Director's Council

The Director's Council is a group of nationally and internationally prominent individuals who provide mission-based leadership and strategic advice to Scripps and its director. Council members are leaders in business, government, philanthropy, or the nonprofit sector. Members serve a three-year term and are eligible for re-appointment for additional terms. The Council meets formally twice per year to review the institution's progress and to advise the director in strategic planning for priorities, new directions, and high level outreach.

For more information, please contact Kayla Jackson.

Members

Prakash Arunkundrum

As Logitech's COO & CSO (Head of Global Operations and Sustainability), Prakash Arunkundrum is responsible for all of Logitech´s global manufacturing, worldwide supply chain, sourcing, new product launch, and quality operations. Prakash is responsible for driving the strategy and execution of Logitech's sustainability commitments to become a climate positive company & driving Logitech’s carbon labeling & other industry leading initiatives. Prakash has held this role since 2018, and previously held executive positions as Head of New Product Introductions and Global Sourcing at Logitech. Prakash has over 20 years of experience in operations, he joined Logitech in 2015. Prior to Logitech, he was a principal at management consulting firms A.T. Kearney and PricewaterhouseCoopers where he focused on driving gross margin improvements and operations transformations for several technology companies. Prior to his management consulting career, Prakash held senior product management and consulting roles at several supply chain services and software companies.

Prakash holds a a Masters in Materials Engineering from University of Maryland at College Park and a Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from Central ElectroChemical Research Institute (CECRI) in India.

Maxine Baker

EWSA Chair

Maxine Yee Baker joined EWSA in 2014 and brings to the Operating Committee an expertise in communications and project management. In 2015, she worked with the Scripps Development Office and created a Marketing Plan to be used as guidance to increase EWSA visibility and membership. Maxine’s professional career spans 30 years as a Communications Advisor to C-level executives at IBM Corporation in New York. She also was a reporter in the Los Angeles bureau of the wire service UPI and a writer/photographer for a number of trade publications. After retiring from IBM in 2011, she was Director of Special Projects and Administration for New York Junior Tennis & Learning, a nonprofit that combines the sport of tennis and an after-school program to keep at-risk youth off the streets. She also was on the Board of Directors for Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison, which provides a college education to individuals incarcerated in New York prisons. Maxine is an avid scuba diver and has seen dramatic changes in the oceans in her two decades of diving.

Denise Bevers

Ms. Bevers has over 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry with significant drug development expertise and a history of building clinical, commercial and manufacturing teams.  She is currently the Chief Operating Officer at DTx Pharma, Inc., a privately-held biotechnology company creating novel RNA-based therapeutics to treat the genetic drivers of disease. Prior to joining DTx, Ms. Bevers served as President & COO of Kindred Biosciences, a veterinary biopharmaceutical company that she co-founded in 2012 and played an integral role in the company's Initial Public Offering (IPO) in 2013. Previously, Ms. Bevers was President & Founding Partner of SD Scientific and held management positions at Elan Pharmaceuticals, SkyePharma, Quintiles, and Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation. Currently, Ms. Bevers serves on the Board of Directors of KindredBio, Hilltop Bio and on the Board of Trustees of the La Jolla Playhouse.

Mary Ann Beyster

 

Managing Director

Mary Ann Beyster is Director of the Beyster Foundation for Enterprise Development supporting research, education, and initiatives that advance entrepreneurship and community wealth building through broad-based employee ownership. She founded the Azulito Fund to catalyze science-based, innovative solutions that cultivate healthy, sustainable, and just ocean systems. As founder of Yellow Warbler Media, she is a national public media and festival award-winning producer of documentaries about creating healthy, equitable, and vibrant communities.

Mary Ann has more than 25 years of experience in high-tech manufacturing (IBM, Hewlett-Packard), environment management and technology consulting (SRI International, CH2MHill, and Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)), and government-catalyzed small business innovation (Foundation for Enterprise Development). She is a founding sponsor of several innovation incubators/accelerators including Scripps Oceanography’s StartBlue, and is a member of several ocean/climate investment groups.

As manager of the Beyster Family Foundations, she oversees San Diego-based grant-making in environment, health and human services, arts and culture, science and technology, and education. She is a native of San Diegan and now lives in La Jolla.

Mary Ann is a member of the StartBlue Advisory Committee, Trustee Emeriti at UCSD Foundation, Trustee Emeriti at The Nature Conservancy (California Chapter), and La Jolla Music Society’s Board of Directors. She has a B.S. in industrial engineering from CA Polytechnic State University (SLO), an M.S. in management from the MIT Sloan School of Management, and film directing and producing certificates from the School of Cinematic Arts at USC and New York Film Academy.

Wendell W. Birkhofer

Wendell W. Birkhofer is a retired senior portfolio manager. He spent 33 years at the investment management firm Dodge & Cox in San Francisco. After joining the firm in 1987, Wendell began his career as a global research analyst. He later became a portfolio manager, working with both large institutional and high net worth private clients. Wendell was a long-term member of the firm’s U.S. Equity Investment Committee and Private Client Investment Committee until he retired as Senior Vice President in 2020.
 
Wendell holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. He served on the Board of Governors of the Investment Adviser Association and is a former Member of the Stanford GSB Trust.

Prior to joining Dodge & Cox, Wendell co-founded Wen Birkhofer & Co. in Los Angeles with his father in 1978. The securities firm was a NASD broker-dealer. He was a registered representative and principal at the firm for six years.

Wendell attended UC San Diego in the mid-1970s, before transferring to Stanford University where he earned his B.A. degree in 1978. He also received his M.B.A. degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1987. He played intercollegiate volleyball at both UC San Diego and Stanford.

Early in his childhood, Wendell lived in La Jolla with his family. He has maintained a love for the ocean throughout his life and is now passionate about ocean conservation.

Paul Brooks

Friends of Collections Chair

Paul has been a supporter and advocate for the Collections since 2003, and he and his wife are the sponsors of the Benthic Invertebrates Collection. Paul grew up around the ocean, his father was a lighthouse keeper, and studied general sciences in school.  Paul was President of the San Diego Dive Club for five years. Paul and his wife have been major supporters of the Zoo for many years, are members of two donor groups, and have supported various projects there and at the Safari Park. Paul is a member of a Steering Committee at the San Diego Zoo that provides grants to various departments.

Julia Brown (Vice Chair)

Advisor to the CEO, Amylin Pharmaceuticals
Trustee, UCSD Foundation

Julia R Brown has over 30 years of diversified healthcare industry experience including pharmaceuticals, drug delivery, medical devices, and diagnostics. She was Executive Vice President of Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a development stage biopharmaceutical company. Prior to joining Amylin, she was Executive Vice President of Dura Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty pharmaceuticals company with a focus in respiratory disease.

Tim Gallaudet

PhD, Rear Admiral, (U.S.N, ret) and CEO, Ocean STL Consulting, LLC

The Honorable Tim Gallaudet, Ph.D., Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy (ret) is the CEO of Ocean STL Consulting, where he serves as a strategic advisor for a variety of startups in the ocean, weather, climate, environmental, and space sectors. He is a member of the Ocean Studies Board in the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the White House Ocean Research Advisory Panel, and he serves on the Board of Directors for Force Blue, the Advisory Council for Project Recover, the Editorial Board for the Marine Technology Reporter Magazine, the Advisory Board for Ocean Futures at the World Wildlife Fund, the Advisory Board for Americans for Safe Aerospace, Harvard University’s Galileo Project, the American Security Project, and the Council for a Strong America’s Mission: Readiness Initiative. Gallaudet is a fellow at The Explorer’s Club, a distinguished graduate of the University of California, San Diego, and recipient of the U.S. Coast Guard Distinguished Public Service Award. He formerly served as the acting Undersecretary and Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Acting Deputy Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Before NOAA, Gallaudet served for 32 years in the US Navy, completing his career as the Oceanographer of the Navy on the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations. His assignments involved combat operations on a Navy aircraft carrier, counterterrorism activities with Navy SEAL Teams, oceanographic support to the Navy’s Submarine Forces, and deep-sea research and development. Gallaudet has a bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Naval Academy, and master's and doctoral degrees from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, all in oceanography.

Cindy Glancy

Friends of Birch Aquarium Chair

Cindy Glancy received her B.A. from UCSD with a major in Economics and minors in Literature and Sociology.  She obtained her JD at USD Law School before practicing law in San Diego for fifteen years as a civil litigator concentrating in business, real estate, construction defect and insurance litigation and appellate practice.  During that time she acted as an arbitrator and as a Pro Tem Special Settlement Conference Judge for San Diego Superior Court, was a member of the Construction Law Panel of Arbitrators for the American Arbitration Association and acted as an arbitrator for the Arbitration Committee of the San Diego County Bar Association.  She was formerly on the Board of Management for the Magdalena Ecke Family YMCA and on the Board of Directors for the USD Law School Alumni Association.

