of the Great Whale Conservancy whose mission is to protect the plight of the world's largest animal, the endangered blue whale, as well as the world's other great whales. |
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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.
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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. |