Advisory Board Members

Our Advisory Board consists of five incredible professionals working in the aquatic field. They offer their expertise to both the Executive Board, who runs WAN, and our membership!

 
 
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Helen A. Brohl

Executive Director, U.S. Committee on the Marine Transportation System

Helen A. Brohl is the first Executive Director of the US Committee on the Marine Transportation System (CMTS) appointed in July 2006. As a career Senior Executive, Ms. Brohl manages the CMTS partnership that joins over 25 Federal agencies to address the Nation’s waterways, ports and intermodal connections. Working with senior political, military, and civilian leaders in the Federal government, Ms. Brohl has engaged in a number of dynamic issues, including the advancement of navigation technology, maritime transportation resilience, maritime data, Arctic marine transportation system (MTS), impact of COVID 19 on the MTS, Federal infrastructure financing and investment, system performance measures, ocean policy, innovative science and technology, and, more recently, on diversity, equity, and inclusion and mariner mental health. Ms. Brohl led the development of the first interagency strategy on the MTS in 2008 and the update in 2017.

 
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Rich Innes

Executive Director, Association of National Estuary Programs, Senior Fellow at Meridian Institute

Rich Innes is a Senior Fellow at Meridian Institute where he helps lead the work of the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative to catalyze ocean policy reform at the national, regional, state and local levels. With Rich’s guidance, JOCI is particularly focused on the ocean/climate nexus. Rich also helps direct the work of the Association of National Estuary Programs, and advises the State of Washington on climate, salmon and wolf recovery and natural resource issues. 

 
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Sandra knight

President of WaterWonks LLC, District of Columbia

Sandra Knight is the President of WaterWonks LLC, District of Columbia, and a part-time Senior Research Engineer at the Center for Disaster Resilience, University of Maryland. Capitalizing on her extensive experience as a senior leader at the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), she now works with her academic partners and clients providing expertise in national policy, strategic planning, and technical matters in the areas of disaster resilience, flood risk management, hydraulic engineering, and marine transportation.

 
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Lynne Mersfelder-Lewis

Program Manager, Hydrographic Services Review Panel, Federal Advisory Committee, US DOC NOAA National Ocean Service

Lynne has an international background with experience in coastal management and marine protected areas, outreach/communication efforts as well as the organization and implementation of international meetings, training, and events and worked in NOS’s international program office most of her career. Lynne currently serves as the Program Manager for the Hydrographic Services Review Panel, a Federal Advisory Committee at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that advises the NOAA Administrator.

 
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Jerry Miller

President, Science for Decisions

Dr. Miller established Science for Decisions in early 2013. From  2015 through 2017 he has also served as Director of the Science and Technology for Sustainability program at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. He served as Assistant Director for Ocean Sciences at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) from 2009 through early 2013 prior to establishing Science for Decisions.