Cindy enjoys snorkeling and underwater photography and has become passionate about our oceans and all the creatures in them, especially coral, since “becoming a mermaid” after retiring. She became a member of Ellen’s Circle in 2006, has been a member of Friends of Birch Aquarium since 2014, is on the Birch Revitalization Advisory Board, led the recent campaign to acquire the R/V Bob and Betty Beyster, a fast coastal research vessel, for Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and is on the International Council for the Coral Reef Alliance.

Cindy and her husband John live in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.

Stuart Goode

E.M. Warburg Pincus & Co. (retired)

Mr. Goode is a private investor and former partner of Warburg Pincus & Co., a private New York-based venture banking and investments management firm. He was associated with the firm from 1981 through 1996, and has over thirty years of experience as an investments professional. He was born and raised west of Chicago, and received a B.S. and M.B.A from Northwestern University. He resides in New York City and Bridgehampton, New York.

Richard Gulley

Vice Chairman, Driver Alliant Insurance Services, Inc.

Rick was a founding member of EWSA.  He is Senior Vice President for Alliant Insurance Services, and the Chairman of the Board at San Diego Zoo Global.  He has a number of environmental interests including the Anza-Borrego Foundation, where Rick is president of the board of trustees.

Richard Hertzberg

CEO, Enpex Corporation

Richard Hertzberg is Chairman, CEO, and President of ENPEX Corporation, a privately held energy company involved in the creation, development, financing, construction, operation, and ownership of cogeneration projects, oil and gas production and exploration, and alternative energy projects. He was chairman of the UCSD Chancellors Associates from 2000 - 2003 and a trustee for the UCSD Foundation Board of Trustees through 2006. Mr. Hertzberg has a B.A. in Biology from Colgate University and an M.S.E. in Chemical Engineering from Columbia University.

James Jameson

James Jameson serves on the Chancellor’s Executive Advisory Cabinet at the University of California at San Diego.  He serves as a member of the Board of Directors at the Reason Foundation, a policy think tank focused on free market solutions to societal problems, as well as on the Board at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.  Mr. Jameson also serves on the Board of Mekong Capital, one of Vietnam’s largest private equity funds.   He has Chaired the Board of Advisors of The School of Global Policy at the University of California at San Diego, the Institute of the Americas and was the Past International President of YPO.  He served in the US Government under President George Walker Bush as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Trade Development in 1992/93 where he was also on the Boards of the Export Import Bank of the United States and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation as well as on the Committee for Foreign Investment in the United States.

Mr. Jameson graduated from Stanford University with both a B.A. and M.B.A.  He is married, has two children, and resides in Rancho Santa Fe, California.

Wayne Kennedy

Retired Senior Vice President for Business & Finance, University of California

V. Wayne Kennedy joined the University of California's Office of the President as Senior Vice President for Business and Finance in July, 1993 and served in that capacity until retiring on September 1, 2000.

A nationally recognized expert in issues related to the financing of research universities and medical education, Mr. Kennedy previously was Vice Chancellor for Administration at UC San Diego for eight years. Mr. Kennedy's professional activities included past and present membership on numerous boards and committees dealing with technology transfer, government relations, grant and contract policies, private fund raising, and medical education administration. He is also the author and co-author of numerous papers and statements delivered before governmental bodies and agencies and professional and academic organizations. Mr. Kennedy serves on the boards of several not for profit and for profit entities.

Donna Lucas

 

Chief Executive Officer and President

Over her career, Donna Lucas has established a reputation as a smart and strategic communications consultant and businesswoman. In 2006, she founded Lucas Public Affairs, where she leads a team of experts specializing in addressing major public policy challenges across various sectors. Her clients encompass businesses, financial institutions, nonprofit organizations, foundations, and government entities.

Throughout her 30-year career, Donna held senior executive positions in both the public and private sectors. She served as deputy chief of staff for strategic planning and initiatives for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and as chief of staff to First Lady Maria Shriver. Additionally, she worked as deputy press secretary for Governor George Deukmejian, deputy treasurer for State Treasurer Tom Hayes, and as California press secretary for Vice President George H.W. Bush's 1988 presidential campaign. She also played key leadership roles in public relations with Porter Novelli and Nelson Communications Group.

Donna chaired the California Chamber of Commerce board of directors. She currently serves as chair of Maria Shriver’s Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement, vice chair of the College Futures Foundation, and is on the board of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and John Burton Advocates for Youth. She is a member of the Statewide Leadership Council of the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) and was on PPIC’s board of directors from 2007 to 2019, chairing the board from 2013 to 2016. Donna is a founding member of She Shares, a unique conversation series featuring trailblazing women leaders who have made a lasting impact on women in California and beyond. She is consistently recognized as one of Sacramento’s 100 most powerful and influential people and was named Sacramento Business Woman of the Year in 2018 by the Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce. Donna resides in Sacramento with her husband, Greg Lucas, California’s State Librarian.

Dennis McGinn

The Honorable Dennis V. McGinn
Former Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Energy, Installations and Environment)

Mr. Dennis McGinn was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Energy, Installations & Environment) on September 3, 2013. In this position, Mr. McGinn developed Department-wide policies, procedures, advocacy and strategic plans. He also oversaw all Department of the Navy functions and programs related to installations, safety, energy, and environment. This included effective management of Navy and Marine Corps real property, housing, and other facilities; natural and cultural resource protection, planning, and compliance; safety and occupational health for military and civilian personnel; and timely completion of closures and realignments of installations under base closure laws.

Mr. McGinn is the former President of the American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE), an organization dedicated to building a secure and prosperous America with clean, renewable energy. While at ACORE, he led efforts to communicate the significant economic, security and environmental benefits of renewable energy. Mr. McGinn is also a past co-chairman of the CNA Military Advisory Board and an international security senior fellow at the Rocky Mountain Institute.

In 2002, after 35 years of service, Mr. McGinn retired from the Navy after achieving the rank of Vice Admiral. While in the Navy, he served as a naval aviator, test pilot, aircraft carrier commanding officer, and national security strategist. His capstone assignment was as the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Warfare Requirements and Programs, where he oversaw the development of future Navy capabilities. In a previous operational leadership role, he commanded the U.S. Third Fleet.

Mr. McGinn is a past member of the Steering Committee of the Energy Future Coalition, the United States Energy Security Council, and the Bipartisan Policy Center Energy Board. He earned a B.S. degree in Naval Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy; attended the national security program at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; and was a Chief of Naval Operations strategic studies fellow at the U.S. Naval War College.

Michael Meredith

Professor Michael Meredith is an oceanographer and Science Leader at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) in Cambridge, UK. He is head of the Polar Oceans team at BAS, which has research foci on determining the role of the polar oceans on global climate, the ice sheets, and the interdisciplinary ocean system. He is an Honorary Professor at the University of Bristol, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and a NERC Individual Merit Promotion (Band 2) scientist. He has published more than 200 papers in international journals, and was the inaugural chair of the Southern Ocean Observing System. He led the design and delivery of the multi-institute, £10M ORCHESTRA programme, which is unravelling the role of the Southern Ocean in controlling global climate. He was recently Coordinating Lead Author for the IPCC Special Report on Oceans and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate. In 2018, Michael was awarded the Tinker-Muse Prize for Science and Policy in Antarctica, in recognition of his contributions to the study of the Southern Ocean and its global impacts, and the Challenger Medal, for exceptional contributions to Marine Science. In 2020, he was awarded the Polar Medal by HM The Queen. In 2021, Michael was elected to serve as President of the Challenger Society for Marine Science, the UK’s pre-eminent learned body for research of the ocean.

