Who We Are

The founders of Ocean Champions are longtime ocean advocates David Wilmot, Ph.D., and Jack K. Sterne, Esq., who are also the lead authors of a groundbreaking new foundation-sponsored report, Turning the Tide: Charting a Course to Improve the Effectiveness of Public Advocacy for the Oceans. Their in-depth effectiveness study reveals that the ocean conservation community has focused on policy rather than politics, and at a cost. Electoral politics is a fundamental aspect of our nation’s political process and the keystone to policy success, yet the ocean conservation community is not a factor in the electoral arena. The report’s primary conclusion is that the ocean conservation community needs to “participate fully in the political process” to be more effective. Full participation means working directly to elect good candidates and defeat bad ones.

David Wilmot, Co-Founder and President

David Wilmot on the beach near Ocean Champions headquarters, Capitola, Ca.

David Wilmot is a passionate ocean enthusiast who brings over twenty years of experience in ocean science, environmental policy, non-profit governance and fundraising, and political advocacy to Ocean Champions. David received his MS and BS from the University of Georgia where he also Co-Founded Students for Environmental Awareness. David traveled to the west coast to study the recently discovered deep-sea hydrothermal vents and received his PhD in marine biology from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego. David continued his environmental work while at Scripps (worked with 2 fellow graduate students to ban Styrofoam on campus and local beaches) and it became clear his passion was advocacy. A National Sea Grant Marine Policy Fellowship at the National Research Council’s Ocean Studies Board helped David better understand ocean policy and the workings of Washington, DC. Next came the jump to advocacy with service as the Executive Director of the Ocean Wildlife Campaign (OWC) where for eight years he worked to build this coalition of six national and international organizations into the leading voice for the conservation of large ocean fishes. David has authored or co-authored numerous ocean science and conservation articles. David lives with his wife and two boys in the Santa Cruz area where they spend lots of time on and in the ocean. When he is not enjoying the ocean, or remodeling his house, David trains in the martial arts and has earned the rank of black belt in Shorinji-Ryu Karate-Do.

Jack K. Sterne, Co-Founder and General Counsel

Jack Sterne tuna fishing.

Mr. Sterne is a lawyer and activist with over fifteen years of experience in ocean conservation, public lands, fisheries, and other environmental issues. Both in solo practice and as a staff attorney at Trustees for Alaska, he represented a wide range of national, regional and local conservation organizations in federal environmental litigation for more than eight years, achieving an impressive winning record. Mr. Sterne was the primary oceans attorney at Trustees, where he co-counseled the precedent-setting Steller sea lion litigation, which many credit with producing the most significant changes in fishery management practices since passage of the Magnuson-Stevens Act in 1976. His expertise extends far beyond the courtroom, however, as he has significant experience lobbying and representing conservation organizations before public bodies like the North Pacific Fishery Management Council and in Congress, and has handled much of the media, policy, and political work associated with Alaska oceans issues. He has a J.D. from Lewis and Clark Northwestern School of Law in Portland, Oregon.

Chris Laughlin, Executive Assistant/Program Manager

Chris is a passionate ocean enthusiast, enjoying the ocean environment near Arcata, California before moving to Pleasure Point in Santa Cruz. Prior to joining Ocean Champions, Chris’ professional background included event coordination, startup business management, and conservation work in Yosemite National Park. Chris also conducted original research on the wildlife of managed timberlands of Northwest California. Chris’ educational background includes a Business Management Study exchange program at Lincoln University in Canterbury, New Zealand and a B.A. from Humboldt State University in Recreation Administration with an emphasis in Business Administration. Her activities are central to the daily operations of Ocean Champions. During her spare time, Chris loves to surf, SCUBA dive, sea kayak, rock climb and adventure travel.

Rob Moir, Chairman of the Board

Dr. Moir is a philanthropist, educator, scientist, and activist with a proven history of institutional management and marine policy success. Dr. Moir has been a leader of the effort to clean up Boston Harbor, both as president of the advocacy organization Save the Harbor/Save the Bay for six years, and through his appointment by the Secretary of Interior to the Boston Harbor Islands Partnership. He was formerly Curator of Natural History at the Peabody Essex Museum, Curator of Education at the New England Aquarium and Executive Director of the Discovery Museums in Acton, Massachusetts. Dr. Moir was awarded a Switzer Environmental Fellowship from the Robert & Patricia Switzer Foundation and the James Centorino Award for Distinguished Performance in Marine Education, by the National Marine Educators Association, which he also served as president. Most recently, he was the major gifts director for his alma mater, Hampshire College. Dr. Moir has a Ph.D. in Environmental Studies from Antioch New England Graduate School in Keene, New Hampshire.

