BOARD OF DIRECTORS
KELLIE AAMODT
Recently retired, Kelly joined UPS in 1991 as an International Account Executive and spent over 25 years in various management and director roles, including her last five years as VP Sales, overseeing UPS’ Western Region of over 1,200 sales personnel in 25 states. Kellie is active with the United Way and is on the Board of Directors for WISEPlace, a woman’s shelter. She is also on the Deans Advisory Board for the University of CA, Irvine and the Marshall’s School of Business Supply Chain Management Masters program. Kellie graduated with a BA, International Relations from University of Minnesota, with a minor in German. She studied in Munich, Germany and earned her MBA from Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, WI.
DANIEL BRAITHWAITE
Daniel Braithwaite is the Director of Capital Projects at QuantumScape (a publicly traded EV battery company) and previously was the co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Ardica Technologies (a hydrogen fuel cell startup). He brings over 16 years experience successfully bidding and delivering on contracts with Fortune 500 companies, the US Department of Energy, the US Army, and US Navy. Daniel holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University, where he was also the recipient of a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship for doctoral studies in energy systems, but left the Ph.D. program to start Ardica. He is also the author of 20 US patents and patents pending.
KERRY DAVIDSON
Kerry began her connection with MARE thirty years ago when she worked with Dirk Rosen at Deep Ocean Engineering as Marketing Manager. After working at Deep Ocean, she returned to school and obtained her Medical degree at University of California, San Francisco. She has been practicing medicine at Marin General Hospital since 2001, where she has served as Chief of Staff and the President of Marin Hospitalist Medical Group. Currently Dr. Davidson serves on the Board of Directors of Marin Medical Practice Concepts and the Marin General Hospital Board Building Committee and she previously served on the Hospital Board of Directors. A native Californian, Dr. Davidson has a lifetime love of the ocean and is committed to marine preservation.
JON GLASSMAN – Secretary
Jon is a Senior Product Manager at Google, responsible for launching new Payments Platform capabilities for millions of Google’s B2B customers in 200 countries. Previously at Apple, he led the initiative to keep the new Apple Maps up to date in a rapidly changing world. He brings over 15 years of product experience in the tech industry spanning hardware, software, and data products. As an Associate in Booz Allen Hamilton’s Strategic Innovation Group, he also consulted to US federal agencies including the Departments of Energy and Transportation. He holds a MS and BS in mechanical engineering from Stanford and a MPP from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He once dedicated a summer to overhauling, launching, and sailing the R/V Magnet, a 65’ steel-hulled ketch. In his free time, he will take any excuse to get outdoors, often on (or under) the water.
MARK GORDON
Mark is the Chief Executive Officer of Odyssey Marine Exploration. Mark has also started, owned or managed four entrepreneurial ventures, including Synergy Networks which he founded in 1993 and served as CEO until 2003 before selling the company to the Rockefeller Group. He continued serving as President of Rockefeller Group Technology Services Mid Atlantic, a member of Rockefeller Group International, until 2004. Past work experience also includes a Management Consultant at Arthur Andersen Consulting (now Accenture). Mark holds a B.S./Business Administration and a MBA in Finance from the American University. As a shipwreck diver with the National Diving Center in Washington DC, he has conducted hundreds of dives and explorations on shipwrecks and was the first person to discover and dive on the wreck of the S.S. Proteus.
TOM HOURIGAN, Ph.D.
Tom worked for over 30 years for the U.S. federal government at the intersection of science and conservation in both the United States and internationally. At the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, he developed and led NOAA’s Deep Sea Coral Research and Technology Program. As the Program’s Chief Scientist, he built partnerships to discover and understand the oceans’ most diverse deep-sea ecosystems and to apply this knowledge to their conservation. Tom represented NOAA on marine issues at the Convention on Biological Diversity from 1997 to 2002 and coordinated NOAA Fisheries components of NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program from 2000 to 2007. Prior to coming to NOAA, Tom was the Senior Policy Advisor for Climate Change and Biodiversity at the U.S. Agency for International Development. He received his doctorate from the University of Hawaii, working on the ecology of coral reef fishes, and was an Affiliate Faculty in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy, at George Mason University.