Chrysa Mineo

Ms. Mineo’s career in biotechnology spans 30+ years, including significant tenure with prominent San Diego-founded drug development companies Receptos and Neurocrine Biosciences. Most recently, Ms. Mineo led corporate development on the executive team at Receptos from 2009 to 2015, where strategic partnering efforts for a Phase 3 candidate for the treatment of multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease resulted in the company’s acquisition by Celgene. During her tenure she played a key role in the Receptos initial public offering (IPO) and established product and technology collaborations with AbbVie, Ono, Lilly and Janssen. Prior to Receptos, Ms. Mineo held roles of increasing business development responsibility at Neurocrine Biosciences from 1997 to 2009, where she led or played a primary role in negotiating and closing more than 25 transactions, including worldwide or regional product candidate collaborations from Phase 1 to registration and product in-licensing transactions. Prior to Neurocrine, Ms. Mineo served in various capacities in research, marketing and business development for such companies as Amgen, DNAX Research Institute, Schering Plough and Baxter Biotech. Ms. Mineo serves on the Board of Directors of Cidara Therapeutics and the Board of Trustees for the San Diego French American School. She believes passionately in building collaboration between local world-renowned scientific institutions such as the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and our bioscience start-up community. Ms. Mineo holds a B.S. in Zoology from the University of California, Davis and received her M.B.A. from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Elizabeth Oliver

Board Member, San Diego Symphony

Elizabeth is an active patron of the San Diego arts community. She is currently a member of the board of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra. She is former board member of Mainly Mozart Festival and University of California, San Diego Arts Gallery. Elizabeth is also a former member of the Collections Committee at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego. Elizabeth and her husband, Dene, have established an Endowed Chair at Scripps Institution of Oceanography that will benefit the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation. Elizabeth has a strong passion for biodiversity and conservation issues.

John Patton

Founder and CEO, Dance Pharmaceuticals

John Patton is a biotechnologist, entrepreneur and world renowned expert on drug delivery and the delivery of peptide and protein therapeutics. He is the Founder of Dance Pharmaceuticals and a Co-Founder of Pleiades Cardio Therapeutics, both 2009 biotechnology start-up companies. Prior to 2009, he co-founded Inhale Therapeutics (now Nektar Therapeutics) in 1990 and served as Chief Scientific Officer from 2001-2008 and as director from July 1990-2008. Nektar specializes in the development of new inhaled medicines and the PEGylation of small and large molecule therapeutics for improved efficacy and safety. Nektar developed the first inhaled insulin product which was approved in Jan 2006 in the US and Europe. From 1985 to 1990, Dr. Patton was with Genentech, Inc., the first biotechnology company, where he headed their non-invasive drug delivery activities. Dr. Patton was on the faculty of the Marine Science and Microbiology Departments at the University of Georgia from 1979 through 1985, where he was granted tenure in 1984.

Dr. Patton received a B.S. in Zoology from Pennsylvania State University, an M.S. in Oceanography from the University of Rhode Island, a Ph.D. in Biology from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego and conducted post doctoral studies at Harvard Medical School and the University of Lund, Sweden, both in biomedicine. Dr. Patton is also a director of Halozyme Therapeutics, and Activaero GmBH, both biotechnology companies and serves on the Pennsylvania State University, College of Science Advisory Board.

David Price

 

President, PriceSmart Foundation Executive Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer, PriceSmart

Mr. Price serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer at PriceSmart, the largest operator of retail warehouse clubs in Central America, the Caribbean, and Colombia. He also serves as President of the PriceSmart Foundation, PriceSmart’s philanthropic partner. In his role as Chief Transformation Officer at PriceSmart, he leads strategic initiatives focusing on promoting better collaboration, alignment, and agility within the organization while driving improvements in the member experience. Mr. Price oversees several functional teams within the company including Information Technology, PriceSmart.com, Payment Services, and the Project Management Office.

Before his current role, he worked in several other capacities at PriceSmart including leading the company’s Environmental and Social Responsibility team, Omnichannel Merchandising team, and Innovation Team. Outside of his work at PriceSmart, he serves as the chair of the Board of Directors at The Wildcoast Foundation and serves on the Boards of Price Philanthropies Foundation and the Aaron Price Fellows Program. Before his tenure at PriceSmart, he served as a faculty member for the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) and worked at Price Philanthropies Foundation as a program officer. Mr. Price holds a Master of International affairs from UC San Diego and a BS in Public Policy from the USC Price School.

William Revelle

 

Professor of Psychology

Bill’s early experiences with SIO were on three expeditions while in high school and college: At age 14 he joined the Naga expedition led by Anton Bruun on the Stranger which went from San Diego to Bangkok. This experience changed him from a not-very-good-surfer into a future scientist. He spent the next summer on the NEL-Arctic 60 expedition from San Diego to Point Barrow on the Hugh M. Smith, followed two years later by joining Bill Reidel and Bob Fisher on the Proa expedition in 1962 from Fiji to Kwajalein to Samoa to Hawaii on the Spencer F. Baird. It was on this expedition while on Kwajalein that he observed the last high-altitude nuclear test (over Johnon Atoll, 1600 miles away). These three expeditions and a further summer spent at the SIO computer center trying to teach computers to think cemented his interest in science. He then combined his interests in math with those of psychology to study personality.

Following two years in the Peace Corps in Sarawak, Malaysia, and five years of graduate training at the University of Michigan, he and his wife, Eleanor, have lived in Evanston since 1973 where he is a professor of psychology at Northwestern University. His research focuses on personality theory and measurement with an emphasis on Open Science. He has developed open-source materials and techniques to study temperament and cognitive ability and actively develops software for data analysis using the R programming language. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the APA, and the APS and has received lifetime contribution awards from the Society of Personality and Social Psychology, the European Association of Personality Psychology, and the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences.

Growing up in La Jolla discussing CO2-induced climate change and having observed the power of nuclear weapons led him to become chair of the governing board of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, which is concerned with existential threats to mankind. He is enjoying returning to his roots at SIO.

John Richardson

 

Admiral (USN, Ret.)

Admiral John Richardson served 37 years in the U.S. Navy, completing his service as the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), the top officer in the Navy. Since retirement, he has joined the boards of several major corporations and works in leader development.

While in the Navy, Richardson served in the submarine force. He commanded the attack submarine USS HONOLULU in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, for which he was awarded the Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale Inspirational Leadership Award. He went on to command at every level of the Navy. Richardson served as the Director of Naval Reactors from 2012 until 2015. After Naval Reactors, he served as the 31st Chief of Naval Operations, the senior officer in the Navy, from 2015 until August 2019. Richardson retired from the Navy in August 2019.

Since leaving the Navy, Richardson has joined the Board of Directors for The Boeing Company, Constellation Energy Corporation, and BWX Technologies. He also serves on the Boards of the Center for New American Security, and the Navy League of the United States, and is a Senior Advisor to the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

Richardson graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1982 with a Bachelor of Science in physics. He also holds master’s degrees in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and a master’s degree in national security strategy from the National War College.

William Scripps Jr.

 

Michael Silah

Michael J. Silah is a Senior Advisor at Wellington Dupont Public Affairs. Previously, he served as a Rear Admiral (RADM) in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Commissioned Corps and the Service’s 11th Director. As Director, RADM Silah led NOAA’s research fleet, aircraft, and diving program while managing a budget of ~$450 million. He also established NOAA’s uncrewed systems program and coordinated the passage of the NOAA Corps Reauthorization Act, which approved an expansion of the NOAA Commissioned Corps for the first time in generations. RADM Silah will retire on April 1, 2021, after 28 years of service in the United States Navy and NOAA.

As a Naval Aviator (pilot), RADM Silah completed three deployments to Southeast Asia and the Persian Gulf as part of Patrol Squadron Nine before joining Naval Force Aircraft Test Squadron. He was commissioned into the NOAA Corps in 2002, where he served as pilot-in-command and Safety Officer for the Aircraft Operations Center (AOC) and NOAA “Hurricane Hunters.” In 2005, he led NOAA’s missions into Hurricane Katrina. Later, RADM Silah returned to AOC as Commanding Officer. AOC improved execution by 14% and flew over 6,000 flight hours to collect critical environmental data. He also managed the construction of a new 100,000 sq. ft. facility and relocation from MacDill AFB to Lakeland, Florida. Under his command, AOC was recognized with the Department of Commerce Gold Medal, the NOAA Unit Citation, and the Safety Management System Level 3 award, the highest possible distinction for safety in commercial, government, or military aviation. He has flown over 3,000 flight hours, including over 1,500 as pilot-in-command, over 500 hours of Navy flight test, and nearly 150 hurricane penetrations.

RADM Silah has also held senior positions in NOAA Legislative Affairs and the National Weather Service, as well as serving as aide-de-camp to the NOAA Administrator. His awards include the Department of Commerce Gold Medal (2) and the Meritorious Service Medal (2). RADM Silah was also recognized with NOAA’s highest award for combating sexual assault/harassment and promoting women in NOAA’s workforce. He holds a degree in economics from Duke and an MPA from Harvard.

