Whale Trust's Advisory Board
Whale Trust has an independent national board that works together with an advisory board made up of researchers and educators.
Jim Darling, Ph.D.
Jim Darling has led research programs on whales for over 25 years. His primary studies include long term investigations of behavior and ecology of gray whales in British Columbia and humpback whales throughout the North Pacific. Jim has been executive director of West Coast Whale Research Foundation, a Canadian research and education society, and research director of the Clayoquot Biosphere Project, a Vancouver Island community based organization that promoted field research in the temperate rainforest ecosystem. Jim has written numerous scientific and popular articles and several books on his work. Since 1997, Maui has been the base of his study on the function of the humpback whale song. View his current research.
Charles "Flip" Nicklin, Minden Pictures
Flip Nicklin is a world-renowned underwater photographer. He has spent his 30-year career specializing in the photography of marine mammals, especially whales and dolphins. Through 17 National Geographic articles from 1982 to the present, he has worked closely with top whale researchers from around the world. From this work Flip brings a unique, global perspective on the study of whales to Whale Trust. Flip has also assisted on studies of humpback whales in Hawaii since the 1980s, and lives in Maui for a portion of each year. View his current research.
Jason Sturgis,
Underwater Cinematographer and Research Assistant
Jason Sturgis is an independent cameraman who joined Whale Trust in 2003 to help document whale behavior above and below the surface. Jason has been an avid diver for over 20 years and it is this love of the ocean that drove him to pursue camera work and documentary filmmaking. Jason's groundbreaking underwater videography with humpback whales was featured in the Science Times of the New York Times in June 2006.
Garry Weber
Garry is the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Weber Financial Inc., a full service investment firm located in Dallas, Texas. Dedicated to public service, Garry was elected to serve as a Dallas County Judge and served on the Dallas County Council from 1969-1976. He is the recipient of the 1998 Southern Methodist University (SMU) Distinguished Alumni Award and served on the Board of Trustees for a 12-year term. Currently, he serves on the SMU Cox School of Business Executive Board and the SMU Investment Committee, where he co-led a fundraising effort that raised $542 million. An avid outdoor and wildlife enthusiast, Garry is a current member of the Council of advisors for Research, Exploration and Conservation for the National Geographic Society and has participated and supported the work of Whale Trust since its inception.
Karen Miller
Karen is now the Assistant Controller-Associations for The Embassy Suites in Maui. While Karen's professional life has given her extensive experience in the field of accounting, she also brings over twenty-five years of experience with research projects involving whales and dolphins. Her work with whales began in 1978 and has continued intermittently ever since. She has worked with whales and dolphins in Hawaii, Mexico, Alaska, and Costa Rica. Currently, Karen is a co-investigator on the humpback whale song project led by Dr. Jim Darling in Maui, Hawaii and is a full-time Maui resident.
Margaret Sears
Margaret Sears has worked in the non-profit sector for over twenty years, focusing on strategic planning, development, education and capacity building for organizations. Currently she is Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer for the World Monuments Fund in New York. Previously, Margaret was a Sr. Vice President for Public Radio International (PRI) and Director of Development at the National Geographic Society where she first met Flip Nicklin, Jim Darling, and Meagan Jones and began supporting Humpback Whale research. At National Geographic, Margaret created new initiatives aimed at bringing philanthropic donors and the lay public closer to the work of field scientists and explorers, including the Society’s Grosvenor Council. An alumna of Boston University and Princeton, where she concentrated in Islamic and Near Eastern Studies, Margaret also served in a volunteer capacity to help American archaeologists secure funding for archaeological field work in Egypt and helped establish AERA, which has conducted work at the Giza Plateau since 1986. Margaret and her husband Daniel Field Lindley reside in New York City and Wilmington, Delaware.
Ed Lane III, M.D. Connie Sutherland
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