Joshua Laughren
Senior Vice President and Executive Director
Executive Committee
Joshua (Josh) Laughren is Oceana’s Senior Vice President and Executive Director of Oceana Canada. Josh joined Oceana in 2015 after nearly two decades in leadership positions in oceans conservation, communications, and climate change.
Josh grew up in Northern Ontario, Canada and spent his childhood lost in the creeks and swamps around his house, with countless hours spent chasing reptiles and all things that creep and crawl. He is still hard-wired to chase reptiles whenever he can, much to his son’s delight… and his wife’s dismay. Turning his boyhood passion into a career, Josh’s first job was as an educator at the regional science centre, and he then went on to pursue university studies in biology. All of this instilled in him a lifelong commitment to conservation.
As country leader for Oceana in Canada, Josh has helped pass new fisheries laws that put Canada on a path to rebuilding fisheries; establish marine protected areas that have increased the amount of Canada’s protected oceans to more than 15%; secure better protection for endangered North Atlantic right whales; reduce single-use plastic; and ban the import and export of shark fins in Canada.
Previous to working at Oceana, Josh held senior roles at WWF-Canada, where he established and lead WWF’s oceans conservation and climate change efforts; and oversaw corporate and program communications, leading the team in creating the first Earth Hour in Canada and rallying more than ten million adult Canadians to voice support for action on climate change.