Dixon Smith

 

Senior Advisor

Dixon is a Senior Advisor with Deloitte, an industry-leading consulting and advisory company. A retired naval officer, he served over 37 years in uniform. A career Surface Warfare Officer, he served multiple tours at sea, including command of USS THE SULLIVANS (DDG-68). Dixon also spent multiple years leading Navy installations at various levels, culminating as Commander, of Navy Installations Command, where he was accountable for the Navy‘s shore infrastructure and support to 71 bases with an annual budget of $10.8 billion and 53,000 employees.

Serving as Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Fleet Readiness and Logistics) for his final tour in the Navy, Dixon was responsible for leading the programming, policy, and resources to support Fleet and Shore Readiness, Logistics, Strategic Sealift, Energy and Environmental Readiness, and Navy’s Task Force on Innovation; Energy; Compatibility & Sustainability, and Additive Manufacturing.

Having grown up on the waters of Long Island Sound off of Connecticut, Dixon has had a lifelong passion for racing sailboats. He and his Bride of 40 years, Kiki, live onboard their trawler in America’s Cup Harbor, adjoining Shelter Island.

Michael Stone

 

Founder and Managing Member

Mike Stone is the Founder and Managing Member of FS Investors, a San Diego-based family office. He was on the founder's team and served as Chief Investment Officer of The RISE Funds and the Rise Climate Funds, a $14 billion global impact investment fund group, and as Co-Managing Partner at TPG Growth, a $15 billion private equity fund manager.

He was the Founder and Chairman of J.H. Whitney Investment Management, LLC, and he is a retired Managing Partner and President of J.H. Whitney & Co., a diversified manager of alternative investment assets and the country's first venture capital firm. He joined J.H. Whitney & Co. in 1989 and retired in 2009. Prior to that, he was a management consultant with Bain & Company. In his roles at FS Investors, TPG, RISE, and Whitney, Mike has overseen or been involved with the completion of over 300 investments, cumulatively responsible for overseeing in excess of $20 billion dollars of private equity capital deployment.

Mike serves on various boards at Duke University. He is Chairman of the Board of Wilderness Holdings, an ecotourism business that operates 60 lodges/safari camps across Sub-Saharan and East Africa. He is on the Board of Trustees, the Finance Committee, the Facilities Committee, and the Investment Committee for Rady Children’s Hospital – San Diego. He is on the Board of Overseers of The Scripps Research Institute, the Madison Council at the Library of Congress, and Harvard University’s Committee on University Resources. He is a member of the San Diego Chapter of YPO Gold. He serves on the Board of Directors of several private companies. Mike previously served on the Boards of The Bishop’s School, The Gillispie School, The Monarch School Project, The San Diego Museum of Art, the Rady School of Business at UCSD, and The University of San Diego School of Business.

Stephen Strachan (Chair)

Steve began volunteering with Scripps in 2008 and has supported numerous projects across the board at SIO and UCSD over th eyears. Active in the non-profit and philanthropic community, Steve is also the current Chair of the Northwestern University Library Board of Governors (http://www.northwestern.edu) and Chair of Friends of Dinosaur Ridge in Morrison, Colorado (https://dinoridge.org), the #1 dinosaur track site in North America and a National Natural Landmark for over 50 years.

Steve lives in Lone Tree, Colorado.

Joe Tell

Joseph Tell is a Principal and founding partner of Kestrel Tellevate LLC (KTL), a consulting firm that provides sustainability and risk management services focused on environmental, health, and safety (EHS); food safety; and quality for a diverse family of industrial, municipal, and government clients. In his professional career, Joe has amassed over 25 years of experience providing strategic management systems, subject matter expertise, and technology solutions to help diverse organizations solve their compliance management and sustainability challenges.

Joe began his career in Atlanta, Georgia as a Project Engineer at Law Engineering and Environmental Services (now part of AMEC). In 1999, Joe transitioned to a small consulting firm in the environmental services industry and served as a Partner from 2002 until 2011. During those years, he helped build the firm’s federal government services business. In May 2011, Joe founded Tellevate LLC as a small business focused on providing sustainability, risk management, and EHS management consulting services for government and industry clients. At Tellevate, he focused extensively on sustainability, EHS, and quality management systems based on the ISO family of global standards and the integration of strong compliance programs.

Joe was instrumental in the merger of Tellevate LLC with Kestrel Management LLC in November 2019 to form KTL. As Principal and Chair of the KTL Executive Committee, Joe helps manage KTL’s business and direct consulting services in sustainability, EHS, food safety, quality, and information management. He has been able to bring his passion for sustainability to help government agencies, universities, municipalities, and industrial clients improve their environmental and social stewardship.

Joe has been a frequent speaker and trainer in the EHS management field for hundreds of organizations, industry trade associations, and conferences. He is often asked to talk about strategies for developing and implementing EHS management systems that focus on risk minimization, leadership commitment, and cross-functional stakeholder engagement. He is particularly interested in how to make connections between the private sector, government agencies, and NGO community to promote collaborative solutions to global environmental and health issues.

Originally from Des Moines, Iowa, Joe attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and graduated in 1997 with a B.S. in Civil Engineering with an emphasis in Environmental Engineering. Joe, his wife (also an Environmental Engineer), and two daughters reside in Atlanta. The Tell family are avid SCUBA divers and regularly incorporate diving into their family vacations.

J. Craig Venter

Founder, Chairman and CEO – J. Craig Venter Institute
Co-Founder, Executive Chairman and Co-Chief Scientist – Synthetic Genomics, Inc.
Co-Founder, Executive Chairman and CEO – Human Longevity, Inc.

J. Craig Venter, PhD, is regarded as one of the leading scientists of the 21st century for his numerous invaluable contributions to genomic research. Dr. Venter is Founder, Chairman, and CEO of the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), a not-for-profit, research organization with approximately 200 scientists and staff dedicated to human, microbial, plant, synthetic and environmental genomic research, and the exploration of social and ethical issues in genomics.

Dr. Venter also is a co-founder of Synthetic Genomics, Inc. (SGI) and Human Longevity, Inc. (HLI). SGI is a privately held company developing products and solutions including sustainable bio-fuels, vaccines, biotherapeutics and transplantable organs. HLI is a genomic-based, health intelligence company empowering proactive healthcare.

Dr. Venter began his formal education after a tour of duty as a Navy Corpsman in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968. After earning both a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and a PhD in Physiology and Pharmacology from the University of California at San Diego, he was appointed professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo and the Roswell Park Cancer Institute. In 1984, he moved to the National Institutes of Health campus where he developed Expressed Sequence Tags or ESTs, a revolutionary new strategy for rapid gene discovery.

In 1992, Dr. Venter founded The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR, now part of JCVI), a not-for-profit research institute, where in 1995 he and his team decoded the genome of the first free-living organism, the bacterium Haemophilus influenzae, using his new whole genome shotgun technique.

In 1998, Dr. Venter founded Celera Genomics to sequence the human genome using new tools and techniques he and his team developed. This research culminated with the February 2001 publication of the human genome in the journal, Science. He and his team at Celera also sequenced the fruit fly, mouse and rat genomes.

Dr. Venter and his team at JCVI continue to blaze new trails in genomics. They have sequenced and analyzed hundreds of genomes, and have published numerous important papers covering such areas as environmental genomics, the first complete diploid human genome, and the groundbreaking advance in creating the first self-replicating bacterial cell constructed entirely with synthetic DNA.

Dr. Venter is one of the most frequently cited scientists, and the author of more than 280 research articles. He is also the recipient of numerous honorary degrees, public honors, and scientific awards, including the 2008 United States National Medal of Science, the 2002 Gairdner Foundation International Award, the 2001 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize and the King Faisal International Award for Science. Dr. Venter is a member of numerous prestigious scientific organizations including the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Society for Microbiology.

Caroline Winn

Caroline Winn is chief executive officer for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), one of Sempra’s regulated California utilities. Sempra is a San Diego-based energy services holding company whose subsidiaries provide electricity, natural gas, and value-added products and services. SDG&E provides service to 3.7 million consumers through 1.5 million electric meters and 900,000 natural gas meters in San Diego and southern Orange counties. Winn became CEO of SDG&E in August 2020. Previously, she served as the chief operating officer of SDG&E, overseeing operations of the utility’s gas and electric infrastructure assets, and customer services. In that role, Winn is widely recognized for SDG&E’s national leadership in sustainability, technology, and innovation, including the company’s significant safety and wildfire mitigation efforts. Winn also served as chief energy delivery officer, managing all energy delivery activities for SDG&E, including electric distribution operations and gas services, customer services, and external and state legislative affairs. Since joining the company in 1986 as an associate engineer, Winn has held several leadership positions with SDG&E and Southern California Gas (SoCalGas). Winn currently serves on the board of directors for Father Joe’s Villages and Monarch School; and the executive council for Western Energy Institute. She also serves on the board as an independent director for both Kayne Anderson Energy Infrastructure Fund, Inc. and Kayne Anderson NextGen Energy & Infrastructure, Inc. Previously, Winn has served as the board chair for the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce and continues to serve as a board member. She has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from California State University Sacramento and is a registered professional engineer in the State of California.

