Mark Abbott took office as the tenth president and director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 2015. A biological oceanographer whose research focuses on the interaction of biological and physical processes in the upper ocean, Abbott joined WHOI from Oregon State University where he served as dean and professor in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences. Abbott has served on numerous professional committees for federal science funding agencies, scientific societies and laboratories, and has advised the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation (NSF) on ocean information infrastructure. Abbott served a six-year term on the National Science Board, which oversees the National Science Foundation and provides scientific advice to the White House and to Congress

Anne Cohen is a tenured scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and faculty in the MIT-WHOI Joint Graduate Program in Oceanography. Author of more than 80 scientific papers on climate change and climate impacts on coral reef ecosystems, Dr. Cohen served as expert witness to the US House of Representatives Committee on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife and Oceans, the Science Steering Committee for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Marine Ecosystems) and the Stanford University Center for Ocean Solutions Working Group on Corals and Climate Change.

Dr, Sandy Trautwein is the vice-president of animal husbandry at the Aquarium of the Pacific. She oversees the health and welfare of the Aquarium’s 10,000 animals. Trautwein also supervises the veterinary, water quality, dive operations and research/conservation programs associated with the husbandry department. She oversees the conservation and research programs associated with sea otters, penguins, diving birds, Guam Kingfisher, giant sea bass, corals, and white abalone. Trautwein and her team participate in several AZA (Association of Zoos and Aquariums) species survival plans that help promote the conservation of threatened or endangered species.