Dean Klevan joins SeaKeepers following a distinguished career in the financial services industry.  Most recently, he was the President of the Coral Gables Trust Company, an institution he helped to found.  He also served in senior positions with Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, and Citicorp in the United States and abroad. He brings a business perspective to the challenges faced by a not-for-profit in today’s weakened economic environment.

Dean is an active advocate for ocean preservation.  He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation.  He has previously served on the advisory committee of the Pew Institute of Ocean Science and the School of Ocean Science at Nova Southeastern University.  An avid sports fisherman and diver, he is keenly aware of the crises faced by the oceans today.

Dean has a history of philanthropic involvement. He serves on the Planned Giving Council at the University of Miami. He has previously served on the Boards of Trustees of the Historical Museum of Southern Florida and Plymouth Congregational Church and has been a mentor at the University of Miami. Dean served in the U.S. Army obtaining the rank of Captain.

Dean is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton School of Business.  He resides with his wife, Christy Starr Klevan, in Coconut Grove, Florida.

I joined The Seakeepers Society as Director of Development and Member Services.  I am happily working at the SeaKeepers Headquarters in Coral Gables alongside Dean Klevan, President & CEO, as well as Michael Moore, Chairman.

I come to Seakeepers with a twenty two year career as an entrepreneur.  As a multi-unit Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Franchisee with stores from Delaware to Georgia, my specialties span from innovating to maximizing sales and supporting our Social Mission.  I firmly believe the health of the environment and oceans, is important to the success of that overall Social Mission.

I am an avid sailor and sports fisherman.  I have raced/sailed tens of thousands of blue water miles with a focus on The Gulf Stream (Annapolis/Newport-Bermuda).  Racing The Gulf Stream involves analysis of warm water eddies, cold water eddies, and the ever-changing stream which are all effected by water temperature.  Charting a course to benefit from favorable ocean currents can be as important as wind and weather conditions.  I have seen too many Mylar balloons where they should not be and I have a passion for maintaining the health of the waters I have grown to know and love.

The Seakeepers Society is playing a pivotal role as a global catalyst working with governments, scientists, industry, and other marine organizations to promote understanding and to support sensible, achievable marine protection and restoration initiatives.  Seakeepers' mission is to gather and distribute the most useful oceanographic and atmospheric data from which to draw rational conclusions concerning the health of the world's oceans and climate.

My goal is to propel the Seakeepers' mission with the necessary funding and enthusiasm.  I look forward to contacting you directly in the near future to see if there are opportunities to make The Seakeepers Society mission a reality.  For more information, please visit the Seakeepers' website at www.seakeepers.org or contact info@seakeepers.org or +1(954)766-7100.

Julie Dick brings to SeaKeepers over 10 years of experience on environmental matters. Most recently, she was an associate at the boutique environmental law firm. Nijman Franzetti, where she represented industry in cases involving the Clean Water Act, Superfund and toxic tort.

Julie worked for many years for environmental and non-profit organizations. She successfully advocated for policy changes in relation to waste management, environmental and public health matters. She worked closely with local and state governments to implement sustainable practices and accepted environmental leadership awards on behalf of the organization she ran.

Julie has a law degree with honors from Illinois Institute of Technology / Chicago Kent College of Law and is licensed in Illinois, Florida and the Southern District of Florida. She resides in Key Biscayne, Florida with her husband Cristhian Dick and children Anna and Carlos.

SeaKeepers team member, Brittany Lisbeth Stockman, recently graduated summa cum laude from the University of Miami with dual majors in Marine Affairs & Policy and Spanish, and a minor in Economics. A native of North Carolina, Brittany has been an avid scuba diver since she was 12 years old and an underwater photographer since the age of 13. She is currently pursuing her Master's degree in Marine Affairs & Policy with the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami.

For the past year and one-half, Brittany worked with the United States Army Corps of Engineers Regulatory Office. She gained valuable insight into the policy and permitting side of marine conservation.

At SeaKeepers, Brittany's responsibilities include researching issues of interest to SeaKeepers, evaluating proposed solutions and recommending actions to address them. She hopes to help increase society's awareness of the dire state of the oceans and promote ocean restoration, protection and preservation.

Heather Cobb is a consultant for SeaKeepers, working in development and communications. She is a seasoned public relations professional with nearly 15 years of public relations, marketing and advocacy experience in the non-profit sector. She has particular expertise in media relations, brand identity, messaging, grassroots communications, material development, event planning, fundraising and coalition- and partnership-building.

Ms. Cobb has created, led and participated in many national coalitions. She founded and led the Coalition for Constructive Coverage, which successfully balanced mainstream media coverage of a variety of controversial issues such as the safety of antidepressant medications and the use of suicide in advertising. In addition, she served as the communication chair of The Coalition for Fairness in Mental Illness Coverage, and coordinated the public communications and brand identity of the National Working Group on Evidence-Based Healthcare – a multi-million-dollar coalition of national healthcare organizations – and the Campaign for Mental Health Reform – a national mental health advocacy coalition. She has also developed and led numerous national awareness and grassroots advocacy campaigns that have effectively improved public understanding and influenced public policy. Notably, Cobb was instrumental in the passage of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008.

Prior to opening Cobb Communications, LLC, a communication consultancy that builds, sustains and improves clients’ communications, Ms. Cobb served as the senior director of media relations for the Mental Health America (formerly known as the National Mental Health Association), which she helped lead through a major re-brand and re-naming effort in 2006. She oversaw the public relation efforts of the national association and that of its 320 affiliate organizations and was instrumental in its national and grassroots advocacy campaigns. Adept at translating complex issues for a variety of audiences, providing a voice to organizations and planning and executing media, public education and advocacy campaigns, Cobb proved to be one of the strongest communicators in the field of behavioral health.