EMERITUS MEMBERS

Megan Bailiff

Megan is the past chair of the E.W. Scripps Associates Steering Committee and has a distinctive combination of political, science, administrative, and strategic planning acumen. Her career encompasses the full complement of experiences including that of an oceanographer, a legislative aide for Senator Daniel Inouye, a private sector environmental consultant, a university administrator, a community leader and NGO Board member. Her dedication to the model of fostering science-based policy decisions and commitment to advocating for the conservation of our aquatic and environmental resources spans more than a quarter of a century.

James L. Cairns

Executive Director, Cairns Foundation, Inc.

James Cairns is Executive Director of the Cairns Foundation, Inc., a Florida-based charitable organization whose mission is to identify and assist bright, financially disadvantaged students. He received a bachelor’s degree in physics from The University of Pittsburgh, a master’s degree in Physics from San Diego State University, and a Ph.D. in physical oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. His early professional career was spent in oceanographic research for the U.S. Navy and at Scripps Oceanography. Later, his interest shifted to technology development.

He founded two companies that produced interconnect devices for subsea systems, the first of which sold to Lockheed-Martin Corporation in 1985, and the second to Teledyne Technologies, Inc., in 2009. His principal activities are developing new technology for offshore systems, and working with young people to help them achieve their entrepreneurial goals.

James V. Cimino

Senior Vice President
BBVA

Dr. Cimino was awarded a Ph.D. in neurophysiology from the University of California, Berkeley, and earned a Masters of Business Administration degree in finance and security analysis from the University of California, Los Angeles Anderson Graduate School of Management. His undergraduate work was completed at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree.

Dr. Cimino resides in Rancho Santa Fe, California, with his family. He is an Emeritus board member for the Barrio Logan College Institute, and on the board of directors for the San Diego Museum of Art, the Scripps Stevens Cancer Center, and UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Bernard David

Entrepreneur and Philanthropist

Bernard J. David has founded, built, and sold several businesses. Since 2001, David has turned his attention to the area of sustainability. He has adopted the view that 'sustainability consists of fulfilling the needs of current generations without compromising the needs of future generations while ensuring a balance between economic growth, environmental care, and social well-being. He believes that a systems approach to sustainability is critical—one that is based on science, and harnesses market forces to drive and fuel progress to solve large-scale climate issues.

He is the founder of the The Global CO2 Initiative. By investing in innovative approaches to capture and transform CO2 into commercial products, the initiative endeavors to create economically viable solutions that offer sustained climatological benefits. Using informed commerce, Bernard helped to create Captura a solution that removes CO2 from the ocean and harnesses its ability to heal the climate (Direct Ocean Capture).

After David's life-altering heart attack, he discovered the power of plant-based foods to solve health and climate issues. He realized the need to feed 10 billion people on Earth by 2050 with nutritious and sustainable food, taking climate impact into account. David therefore founded The ISH Company. David is on the Strategic Advisory Board of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis. To educate future generations, David founded erthnxt, inc., which became a part of the National Wildlife Federation which has now been spun off into a for-profit company called Garden for Wildlife. David served as a trustee of The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment. David earned a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, a BS, and an MBA from The Wharton School.

Dennis DeConcini​

United States Senator (Retired)
Member of the Arizona Board of Regents

Senator DeConcini served three terms in the United States Senate from Arizona 1977-1995, Senior Senator 1987-1995. Prior to election to the Senate, he practiced law in Arizona and Washington, D.C.  Senator DeConcini formerly served on the Arizona Board of Regents.   He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the International Center..  Senator DeConcini resides in Arizona and Southern California.

Patty Elkus

International SeaKeepers Society “Discovery Yachts” - Co-Founder
TBA21 Academy - Advisory Council

Co-Producer - “SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY” - Walter Munk Documentary 

Patty Elkus is an active philanthropist and community catalyst based in Northern California.  Patty’s global non-profit ocean advocacy leadership includes over a decade of service on Dr. Margaret Leinen's Directors Council at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.  Other current board positions include The International SeaKeepers Society "Discovery Yachts" - Co Founder, San Diego International Film Festival Environmental Track Chair, The Alligator Head Foundation Board, TBA21 Academy, (the Thyssen-Bornemiza 21 Academy's Advisory Council), and Governor for the American Polar Society. Patty also serves as an advisor for The Nature Conservancy and the Tetiaroa Society. Past Board positions include Board Member of the International Seakeepers Society of which she is a Founding Member, Exec. Board for Sylvia Earles’ MISSION BLUE, Founding Chair of "Women in Yachting and Ocean Advocacy", the BLUE Ocean Film Festival Global Advisory Council, President of the National Charity League, Poway Chapter, VP PR Achievement Rewards for College Scientists/SD (ARCS Found. Inc). Chosen as one of ORIGIN Magazine's 2015 "100 Ocean Heroes", and MODERN LUXURY/Riviera Magazine's 2013 Altruists of the Year for her ocean advocacy, Patty's focus is oceanographic science/the environment, marine protected areas and emerging technology. A Member National of the Explorers Club, she was a member of the Elkus/Munk Explorers Cub Flag Expedition to Cabo Pulmo, the Jackson/Elkus Explorers Club Flag Expedition to Komodo, and the SIO CMBC San Diego Coastal Expedition. Expedition travel includes Antartica, the Amazon, Galapagos, Palau, Indonesia, and French Polynesia.

Non-profit expertise in board governance, global net-working, fund-development, special events. PR/Marketing and Advertising experience.  

Specialties: team building, networking, event planning, board development, fund development, and identifying and achieving deliverables for non-profits

Sheldon Engelhorn

Founder, NOVEX
Consultant
Trustee, UCSD Foundation

Sheldon is a past Chair of the Director’s Cabinet and currently serves as the UC San Diego Alumni Regent.  Sheldon graduated from UCSD in 1972 with a B.S. in Biology. He is a former executive vice president for NOVEX, which was founded in 1987 with UCSD alumnus Richard Chan ’74, and operated two facilities in Germany. Before starting NOVEX, Sheldon worked at UCSD as a research associate from 1972 to 1979, and in various positions at Bio Rad Laboratories in Richmond, California, from 1979 to 1987. In 2000, NOVEX merged with Invitrogen, a company co-founded by UCSD alumnus Lyle Turner.

Christine Forester

Principal, Christine Forester Catalyst

Born, raised, and educated in the French part of Switzerland, Christine Forester is a two-career professional. An architect who specialized in hospital architecture, she changed direction in the early 80s deciding to apply the same analytical approach to business, branding, and marketing. Her clientele is diversified and includes start-ups seeking venture capital as well as established corporations. For them, she develops business and marketing plans, brands services and/or products, and designs collateral materials and ad campaigns.

Actively involved in the San Diego community, she served and still serves on a number of boards, including the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, and the Museum of Photographic Arts, and she sits on the the Director’s Council of Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Ms. Forester is actively involved in supporting progressive causes and liberal candidates. She was a vice-chair of Senator Obama's National Finance Committee, and was appointed by President Obama to the Presidential Committee for the Arts and the Humanities. She sits on two additional national committees and serves on the Board of Directors of Organizing for Action (OFA).

Forester is the author of RED WHITE and YOU - a Time to Earn One’s Right to Bitch (2014).

Daniel S. Goldin

Chairman and CEO, The Intellisis Corporation

The Honorable Daniel S. Goldin is the Chairman and CEO of The Intellisis Corporation, which is developing the next generation neurobiologically inspired computers. Previously, as NASA’s longest serving Administrator from 1992-2001, he directly served three U.S. Presidents: George H.W. Bush, William Jefferson Clinton, and George W. Bush. Prior to NASA, he was the vice president and general manager of TRW Space and Technology Group where he oversaw programs of national priority. He began his career at NASA’s Glenn Research Center working on electric propulsion systems for interplanetary travel.

