SOCIETY STORIES

New Role for John Englander

As part of a major reorganization and streamlining of the Society, much of it accomplished under his leadership, John Englander has resigned as Chief Executive Officer, a position he has held since 2004, and has agreed to undertake the task of creating the first SeaKeeper Scientific Advisory Council.

During his tenure as CEO, Englander helped transform the fledgling SeaKeeper Society into a vibrant organization with deep ties to the oceanographic and environmental communities and significantly expanded the Society’s credibility in scientific and governmental circles.

Englander’s efforts during the recent financial crisis, which has helped SeaKeepers refocus its priorities and streamline its operations, included negotiating an agreement with a major scientific instrumentation firm, YSI, to relieve the organization of a significant part of its overhead.

“John arrived at a critical juncture in SeaKeepers’ history,” said Jim Gilbert, board president. “Under his guidance the Society moved from a group with enormous potential to shed vitally-needed light on the issues facing our seas to a group making a serious, highly respected contribution to scientific understanding of marine and climate change.”

Chairman of the board Michael T. Moore added his sentiments to those of former chairmen Don Tomlin and Mark Grosvenor. “We owe John a debt of gratitude and accepted his resignation with deep regrets. We are delighted that John will remain closely associated with SeaKeepers and will cement his legacy in the organization by helping us form a new Scientific Advisory Council.”
Englander expressed strong optimism for the future of the organization. “I think anyone who has been directly involved in a charity the past 12 months appreciates that challenges we have faced. For SeaKeepers, the financial crisis precipitated changes we would have made anyway over a longer period of time. By outsourcing some of our functions we divested ourselves of unnecessary overhead without curtailing any of our capacity to expand our ocean monitoring and education mission.

“I am proud to continue my affiliation with the Society. Visionary stewardship of the ocean is needed now more than ever. SeaKeepers sets a great example of private initiatives for the greater public good.”