People & Partner Type: Oceana Staff

Jillian is a recent graduate of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey where she received her master’s in International Environmental Policy and Ocean and Coastal Resource Management. After a one year hiatus spent traveling (and diving) throughout Southeast Asia following her undergraduate studies at the University of Miami, Jillian decided to pursue a … Read more

Anna Baxter is Oceana’s Communications Specialist. Originally from Delaware, Anna grew up on the water and is an avid boater and water sports enthusiast (hello wakeboarding, kneeboarding, and skiing). She developed a passion for the oceans at a young age and to this day enjoys snorkeling, paddleboarding, kayaking, and more. Prior to coming to Oceana, … Read more

Mark Dowd joined Oceana’s development team as Director of Operations in 2020.  Mark has been working in non-profit philanthropy for the past 10 years in large healthcare and disaster relief organizations.  Prior to that Mark worked for an automotive marketing company providing a multi-channel marketing CRM to auto dealerships across the United States.He holds a … Read more

Dr. Marla ‘Max’ine Valentine is a new addition to Oceana taking on the role of Illegal Fishing and Transparency Analyst. Marla graduated from Louisiana State University in 2013 with a Master of Science in Oceanography that centered on deep-sea benthic ecology using ROVs following the Deepwater Horizon Incident. She defended her doctorate at Old Dominion University in 2018 focusing on biogeochemical cycling … Read more

Irene joined Oceana Europe to be part of the communications department, mainly charged with giving visibility to the Plastics campaign and the Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing work, as well as ensuring the organisations’ media relations and its presence on social media channels and digital platforms. She is a communications specialist with experience in environmental … Read more

Like the mountain, the ocean has always fascinated me and filled me with awe and some fear: of its powerful potential, its beauty and the uncertainty of what lies on closer look. I have many happy memories of holidays by the sea, whilst keeping a safe distance to the shore. After working to fight fraud … Read more

Wasting and squandering natural resources form part of our way of life. As if these resources were inexhaustible. Evidently, this is not so, but we continue to live like this even though we know millions of people are suffering the serious consequences caused by our actions. The earth, seas and oceans are being destroyed by … Read more

Jacinta Gomez is Oceana’s Outreach and Project Director in Belize. Originally from Belize, Jacinta is committed to protecting Belize’s marine resources having spent much of her childhood on or near the water. In 2019, Jacinta received her M.S. in Environment and Development from the London School of Economics, for which she received the Chevening Fellowship. … Read more