Mr. Goldin serves on the board of directors of AOptix Technologies. He is a member of the board of trustees of the National Geographic Society, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a member of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Advisory Council. He is a distinguished fellow at the Council on Competitiveness, a senior fellow at the Potomac Institute, and a fellow of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics. He graduated from the City College of New York in 1962 with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering and the UCLA Anderson School Executive Management Program in 1983.

Adam Gordon

Adam Gordon has been a New York City real estate developer for over 20 years. His work on stately landmark buildings from SOHO to Central Park has ultimately helped change the way the city defines a townhouse. Through this work, he has pioneered the development of modern classic homes that have received widespread global recognition and achieved record-breaking sale prices. Using his unique experience in the notoriously complex Manhattan real estate market, Adam acquires buildings himself, or with investors and consults for individuals looking to source, design and reconstruct buildings to their own luxury residences or for investment purposes.

Lisa Gordon-Hagerty

President, Tier Tech International, Inc., (TTI)
President and CEO, LEG Inc.

Lisa E. Gordon-Hagerty is president of Tier Tech International, Inc., (TTI) a Service Disabled, Veteran Owned Small Business headquartered in McLean, Va. TTI’s primary focus is anti- and counterterrorism consulting providing expert policy and planning advice at the federal, state and local levels for multijurisdictional critical infrastructure preparedness and response. Ms. Gordon-Hagerty serves as a member of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Global Security Strategic Advisory Group and the National Academy of Sciences-Institute of Medicine Standing Committee on Health Threats Resilience. She is also a member of the University of Michigan School of Public Health Dean’s Advisory Board.

Ms. Gordon-Hagerty is president and CEO of LEG Inc., a boutique consulting firm providing strategic advice and counsel in domestic and national security and global energy issues with particular emphasis in nuclear matters. Since 2003, Ms. Gordon-Hagerty served as executive vice president and chief operating officer of USEC Inc., a leading supplier of enriched uranium fuel for commercial nuclear power plants. In that role, she was responsible for USEC’s day-to-day operations, including oversight of production, regulatory affairs, advanced technology and its wholly-owned subsidiary, NAC International which specialized in nuclear materials transport, spent fuel storage and transport technologies, nuclear fuel cycle consulting, and fuel cycle information services.

In 1998, Ms. Gordon-Hagerty joined the White House National Security Council (NSC) staff serving for more than five years as the Director for Combating Terrorism, overseeing and coordinating U.S. Government activities to deter, disrupt, prevent, and respond fully to conventional, chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear terrorist attacks, through research and development, special operations, intelligence, and exercises/contingency planning.

Prior to joining the White House NSC staff, Ms. Gordon-Hagerty served for six years as the U.S. Department of Energy’s Director, Office of Emergency Response, leading efforts for emergency preparedness and technical/operational emergency response to all radiological or nuclear events, and as Acting Director, Office of Weapons Surety, responsible for the safety and security of the country’s nuclear weapons program. Prior to DOE, she served as a professional staff member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Energy and Commerce. Ms. Gordon-Hagerty began her professional career as a physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Ms. Gordon-Hagerty holds a master’s degree in health physics and a bachelor of science degree, both from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Ms. Gordon-Hagerty is a Director on the Boards of Colombo Bank, Federation of American Scientists, and a member of Scripps Institution of Oceanography Advisory Board and the Advisory Board of Ridge Global LLC. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Economic Club of Washington DC and the Washington Institute of Foreign Affairs. She was named to Fortune Magazine's "Most Powerful Women" in 2004, 2005 and 2006. She has been awarded many citations, including the first-ever University of Michigan School of Public Health Outstanding Alumni Award, Secretary of Defense Medal for Meritorious Civilian Service, the United States Secret Service Director's Honor Award and the Secretary of Energy's Special Recognition Award.

George Haligowski

President and CEO, ITLA Capital Corporation

George is a past Chair of the Director’s Cabinet.  He has served as ICB’s Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer, and also served as the Bank’s Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer since 1992.

Rodney H. Glover

After thirty years of the practice of law in Washington, D.C., the last eight of which were with the law firm of Wiley Rein, LLP, Mr. Glover retired in 2009. During his career Mr. Glover’s practice focused primarily on representing venture capital firms and technology-based companies providing services including corporate litigation, analyzing and negotiating corporate acquisitions and serving as outside general counsel to some of his long-standing clients.  

Mr. Glover also represented a number of scientific and ocean conservancy not-for-profits on a variety of issues including corporate governance, compliance, government contracts, employment matters and day-to-day legal operations.

Mr. Glover served as counsel for and later as a board member of the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) where he provided advice on such matters as ship acquisitions, appeals from NSF grant denials, and a wide variety of corporate matters. Mr. Glover’s interest in working with ocean science not-for-profits is a continuation of his life-long interest in the oceans that began as a child during family vacations on Cape Cod. This interest was further kindled during his sophomore year at the University of Maryland when he was selected by the Department of Defense to be one of eight undergraduates to spend 4 months on an oceanographic research vessel in the Pacific and Indian Oceans conducting surveys and experiments relating to tectonic plate shifting and resulting “hot spots.”

Mr. Glover also serves on the President of University of California’s Innovation Council and on the UCSD Innovation Advisory Council.

Jessie Knight

Former Executive Vice President
Sempra Energy

Jessie J. Knight Jr. retired November 2015 as executive vice president for Sempra Energy and chairman of San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) and Southern California Gas Company, both subsidiaries of Sempra Energy.  Sempra Energy is a San Diego-based Fortune 500 energy services holding company whose subsidiaries provide electricity, natural gas and value-added products and services with 17,000 employees, and serving over 32 million consumers worldwide. From 2010 through 2013, he was chairman and CEO of San Diego Gas & Electric.

Before joining Sempra Energy in 2006, Knight was president and CEO of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, which represents 2,800 companies with more than 400,000 employees.

From 1993 to 1999, Knight was commissioner for the California Public Utilities Commission, the agency with regulatory oversight for California’s energy, telecommunications, railroad safety, transportation and water industries.  

Prior to his appointment as CPUC commissioner, Knight was executive vice president of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, responsible for international operations, economic development and business development for that chamber’s 2,100 businesses.

From 1985 to 1992, Knight was vice president of marketing for the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner newspapers, overseeing business-to-business and circulation marketing, research and strategic planning.  

Knight began his corporate career in 1975 with Dole Food Company Inc., where he worked 10 years in both domestic and Latin American operations, including five years as director of marketing for the U.S. and Canadian Dole pineapple business.

Knight is a board member of the Seattle-based Alaska Airlines (NYSE: ALK), the J. Craig Venter Institute, the U. S. Chamber of Commerce (Washington D.C.), the Timken Museum and a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.  He is a trustee of the University of California San Diego Foundation, and is on the advisory boards of the Rady School of Management and Calit2.

Knight earned a bachelor’s degree from St. Louis University, was a fellow of the University of Madrid, and holds a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

John Lormon

Partner, Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLP

John is an attorney who specializes in environmental and land use law. A partner in Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves and Savitch, a prominent San Diego law firm, he has extensive experience working with local and state government and regulatory agencies on permitting, entitlement, compliance, CEQA and enforcement matters. He is the group leader for Procopio’s land use and environmental practice.

Gregg Maryniak

Chairman, Energy and Environmental Systems Track of Singularity University
Co-Founder, Secretary and Director of the XPRIZE
 

Gregg Maryniak is the Chairman of the Energy and Environmental Systems Track of Singularity University.

He is the Co-Founder, Secretary and Director of the XPRIZE Foundation and served as the Foundation’s first Executive Director from 1997 though 2005.

Maryniak was the CEO of the Space Studies Institute of Princeton.  In that capacity he directed the Institute’s energy and space research.  He testified before the US Congress and the President’s National Commission on Space on energy and space issues. 

He was Senior Scientist for the Futron Corporation of Bethesda, Maryland specializing in energy, spaceflight and telecommunication with customers that included NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration and Fortune 100 corporations.

He served as the Vice President for Energy and Aerospace at the St. Louis Science Center, lectured at Chicago’s Adler Planetarium and Field Museum of Natural History and was the Director of the James S. McDonnell Planetarium.

Maryniak has lectured on energy and spaceflight throughout Europe, Russia, North and South America and Asia.  He was named a Distinguished Lecturer by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and is an Associate Fellow of that organization.

He received Russia’s Tsiolkovsky Medal for his work on the use of energy and material resources in free space and the Space Frontier Foundation’s Vision to Reality Award for creating the Lunar Prospector Team that ultimately discovered hydrogen in water ice at the poles of the Moon.

