Susan Cohn Rockefeller To Chair Oceana's Ocean Council Will Lead Group's Advisory Comittee | Oceana

Susan Cohn Rockefeller To Chair Oceana’s Ocean Council Will Lead Group’s Advisory Comittee

Press Release Date: September 30, 2009

Location: Washington, DC

Contact:

Anna Baxter | email: abaxter@oceana.org
Anna Baxter

Oceana announced today that author and filmmaker Susan Cohn Rockefeller will chair its Ocean Council, a committee of advisors.  Rockefeller succeeds Anne Alexander Rowley, who served as the Council’s leader for six years and will stay on as a member.  

“I can’t wait to get started,” said Rockefeller.  “Oceana is doing such important work. Our oceans are in terrible shape, and we’ll have to work hard in order to ensure the policy changes required to prevent the oceans’ irreversible collapse.”  

“Susan has already been an important advocate for the oceans and for Oceana,” said Oceana CEO Andrew Sharpless.  “We are excited to have her lead our Ocean Council and to help us gain more support and to, ultimately, help Oceana be able to win more victories for the world’s oceans.”

Rockefeller comes to the Ocean Council as a long time conservationist and ocean lover.  She is a writer and documentary film maker, producing and directing documentaries.  She most recently produced and directed “Making the Crooked Straight” and co-produced “A Sea Change” (2008).  Other productions include “Richard Nelson’s Alaska,” part of a PBS series called “Natural Heroes” (2003), and “Green Fire: Lives of Commitment and Passion in a Fragile World,” which broadcast on PBS in 1998.  She is also the author of “Green at Work: Finding a Business Career That Works for the Environment” (Island Press, 1992).

Anne Alexander Rowley has chaired the Ocean Council since its inception in 2001.  Rowley is a long time ocean advocate and research diving instructor who has logged thousands of hours underwater.  She is vice president of the Greenstone Fund for the Environment, and has been honored with the Helen Glenny Award from the Environmental Federation of California.

“I am enormously grateful to Anne, whose leadership of the Council has been consistently passionate, energetic and effective,” said Sharpless.

The Ocean Council is a select group of academic, business, policy and philanthropic leaders who represent and support Oceana’s efforts on the global stage.  Members include: Dr. Sharon Benjamin, Dr. Andrew Bevacqua, Gerald Breslauer, Pierce Brosnan, Beth Cort, Dan Cort, Philippe Cousteau, Kelsey Grammer, Thomas Hansen, Lea Haratani, Hardy Jones, Barbara Kohn and Larry Kopald.

The full description of Council members and their affiliations can be found at: www.Oceana.org/support.