Sylvia Earle	Larry McKinney	John Wes Tunnell
James Gibeaut	Richard McLaughlin	Paul Montagna
Thomas Shirley	Greg Stunz	David Yoskowitz

Dr. Sylvia Earle, Chair HRI Advisory Board - Founded and served as an executive and for four years the President of Deep Ocean Technology and Deep Ocean Engineering, companies that designed, built and operated equipment for scientific research and for inspection, maintenance and repair of offshore oil and gas facilities including the submersible systems, Deep Rover and Deep Rover II and more than 400 remotely operated systems. Sylvia worked with Swedish company, Asea, and US companies including Oceaneering, Can-Dive and Cal-Dive on design and production of subsea robots and sensory manipulator systems for oil field maintenance, inspection and repair and related systems for NASA and 11 navies.

As Chief Scientist of NOAA, Sylvia was closely involved with Exxon Valdez spill response and environmental impacts and the Persian Gulf oil releases. She inspected burning oil fields and, with NOAA and US Navy officials, observed and documented the extent of the spill along the coast of Saudi Arabia. Sylvia led three NOAA follow-up visits with oil-spill experts, including diving at Abu-Ali and offshore islands to evaluate extent and impact of the spill with local scientists. With scientific experts and NOAA personnel, she planned and executed the 100 day NOAA Mt. Mitchell expedition to the Persian Gulf to survey the region from Oman to Kuwait with scientists from 15 countries, including all of the Persian Gulf nations except Iraq.

From 1995 -2006, Sylvia served on the Board of Directors of Oyrx Energy (3 years), Dresser Industries (4 years) and Kerr-McGee Corporation (6 years) and traveled around the world to inspect oil and gas production facilities and activities. Sylvia led
(1999 to 2003) National Geographic-NOAA-Goldman Foundation sponsored Sustainable Seas Expeditions, an unprecedented private-government-industry partnership to explore the coastal waters of the United States with emphasis on marine sanctuaries using ROV's and the submersibles, Deep Rover and Deep Worker. The greatest focus during the five year program was on the Gulf of Mexico, including reefs along the coast of Mexico and Belize.

Dr. Larry McKinney, Executive Director - has worked on numerous research projects related to coastal and offshore petroleum issues since the late 1970's, much of which was focused on brine disposal issues and led the strategic petroleum reserve biological assessment program from 1980 to 1986. The project included sites in Texas and Louisiana coastal waters. Larry helped establish the Natural Resource Assessment Program in Texas and was the Texas Parks and Wildlife designated trustee until he retired from the agency in 2008. He established and led the TPWD oil spill response program and responded to all major spills in Texas waters through 2000. He chaired the EPA Gulf of Mexico Science Advisory Committee in the late 90's and led EPA's Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Task force: Status and Research Needs for Bioremediation and Dispersant Methodologies, and Other Issues Related to Oil Spills (1992). He has served on the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Committee on Offshore Energy Development and as a member of the Department of Energy Federal Advisory Committee - Ultra-Deepwater Exploration (2007).

Dr. Wes Tunnell, Associate Director - helped develop the National Spill Control School oil spill training program (mid 1970s) and taught the environmental impacts of oil spills for 20 years in that program; studied the environmental impacts of the Ixtoc I oil spill on Texas Gulf beaches and Mexico coral reefs (1979-80); studied the impact of deballasting of supertankers on beach, coral reef, and benthic environments in the Persian Gulf (1979); trained Ministry of the Environment personnel in Kuwait regarding oil spill impacts; studied the impact of Berge Banker oil spill on Padre Island National Seashore (early 1990s); and, studied the impact of burning as a clean-up method for the Exxon Pipeline oil spill in a high marsh near Copano Bay (early to mid 1990s, five year study).