A commercial pilot with more than 40 years of experience, Maryniak holds multiengine, instrument and glider ratings.  He served as the Flight Director for Erik Lindbergh’s 2002 New Spirit of Saint Louis flights from San Diego to Paris via St. Louis and New York.

Bruce Morrison

Chairman, Morrison Public Affairs Group
U.S Congressman (Retired)

Bruce A. Morrison is chairman of the Morrison Public Affairs Group (MPAG), which he founded in 2001 to conduct and supervise a broad practice involving strategic advice and representation for both domestic and international clients. He is also an attorney and provides legal advice and assistance in immigration matters. His consulting work involves advocacy to Congress and the Executive branch, as well as building alliances within the private sector. His areas of expertise include financial services, housing finance, privacy, immigration policy, and intellectual property.

From 1983 to 1991, Mr. Morrison represented the Third District of Connecticut (New Haven) in the U.S. House of Representatives. He also served on the Judiciary Committee, where he specialized in immigration, as well as intellectual property issues, bankruptcy law, and consumer protection policy, including privacy. As chairman of the Immigration Subcommittee, he led the passage of the Immigration Act of 1990, a comprehensive reform, which included expanded admission of skilled workers. This legislation created the "Morrison visa" program under which almost 50,000 Irish men and women received green cards in the early 1990s.

While in Congress, Mr. Morrison was involved with human rights advocacy in many areas of the world, including Chile, Central America, South Africa, Haiti, Paraguay, and the Middle East. Through his interest in human rights, he became involved in Northern Ireland, where he first visited in 1987. In Congress, he also served on the Banking Committee, playing a leadership role in financial services oversight, housing and housing finance, economic development, and U.S. policy regarding the World Bank, the IMF, and LDC debt.

After leaving Congress to run for Governor of Connecticut in 1990, he established a law firm specializing in immigration representation of firms and individuals. He also served from 1992 to 1997 on the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, which conducted a comprehensive study of U.S. immigration law.

Since 1991, Mr. Morrison has traveled frequently to Northern Ireland and has been involved in many aspects of the peace process. In 1992, he advised Bill Clinton, while a Presidential candidate, on issues related to Northern Ireland. He continued to provide advice and information to the Clinton White House from 1993 to 2001, including assistance on negotiations leading to IRA cessations in 1994 and 1997. In 1992 and 1996, he was Co-Chairman of Irish-Americans for Clinton-Gore.

Also during the Clinton Administration, he was appointed by the President as Chairman of the Federal Housing Finance Board, an independent agency regulating the twelve Federal Home Loan Banks, a wholesale banking system with assets in excess of $600 billion. In this role from 1995 to 2000, he developed and implemented a far-reaching strategy to modernize the business of the banks.

Mr. Morrison holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from MIT and a master’s degree in organic chemistry from the University of Illinois. He is a graduate of the Yale Law School.

Nicolas C. Nierenberg

Chairman of the Board and Chief Architect, Actuate Corporation

Nico Nierenberg has been a software entrepreneur and innovator for almost 20 years, and founded Actuate in 1993. Prior to Actuate, Nico co-founded Unify Corp., which develops and markets relational database development tools. At Unify, Nico was the chief technical visionary of the company, and led the design of Unify's first product, the UNIFY RDBMS. Prior to Unify, Nico was Systems Software Chief for Rogers, Kirkham and Associates, where he was responsible for developing a number of new products and applications.

Nico attended the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of California, San Diego, where he studied economics and computer sciences.

Clyde Ostler

At the time of his retirement in 2011, Mr. Ostler was a Group Executive Vice President of Wells Fargo & Co., Vice Chairman of Wells Fargo Bank, California NA, and President of Wells Fargo Family Wealth. Mr. Ostler served in many capacities during his forty year tenure with Wells Fargo, including Vice Chairman in the Office of the President, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Auditor, Head of Retail Branch Banking, Head of Information Technology, Head of Institutional and Personal Investments, and Head of Internet Services. Mr. Ostler also served on the Senior Management Committee of Wells Fargo for over twenty-five years. Mr. Ostler has also served on several for-profit and non-profit boards of directors. Mr. Ostler currently serves on the board of EXL Service and of the McClatchy Company.

A native of San Diego, he graduated from the University of California at San Diego with a B.A. in mathematics in 1968, and from the University of Chicago with an M.B.A. in 1970. 

Tom Page

Former President and CEO
SDG&E Corporation

Thomas is the former chairman of the board of Enova Corporation and San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E). He served as an elected member of the Grossmont Union High School District Board of Education and a director of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation. He served briefly on the pension board for the City of San Diego. Other board memberships have included American Innotek, SYS Technologies, Multicell Technology, and the Advisory Council of Sorrento Ventures, a San Diego venture capital firm.

Steven Peace

CA State Senator (retired)
Senior Advisor, JMI Services

Senator Steve Peace currently serves as the Senior Advisor to John Moores, the Chairman of JMI Services, Inc. He also provides independent consulting on public policy issues to private clients. He serves on the board of directors of the San Diego Padres Baseball Team, Killer Tomatoes Entertainment, Inc. and The California Independent Voter Project.

As a member of the State Senate and the State Assembly, Senator Peace represented one of the most diverse districts in California. As an Assembly Member and Senator, he enjoyed broad support of large populations of Latino, African-American, and Asian communities, as well as an unusual level of bipartisan support.

During his time in the Legislature, Peace earned a reputation as the person the Legislature turned to on particularly difficult and complex issues, including landmark reforms of the state s workers compensation system. Senator Peace has been credited with presiding over forums that have been described by the press and citizen groups as "bipartisan", "exhaustive" and "open to a full airing of views."

After completing 20 years in the Legislature, Senator Peace was asked to return to the Capitol to craft a workout plan for a beleaguered state budget. He served for one year as the Director of Finance for the State of California during which time he produced a plan that reduced the state budget deficit by more than $20 billion and rescued that state from an impending cash crisis.

Peter Preuss

Regent Emeritus, University of California
President, Preuss Foundation

Peter Preuss is president of The Preuss Foundation, which is involved in brain tumor research. He served as a Regent of the University of California from 1993 through 2008. In 1970 Mr. Preuss founded Integrated Software Systems Corporation (ISSCO), a San Diego-based company which was the first software company specializing in computer graphics. He served as president and, later, chairman of the board of ISSCO until it was purchased by Computer Associates in 1986. He has served on the Advisory Committee to the Director of the National Institutes of Health. In addition, he serves on various high-tech and bio-tech corporate boards.

David Rockefeller, Jr.

David Rockefeller, Jr., a Director and former Chairman of Rockefeller & Co., is an active participant in the nonprofit arena, especially in the areas of the environment, the arts and philanthropy.  He served as a member of the Pew Oceans Commission from 2000-2003, and he founded Sailors for the Sea (SfS) to educate the recreational boating community about significant challenges to ocean health and to motivate them to become ocean stewards.  SfS is located in Newport, RI, with satellite offices in Japan and Portugal and Chile.

Mr. Rockefeller is a Trustee of the Museum of Modern Art, the Asian Cultural Council and the David Rockefeller Fund.  He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Former foundation affiliations include service as Trustee and Chairman of the Rockefeller Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, President of the Rockefeller Family Fund and Director of the Boston Foundation.  He is the former chair of the North American Nominating Committee for the Praemium Imperiale, the Japanese prize for outstanding international achievement in the arts.

He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School and is married to Susan Cohn Rockefeller, an artist and filmmaker.

Margaret Scripps Klenzing

Co-owner, The Crossroads Saloon and Steakhouse, Fredericksburg, Texas

Maggie is the owner of The Crossroads Saloon and Steakhouse, which opened to great acclaim in January 2010 in Fredericksburg, Texas. Maggie and her husband Gary Klenzing oversee the restaurant and live music venue, which is considered one of the most popular night spots in the Texas Hill Country. Maggie has a deep interest in the future of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and looks forward to playing a role in ensuring its growth and development in the years ahead.

William H. Scripps

CEO, W.H. Scripps Company LLC
Trustee, UCSD Foundation

Bill is the President and CEO of W.H. Scripps Co. LLC, a capital investment company located in Rancho Santa Fe, CA and Chairman of the Board of Managers of Interknowlogy, a software development company located in Carlsbad, CA.

James (Jim) P. Spiers

Jim Spiers joined Tri-State’s senior management team in March 2010, as senior vice president/business, strategy, research and development. He joined the association in August 2006 as senior manager of member services, rates and planning and then served as senior manager of energy strategies before being named as senior vice president.