Kim Haddow, Boardmember

Ms. Haddow is the Director of Communications for the Sierra Club. From 1995 to 2005, she was president of Haddow Communications, Inc., a strategic planning, communications, and consulting and advertising firm specializing in branding, targeting, and promoting the work of non-profit organizations. Prior to starting her firm in 1995, Ms. Haddow spent eight years at Greer, Margolis, Mitchell & Burns in Washington, D.C., where she provided media strategy and produced advertising for twenty-two statewide candidate and initiative campaigns, ranging from the Virginia gubernatorial campaign of Douglas Wilder to codification of Roe v. Wade in Washington State. She is a graduate of Washington College in Maryland and Loyola University of the South’s Institute of Politics.

David H. Festa, Boardmember

Mr. Festa directs the Oceans Program at Environmental Defense, where he oversees a team of more than twenty scientists, attorneys, economists and other professionals in eleven regional or project offices. Until January 2001, he was Director of Policy and Strategic Planning at the Department of Commerce, where he received Departmental and agency awards for distinguished service. Prior to that, Mr. Festa was the deputy director for the Center for Clean Air Policy, in Washington, D.C. He began his career as a journalist working for a variety of publications including The Economist, where he was nominated for the Glaxo Award for science journalism. He is a Visiting Scholar at Oregon State University. Mr. Festa has a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

Michael Sutton, Boardmember

Mr. Sutton serves as Vice President and Director of the Center for the Future of the Oceans at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Previously, Sutton headed the Marine Fisheries Program at the David & Lucile Packard Foundation, the largest private funder of wildlife conservation in North America, for five years. He also spent ten years with World Wildlife Fund, founding and directing WWF’s Endangered Seas Campaign, a worldwide effort to promote the conservation of marine fisheries and ecosystems. While at WWF, he co-founded both the Marine Stewardship Council, a business/environment partnership, and the Marine Fish Conservation Network, a coalition working to protect and conserve marine species in the United States. Sutton has a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Utah State University and a degree in international and natural resources law from George Washington University.

Samantha Campbell, Boardmember

Samantha Campbell runs the environment program of the Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment, which was founded by her father, financier Keith Campbell. Ms. Campbell was previously the Art Director at Grey Advertising in San Francisco, and has also worked as an independent food stylist and voice actor. She has cultivated her interest in marine ecosystems during visits over the years to St. Lucia, the Bahamas, Lesser Antilles, Australia, the Florida Keys and Central America. Ms. Campbell has a BFA in Advertising Design from Syracuse University.

Mike Dunmyer, Boardmember

Mr. Dunmyer is the Vice President of Strategy and Research for Fannie Mae’s Housing and Community Development division. He is responsible for developing and implementing strategic plans across the division, and for developing and launching new products. He is responsible for the division’s capital and geographic market research, and he leads a Lean Six Sigma process excellence team focused on improving the speed and effectiveness of critical business processes. His passion for the ocean grew from a childhood in Hawaii, summers on the Delaware shore and many years of surfing. Mr. Dunmyer is a grassroots activist for the Surfrider Foundation’s Washington D.C. chapter. He has an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, and a BA in economics from Washington & Lee University.

Anne Rowley, Boardmember

Anne Alexander Rowley is Vice-President of the Greestone Foundation. She chairs the U.S. Ocean Council for Oceana, the world’s most extensive marine advocacy organization. Anne is also a founding member of the Carson Council of Rachel’s Network, an organization informing and supporting the efforts of women as environmental philanthropists. A former Scientific Diving Officer for U.C. Santa Cruz, Anne currently divides her time between foundation work, service on a number of non-profit boards and raising her young son to be a new blue warrior. Anne holds degrees in Biology and Scientific Communications from Duke University and U.C. Santa Cruz.

Special Advisers

Carol Davis

Ms. Davis is a philanthropist and activist with a tremendous interest in the future of the world’s oceans. Her primary involvement has been with the World Wildlife Fund as an active member of the Marine Leadership Committee and with the Monterey Bay Aquarium as both a major donor and hands-on volunteer in a number of areas. Ms. Davis has worked in the industrial machinery sector in marketing and marketing communications, as well as with a computer software start-up. Ms. Davis is a graduate of the University of Chicago in political science and the Graduate School of Business of the University of Chicago in marketing and finance.

Beth Sullivan

As Executive Director of the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund for seven years, Ms. Sullivan managed its massive and rapid growth from an organization of 5 staff with a budget of $800,000 in 1996 to one of 40 staff with a $12 million budget by 2001. For the ten years preceding her tenure at LCV Education Fund, she was the Chief Executive Officer of the Campaign Design Group, a Washington, D.C. political consulting firm that designed the winning campaigns for two long-shot candidates in 1992: Senator Barbara Boxer of California and Senator Patty Murray of Washington State. In addition to her work at the Campaign Design Group, Ms. Sullivan has staffed numerous campaigns, having helped elect 4 members of Congress, 75 state legislators, four mayors, and six city council members. She is currently an independent campaign consultant. Ms. Sullivan holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Dickinson College and a MURP from George Washington University.

*Names and organization names are for identification purposes only.