Tell us about your background

I’ve always been passionate about the ocean. I had at least one aquarium in my bedroom growing up as far back as I can remember, housing critters from the local stream at the beginning and eventually graduating to full blown reef tanks. I started working on the ocean as soon as I had the chance, and then studied Marine Physics at  the University of Miami and  Ocean Engineering at MIT, to really get my career going.

I’ve spent that career working for companies solving specific engineering problems relating to the ocean, in fields like submarine design, subsea data systems, ocean robotics, marine energy, and now, subsea exploration and research.

My goal throughout has been to make the ocean more accessible to people.

What’s your role at DEEP?

As Chief Development Officer it’s my responsibility to first learn all the problems people currently want to solve in the ocean, how they’re trying to solve them (if a solution even exists at the moment), and guide the development of new products at DEEP that either do it better than the current state of the art or provide solutions to problems that have previously gone unsolved. My second responsibility is to make sure those solutions get into the hands of the people that can really use them. And my last and possibly most important responsibility is to help people realise that with DEEP products and training they can explore and study the ocean. The next generation of Jacques Cousteaus and Sylvia Earles are already out there, and some of them may not even realise yet that they’re one of them.

What’s your favourite thing about working at DEEP?

It’s hard to pick one thing! The mission speaks to me directly – to make humans aquatic. It puts the mission I’ve been on into better words than I’ve been able to come up with on my own. Furthermore the people who work at DEEP are brilliant and they’re dedicated to the same vision and ethos that I am. But I think what makes the organization truly compelling is its commitment to generational humanitarian impact, rather than focusing solely on profit.