LAURA MOSS – Treasurer
Laura is a corporate finance professional with experience in the energy and technology industries. She currently works at Google, managing its technical infrastructure projects and investments. Laura holds a B.S.E. in engineering from Duke University, and a M.B.A. in general management from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. In her free time, Laura enjoys painting and hiking with her rescue dog, Chewbacca, in her local parks. She loves the ocean.
CHRIS OAKES – Research & Development Committee Chair
Christopher Oakes, MA, is the CEO of ReefGen, an automated marine habitat restoration company building seagrass and coral reef restoration technology. Chris is a marine scientist, biotechnologist and professional scuba diver. During his career Oakes also served as Chief Operating Officer at the Sustainable Ocean Alliance, as well as a Business Development Manager for Liquid Robotics. Oakes has dedicated this phase of his career to molecular tools and diagnostics, robotics, and the development of fish-free feeds using biotechnology. During his time at Occidental College, Chris worked with the Vantuna Research Group focusing on life history studies of nearshore marine fishes, marine environmental monitoring, time series analysis and spatial modeling. Oakes also enjoys capturing the diversity of the underwater world through photography.
LARISSA POMMERAUD – Chair
Larissa is a global growth strategy-oriented e-commerce executive and experienced non-profit Board member, currently based in Paris, France. She is currently the COO for Agno Health. Previously she held management roles at Minted, Art.com, Stubhub (part of eBay), Arnold Worldwide, and was a long time strategy and management consultant at Bain & Company. She was also on the board executive committee for the Bay Area Discovery Museum for several years. She received her MBA from leading international business school INSEAD, and her Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Science, Public Policy and Economics Magna Cum Laude from Harvard University where she also led their environmental organizations. Larissa and her family are avid boaters and scuba divers, passionate about conserving (and restoring!) healthy oceans.
VILAS RAO
Vilas has spent the past 13 years as an executive and strategist in the agriculture technology space. At Arable Labs, The Climate Corporation, Bayer Crop Science, and McKinsey & Company, he has helped build planetary-scale data platforms to help players across the food chain use technology solutions to grow more sustainably. At Arable, Vilas helped scale a network of thousands of environmental & plant sensing stations around the world to continuously monitor the impact of a changing environment on crop outcomes. Most recently, Vilas helped launch Cascade Climate, a field building non-profit dedicated to accelerating progress on climate interventions that harness open earth systems to remove atmospheric carbon and mitigate the risk of climate-related tipping points. Vilas received his Masters in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and his Bachelors in Economics from Stanford University. enjoys spending as much time as possible in wild places, whether while traveling, skiing, diving, or daydreaming.
DIRK ROSEN – Executive Director
Dirk has over 25 years of deepwater engineering experience. He was president and director of Deep Ocean Engineering before selling the company in 2000. At DOE, he was project manager and test pilot for all three Deep Rover 1,000 meter-rated manned submersibles, and a designer/operator of the Phantom and Bandit ROV systems. At Hawkes Ocean Technologies he served as project manager for the 11,000 meter rated Challenger, a manned submersible designed to go to the deepest point in the ocean, the Marianas Trench. He recently retired from the board of Save the Bay, where he served for nine years.
ERIN O’TOOLE
Erin currently serves as Vice President, Financial Development at YMCA of Silicon Valley. She brings over 20 years of success leading teams and strategic development initiatives for such organizations as the Alzheimer’s Association, Habitat for Humanity, and Second Harvest. She has helped raise $30 million+ to advance causes of health, youth development, social and gender justice, and ocean health. In her previous staff role in the MARE organization, she has seen the impact of MARE’s work firsthand and is excited to work to expand and deepen MARE’s role in marine management and ocean sustainability.