Staff Bios
Terri Watson, the Executive Director for FMSA, has two strong career tracks, non-profitenvironmentalism and aviation. Her non-profit leadership experience includes Executive Director and Flight Operations Director of LightHawk (where she still serves as the Aviation Chair on the Board of Directors), as well as Branch Director, Operations Manager, and Senior Field Instructor for the National Outdoor Leadership School. She is a current Instructor for NOLS' Wilderness Medicine Institute. Her commercial flying career began as an Army Aviation Intelligence Officer, and spans 27 years, over 10,000 flight hours in airplanes and helicopters both internationally and in the Rocky Mountain West. She is thrilled to be living out a lifelong dream of living aboard an ocean going sailboat and exploring the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary firsthand.
Terri has a B.S in Geology and Sportsmedicine from the College of William and Mary in Virginia, an M.S. in Computer Information Systems from the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering, and has completed PhD coursework in Remote Sensing/GIS Integration in Geoscience Applications at Oregon State University.
Terri's Links: LightHawk, National Outdoor Leadership School,
the Wyoming Outdoor Council and Wilderness
Medicine Institute
Susanna Beck is the Foundation Relations Manager for FMSA. In 2001, Susanna graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a B.A. in History and minors in Environmental Studies and Critical Gender Studies. Susanna has been involved with several international development organizations around the globe and most recently comes from Maine where she worked with Sustainable Harvest International. As a Bay Area native, however, Susanna says it is good to be back home.
Susanna's Links: Sustainable Harvest International and World of Good
Amy
Dean is the Education Manager for FMSA. She manages
the LiMPETS program for the Sanctuary, leads
teacher workshops, and develops curriculum for middle and high school
students. Amy earned a Masters Degree in Marine Biology from San
Francisco State University and has ten years of experience teaching
environmental science to students of all ages.
Amy's Links: Bernese Mountain Dog Club, Los Farallones Blog
Dru
Devlin is a Research Associate for the Farallones Marine
Sanctuary Association. She assists with the management of volunteers,
surveys, data and quality control. Ms. Devlin has years experience
developing and implementing marine and environmental education programs
for adults and children and was the associate director for the Tarlton
Institute for Marine Education. She earned both her Master's of
Public and Business Administration, and B.A. in Social Ecology from
the University of California at Irvine.
Dru's Links: Seafood
Watch and Surfline
Women
Kirsten Lindquist is the Ecosystem Monitoring Manager. She manages Beach Watch, a long-term monitoring program that utilizes the expertise of over 100 citizen scientists to collect data along the coast. Kirsten earned a degree in Environmental Studies and Marine Conservation from Prescott College in 2001. Since then she has worked in the remote field studying seabirds and marine mammals throughout the Pacific, Antarctica, and most notably here throughout the California Current. Kirsten is happily setting down roots here in the bay area which she has called home for ten years.
Kirsten's Links: Penguin Science and Boating SF
Abby Nickelsis the LiMPETS Coordinator for FMSA. She teaches middle, high school, college students and local citizen groups how to participate in the LiMPETS program. Abby earned her B.S. in Marine Biology from the University of California Santa Cruz and her M.S. in Marine Resource Management from Oregon State University. Abby has had the opportunity to work on a variety of projects including: Pacific salmon ecology, black abalone monitoring and visitor learning in museums and other informal education institutions. Until recently, Abby was an ORISE fellow in the Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds with the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington D.C. Abby is happy to be back on west coast working for FMSA where she can combine her love for the ocean and marine sciences with teaching.
Abby's Links:
Monterey Bay Aquarium, Institute for Learning Innovation and Año Nuevo State Park
Ingrid Overgard is the Public Outreach Coordinator for FMSA and manages the membership program. She has volunteered at the Marine Mammal Center since 2000 and is an avid surfer. In 2009, she completed her M.A. in Geography with a concentration in Resource Management and Environmental Planning at San Francisco State University. She also has a B.A. in Photojournalism and History from Syracuse University.
Ingrid's Links: The Marine Mammal Center and Surfrider
Adrian
Skaj is a native San Franciscan who graduated from
San Francisco State University with a BA in Women's Studies and
a Minor in Holistic Health. She is happy to use her administrative
skills to support the fine work accomplished here at FMSA where
she serves as the Finance Officer and Whale Watch trip coordinator.
Adrian is also a Certified Iyengar Yoga teacher and teaches at Iyengar
Yoga Institute, YMCA, ClubOne and the USF Koret Center in San Francisco.
Adrian's Links:
Iyengar
Yoga Institute of SF, Vipassana
Meditation and Station
46026 - 18NM West of SF
Peter
Winch is the Visitor Center Naturalist and assists
with the running of the visitor center and their educational program.
He has a BS in Environmental Science from Plymouth University, England,
and has a background as a scientist and as an educator. He
has studied seabirds in Alaska, Hawaii, Baja Mexico and Oregon for
US Fish and Wildlife and The Island Ecology Group, and worked as
a naturalist for Oceanic Society Expeditions on Whale Watching Trips
off California for five years. A self confessed ocean addict, Peter
surfs and dives, and is excited to be doing outreach and education
for such a remarkable marine sanctuary.
Peter's Links: Sea
Shepherd Conservation Society and Research
Vessel Tiburon