Dr. Jim Gibeaut, Endowed Chair for Geospatial Sciences -is a coastal geologist with experience in mapping, monitoring, and studying oiled shoreline sediments. During the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (EVOS), he consulted for the State of Alaska and NOAA as a field team leader assessing shoreline oiling conditions and establishing monitoring sites. From 1990 to 1991, he was Chief of Science and Data Management in the EVOS center of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and served as a state representative on the Federal Technical Advisory Group, which advised the Federal On-Scene Coordinator on matters concerning survey and cleanup techniques. Jim returned to Alaska to conduct repeat measurements of EVOS monitoring sites in 1993, 1995, and 2001. During the fall of 2002, he was a field team leader in Saudi Arabia mapping oiled sediment left from the Gulf War Oil Spill of 1990. Currently, he is updating shoreline types for Environmental Sensitivity Index maps of the Texas coast. These maps are used for oil spill response planning.

Dr. Richard McLaughlin, Endowed Chair for Marine Policy and Law - has written and lectured extensively on the legal and policy implications associated with hydrocarbon development in the deepwater boundary regions of the Gulf of Mexico; served as organizer and panelist at several international conferences on the topic of improving U.S./Mexico cooperation in commercializing and managing deepwater hydrocarbon resources in the Gulf of Mexico; advised PEMEX on legal matters relating to transboundary hydrocarbon resources; and as a law school professor for over 15 years incorporated oil spill response and liability curricular materials into a variety of courses including Admiralty Law, Ocean and Coastal Law, Environmental Law, International Environmental Law, and Property Law.

Dr. Paul Montagna, Endowed Chair for Ecosystem Studies - has broad experience on assessing biological and ecological effects of offshore oil and gas exploration and production on continental shelves and the deep-sea, having worked in the Alaska, California, and Gulf of Mexico Minerals Management Service (MMS) planning areas, and in oil fields off West Africa and Western Pacific. Dr. Montagna has worked on MMS-sponsored programs since 1975 in the Beaufort Sea (AK), Santa Barbara Channel (CA), Santa Maria Basin (CA), Gulf of Mexico, and in nation-wide assessments. He has performed studies in oil seeps, chemosynthetic habitats, hard-bank reefs, frontier areas, and production areas on the topics of benthic ecology (for both macrofauna and meiofauna communities), genetic structure, population biology, reproduction and settling dynamics, trophic dynamics, food webs, productivity, microbial activity, toxicity, chemical-biological interactions, modeling, statistics and experimental design. He has been an invited speaker at many MMS-sponsored meetings.

Dr. Thomas Shirley, Endowed Chair for Biodiversity and Conservation - has published numerous scientific publications and reports on his research for NOAA on the effects of oil on the energetics and physiology of crabs and shrimps. After the Exxon Valdez oil spill, he continued research on oil effects on marine benthos and forage species in Prince William Sound for 10 years post spill. He conducted bioassays on oil dispersants as part of his doctoral fellowship from the Petroleum Refiners Environmental Council of Louisiana (PRECOL) at LSU. Tom financed his undergraduate degree by working on oil rigs during holidays, and spent summers in an oil refinery.

Dr. Greg Stunz, Endowed Chair for Fisheries and Ocean Health - Greg is a marine ecologist with expertise in fisheries ecology and particularly how marine habitats support sustainable populations. He focuses on where the fish are, how they interact with their habitats, and the vital role of the estuaries and near-shore waters. Healthy oceans are critical for human health, and he brings an understanding of the consequences of natural and man-made behaviors to these vital resources. Dr. Stunz conducts extensive field research from apex predators to tiny crustaceans, and his research provides an objective foundation to build sound policy. He is actively sought out to address governmental, academic, and private sector groups on topics ranging from projections of fishery population recovery to the future of sport-fishing in the Gulf of Mexico.

Dr. David Yoskowitz, Endowed Chair for Socio-Economics - David is an economist specializing in identification and valuation of ecosystem services in the coastal zone. He leads the Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem Services Collaboratory and is actively involved with the Gulf of Mexico Alliance activities. His group is developing the Ecosystem Services Valuation Database - Gulf of Mexico and techniques to transfer values from study sites to policy sites. He is also a lead in a number of workshops around the Gulf region focused on moving ecosystem services from practice to policy.