Robert Wilder

CEO & Founder
Wildershares, LLC

Dr. Rob Wilder is Co-Founder of the WilderHill Clean Energy Index® (ECO), the first & leading Index on Wall Street for new energy; a genesis of that was to help advance smart solutions that could also avoid harm to the oceans. Rob has co-founded several Indexes and is CEO of Wildershares LLC. He holds a Ph.D. from U.C. Santa Barbara and a J.D. from Univ. of San Diego School of Law. In addition Dr. Wilder is a Visiting Lecturer at Universities around the world.

Rob is author of the Book, Listening to the Sea that links marine biodiversity to cost-effective energy technologies that will prevent pollution in the first place. His articles & chapters have appeared in Nature, National Academy of Sciences Press, Engineering News-Record, American Soc. of Civil Engineers Press, UCLA Journal of Environmental Law & Policy, Univ, of Chicago Press and elsewhere.

He is currently on the Fulbright Senior Specialist roster and was a Fulbright Fellow. His other awards include an American Assn. for Advancement of Science AAAS/EPA Fellowship in Environmental Science & Technology in EPA Headquarters in Washington D.C.; a California Sea Grant Fellowship, SIO UCSD Dissertation Award, and the National Academy of Sciences Young Investigator Award (twice).

He previously was on faculty at U.C. Santa Barbara, Univ. of Massachusetts, and coordinated a Marine program for The Nature Conservancy. Through it all he has felt a special debt of gratitude to SIO.

Rob is originally from Baltimore, Maryland. He and his family reside in lovely Encinitas north of San Diego, California on a 1-acre site that is solar-powered including their solar cars and a display of practical and innovative ecological solutions.

Martin R. Wilson

Partner, Miller-Wilson Communications, Inc.

Marty Wilson occupies center stage in California’s political landscape. In 2003 he completed a senior role in the most historic campaign in the state’s history -- the internationally watched victory of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Following this victory, Wilson served as executive director of the Arnold Schwarzenegger Swearing-in Committee, organizing a state political event unprecedented in scope and visibility.

For Schwarzenegger’s 2006 reelection campaign, Marty was a senior consultant to the campaign where he had direct responsibility for the fundraising for both the Governor’s committee as well as the California Republican Party. Immediately following the successful reelection campaign, Governor Schwarzenegger tapped Marty to be chair of his 2007 Inaugural Committee.

Long one of the state’s best known and most senior strategic counselors, Marty continues writing new chapters in the textbook of California politics. He has been a senior member of the last four winning Republican gubernatorial campaigns, played a senior role in several ballot measure campaigns and advises a number of major California employers on public policy matters.

Prior to forming Wilson-Miller Communications in 2004, Marty was the managing director for Public Strategies Inc. in Sacramento for five years; he held a similar position with Burson-Marsteller for six years.

As a longtime associate of and advisor to former California Governor Pete Wilson (no relation), Marty served alongside the former governor in the San Diego mayor's office, the State Capitol and the U.S. Senate.

Marty has served as senior fellow for the University of California Los Angeles School of Public Policy, board member for the California State Fair and director of the Coro Foundation, a public affairs training organization.

Dawn Wright

Dawn Wright is Chief Scientist of the Environmental Systems Research Institute (aka Esri), a world-leading geographic information system (GIS) software and data science company (and a member of the Scripps Corporate Alliance). Core to Esri’s mission is to inspire and enable people to positively impact their future by connecting them with the geoanalytic knowledge needed to make the critical decisions shaping the planet. She was appointed to this post in October 2011 after 17 years as a professor of geography and oceanography at Oregon State University. As Esri Chief Scientist, Dawn reports directly to the Esri CEO with a mission of strengthening the scientific foundation for Esri software and services, while representing Esri to the national and international scientific community. She maintains an affiliated faculty appointment in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State.

A specialist in marine geology, Dawn has sailed on several research cruises aboard Scripps research vessels while a graduate student at UCSB and a professor at Oregon State. She is a former collaborator with the Scripps Geological Data Center, and as a former Ocean Drilling Program marine technician had ties to Scripps’ Core Repository for Deepsea Drilling. Overall, Dawn has participated in over 20 oceanographic research expeditions worldwide, including 10 legs of the Ocean Drilling Program, three dives in the deep submergence vehicle Alvin and twice in the Pisces V. Her fieldwork has taken her to some of the most geologically active regions of the planet, including the East Pacific Rise, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the Juan de Fuca Ridge, the Tonga Trench, and volcanoes under the Japan Sea and the Indian Ocean. She has authored or co-authored more than 150 articles and ten books on marine GIS, hydrothermal activity and tectonics of mid-ocean ridges, and coastal/ocean informatics. 

In addition to the Scripps Directors Council, Dawn’s recent advisory board service includes the Science Advisory Boards of NOAA and the EPA, the US National Academy of Sciences Ocean Studies Board, the Board of COMPASS Science Communication Inc., the Ocean Discovery XPRIZE, and many journal editorial boards. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Geological Society of America (GSA), the California Academy of Sciences, and Stanford’s Leopold Leadership Program, as well as a former Oregon Professor of the Year. Dawn holds an Individual Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Physical Geography and Marine Geology from UC-Santa Barbara, an M.S. in Oceanography from Texas A&M, and a B.S. cum laude in Geology from Wheaton College (Illinois).

In Memoriam

Salah Hassanein

CEO, SMH Entertainment

Salah was a movie impresario and president of S.M.H. Entertainment, his own special effects studio. He earlier served as president of Warner Brothers, Inc. and United Artists Theaters. He was president of the American Friends of the Zandra Rhodes Museum.

Sam Iacobellis

Deputy Chairman Rockwell International (In Memoriam)

Sam Iacobellis, Sr., was the retired Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Rockwell International, and also President of Rockwell's North American Aerospace Operations. He also held leadership positions at Rocketdyne (Space & Propulsion, including rocket engines for Saturn V and the Space Shuttle) and served as President of Atomics International (fast breeder nuclear reactors & space nuclear auxiliary power systems). As a top engineer for Rockwell International, he was a leader in the development and production of the B-1B Bomber.

He was a first generation American and a product of Fresno schools. Attending on an athletic scholarship, Iacobellis went on to Fresno State, where he earned a B.S. degree in engineering while playing football for the Bulldogs. He later earned a M.S. degree in engineering from UCLA.

In 2004, Mr. Iacobellis received the International Von Karman Wings Award from the Aerospace Historical Society. In 2003, he was awarded the 23rd annual Howard Hughes Memorial Award. Other honors accorded him include election as an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, a Fellow of the International Academy of Astronautics, and being named as UCLA's Engineering Alumnus of the Year in 1980, and California State University - Fresno's Alumnus of the Year in 1982. He held a patent in rocket engine design and co-held a patent with Professor Eldon Knuth, his UCLA thesis advisor, in the field of rarefield gas dynamics. Mr. Iacobells served as President of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (1998-1999) and as Chairman of the UCLA Engineering Industrial Advisory Council

John "Mac" McQuown

Entrepreneur

John Andrew McQuown was a co-founder/director and principal of Diversified Credit Investments, located in San Francisco, a firm that manages portfolios of corporate credit risk for institutional investors. Mac was a co-founder and Chairman of KMV, a corporate credit risk analytics firm acquired by Moody's Investors Services in 2002.  He was a co-founder and director of eBond Advisors.  He co-founded and was a director of Dimensional Fund Advisors, an equity funds investment advisor. Previously, he co-founded Diversified Corporate Loans, Chalone Wine Group, and Loan Performance. Mac began his business career in the Corporate Finance Department of Smith, Barney & Co., New York. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Mac was the Director of Management Sciences, Wells Fargo Bank, where he was responsible for the effort that resulted in the world's first "index" equity funds.

The McQuown family resides in Sonoma, California, where they organically grow wine grapes, heirloom vegetables, and olive oil. Stone Edge Farm Estate Vineyards and Winery produces a cabernet sauvignon based red wine that is sold direct to consumers, with the first release of the 2006 vintage in 2010. Mac received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University and a M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.

William Nelson

Attorney at Law
Trustee, UCSD Foundation
Founder and Board Member, Regents Bank
 

Bill was the former Chairman of the Board of Scripps Bank, as well as past President and CEO of Scripps Institute of Medicine and Science. He was the Founding Chair of the San Diego Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Commission and the San Diego Business Committee for the Arts. Besides serving on many boards, he was past chair of the Greater San Diego Chamber of Commerce, Vice President of the San Diego Blood Bank and the San Diego Opera, and a member of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science and the New York Academy of Science.