Susan Millward
Executive Director, Animal Welfare Institute
Susan holds a Bachelor of Science degree (1989) in Environmental Health and a Master of Business Administration (1991). Susan worked as a government pollution specialist and environmental engineering consultant prior to joining AWI in 2003 to work on its marine program. After serving as Marine Program Director she became AWI’s Executive Director in 2008. Susan has attended and provided public comment at many international meetings, including the IWC, CITES, CBD, Caribbean Environment Programme, and at the UN HQ.
Rob Tomiak
Rob graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1988 and commenced a 21 year career as a Naval Officer serving in positions related to facility and installation management, energy and environmental program management, military construction project management, policy development, troop leadership, and acquisition. After his military career, he directed the Department of the Navy’s National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) program, then served as the Associate Director of Energy and Environmental Programs with the Department of Commerce, and in 2016 accepted his current position with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He holds a BS in Ocean Engineering from the US Naval Academy, a MS in Environmental Engineering from the University of Illinois, an MA in National Security and Strategic Studies from the US Naval War College and is a registered Professional Environmental Engineer in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Rhema Bjorkland
Rhema Bjorkland is currently the environmental, health, and safety scientist in the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office, an US federal Interagency coordination office under the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. She supports interagency groups addressing nanoplastic pollution, particularly in aquatic environments. She is also a member of the adjunct faculty of George Mason University’s Department of Environmental Science and Policy in Fairfax, Virginia where she teaches Global Biodiversity Governance. She has a Ph.D. from Duke University and her research used geospatial and geostatistical modeling techniques to provide a regional, ocean-basin assessment of fisheries bycatch of marine vertebrates in the wider Caribbean. Rhema was country coordinator for Jamaica for WIDECAST, the Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network and is a co-author of the country’s strategic action plan for sea turtles. Rhema also supported WIDECAST as an observer to meetings of the SPAW Protocol and CITES.
Monica Borobia
Monica is a Brazilian biologist and has worked for over 30 years with the conservation of marine mammals, management of coastal zones, including sustainable tourism, as a researcher and manager. She holds a B.Sc. in biological sciences and a M.Sc. in renewable resources. She has held different positions for a decade with the United Nations Environment Programme and has continued to work as a consultant for the UN with marine and coastal programmes including the Wider Caribbean. She has guided the development of marine mammal conservation and Management Action Plans at the regional levels including in the Wider Caribbean.
Christine O’Sullivan
Christine O’Sullivan is a Senior Lecturer in the Environmental Sciences Division at the University of Technology, Jamaica. She has Master’s degrees in Natural Resource Management and Marine Mammal Science from the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus and the University of St. Andrews, respectively and a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Dalhousie University. She has experience working at government, inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations in Jamaica and within the Wider Caribbean Region and is actively involved in sea turtle and marine mammal conservation, outreach and advocacy initiatives in Jamaica. She also provides capacity-building support to marine protected areas within the Caribbean, through MPAConnect, a regional partnership between the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coral Reef Conservation Program. Christine is currently on the boards of the National Conservation Trust Fund of Jamaica and the human rights organization Freedom Imaginaries.
Martha Prada
Martha Prada is a Colombian marine biologist with over 25 years of experience that has devoted a significant part of her professional career in the Archipelago to the San Andrés, Providencia, and Santa Catalina, and is currently based in the Archipelago of Puerto Rico. She has a PhD in Biological Oceanography from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez campus. Throughout her professional career, she has contributed to improving the sound management of mangrove ecosystems, reef-associated fisheries management, and supporting the establishment and implementation of marine reserves. Her work often integrates geographic information systems and other mapping tools to incorporate spatial and temporal dimensions into ecological aspects. Elected twice to the board of the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute (GCFI), she also serves as a UNEP-PAC/CAMPAM mentor since the program’s inception. She has led international projects aimed at applying ecosystem-based management (EBM) tools, and currently focuses on the development of regional fisheries management plans in the Wider Caribbean.
