Sea to Shore Alliance has a small but mighty staff including:

• James "Buddy" Powell, Executive Director
• Leigh Andrus, Director of Communications and Development
• Nicole Auil Gomez, Associate Scientist
• Kerry Baker, Office Manager
• Brenden Beard, Field Assistant
  
• Melody Fischer, Manatee Biologist
• Jamal Galves, Manatee Research Associate
• Jay Gorzelany, Research Associate
• Susan Kahraman, Executive Assistant
• Lucy Keith Diagne, Research Scientist
• Jessica Koelsch, Marine Wildlife Conservationist
• Monica Ross, Behavioral Ecologist

Dr. James “Buddy” Powell: For more than 40 years Buddy has worked to conserve manatees and other endangered species around the world and his efforts have resulted in coastal protected areas in Florida, West Africa, Central America, and now Cuba. His approach integrates science and education to unlock solutions to conservation issues. In the 1970s Buddy worked for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service as a biologist and manatee specialist. In 1986, he moved to West Africa where he studied manatees and forest elephants for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and was pivotal in establishing several coastal protected areas. He and his wife, Maureen, moved to Belize in the 1990s where they managed WCS’s Glover’s Reef Marine Research Station. They then returned to Florida where Buddy administered Florida’s research program on marine mammals and sea turtles for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. In 2001, he became Vice President for Aquatic Programs at Wildlife Trust. In 2008, Buddy co-founded Sea to Shore Alliance (Sea2Shore). The organization was created to form a partnership of scientists and citizen volunteers with the expertise, passion, and vision to help reverse the degradation of our aquatic coastal environment and loss of species and diversity. Buddy received his BSc. from the University of Florida, his MMA from the University of Washington, and his PhD from the University of Cambridge in England. He was the recipient of the prestigious Pew Award in Marine Conservation in 2000, has been featured on “Champions of the Wild” and National Geographic’s “Wild Chronicles” documentaries, and has been honored with multiple awards and certificates. Buddy has authored two books, numerous scientific publications, and popular articles.

Leigh Andrus has worked as a communications professional for nearly 15 years. Before joining Sea2Shore, Leigh managed SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment's corporate communications program. Prior to that she worked as a publicist for Busch Gardens in Tampa, Morton Plant hospital in Clearwater, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Marine Research Institute in St. Petersburg. She has a bachelor of arts degree in English literature from the University of Florida. Leigh lives in Orlando with her husband and young son and works part time for Sea2Shore as the Director of Communications and Development.

Nicole Auil Gomez, Associate Scientist for Sea2Shore, is a native of Belize and has worked in coastal conservation for 14 years. She began her career in 1996 with Belize’s Coastal Zone Management Project, developing a national program for the conservation of Antillean manatees. Her work has included carrying out various research, management, and education initiatives. Her successes include creating the Belize Marine Mammal Stranding Network and developing the Belize Manatee Recovery Plan. She has also been a principal consultant on manatee research and related tourism projects for the Gulf of Honduras, Niger, and the Dominican Republic, and has worked closely with researchers on manatee conservation initiatives in Cuba. She is currently a member of a Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW) advisory body for the implementation of the Regional Management Plan for the West Indian Manatee. Nicole holds a Master of Science degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences from Texas A&M University.

Kerry Baker is a Florida native (from Tallahassee). She completed her B.S. degree in Criminology from Florida State University in 1992. She worked for the Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement State Crime Lab in Pensacola as a crime laboratory technician prior to moving to the Sarasota area in 1995. From 1995 to 2001 she worked as a health and safety inspector for the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation's Division of Hotels and Restaurants. Since 2001 Kerry owns and operates an aluminum business with her husband Greg who is also one of Sea2Shore's aerial survey pilots.  Kerry currently works part time for Sea2Shore as an administrative assistant, bookkeeper, and aerial manatee observer. 

Brenden Beard is a South Florida native. Before joining Sea2Shore as a field tracker, Brenden volunteered with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission assisting with manatee rescues and releases, photo ID, and field necropsies. Brenden enjoys outdoor activities including diving, photography, and fishing and currently attends Florida Atlantic University where he studies criminal justice, geography, and geographic information systems (GIS) technology. Brenden currently assists Sea2Shore with manatee tracking in South Florida. 

Melody Fischer completed her BS in Biology at Transylvania University in Lexington, KY, in 2001. She relocated to Florida in 2003 to pursue a career in biology, specifically marine mammals, and completed a double MS in Marine Biology and Coastal Zone Management in January 2008. Her interest in manatees began with the selection of her thesis topic: Boater Compliance with Manatee Speed Zones on the Intracoastal Waterway near Port Everglades, Broward County, Florida. Her research shaped her career choices, later working aboard a dredge on the Miami River, spotting manatees and advising the dredging crew on protective measures. Melody also worked in manatee and sea turtle rehabilitation at Miami Seaquarium. She joined Wildlife Trust as a manatee tracker in June 2007, working in the Miami area, and later in Central Florida. Since November 2008, Melody has worked for Sea to Shore Alliance. In addition to tracking animals and doing behavioral observation, she is involved with releases, rescues, and health assessments, as well as educational and press events. She also volunteers for the Marine Animal Rescue Society.

Jamal Galves: A native of Belize, Jamal has been passionate about protecting wildlife since his childhood. From the age of 12, he knew he wanted to work with animals – specifically manatees. In 1998, Jamal met Sea2Shore Executive Director and founder Dr. James “Buddy” Powell and USGS scientist Robert Bonde while participating in his first manatee capture. Working with these two renowned scientists influenced Jamal enormously; he was immediately hooked and soon found himself taking every opportunity to work with manatees. While most of his high school classmates were spending their weekends and holidays relaxing, Jamal was working with scientists, monitoring and feeding two manatees in their final stages of rehabilitation, and eventually helping with the tracking of those two manatees after their release. After finishing high school, Jamal volunteered to work with Belize program manager Nicole Auil Gomez and was eventually given a fulltime position with the manatee project, continuing his dream of protecting wildlife. Jamal’s responsibilities include capturing, tagging, and tracking manatees; collecting data; and monitoring rehabilitation. Jamal holds a degree in general arts and biology from St. John's Junior College School of Liberal Arts in Belize. 

Jay Gorzelany: As Research Associate, Jay leads Sea2Shore’s Protected Species Monitoring Program, and assists with other program areas. He has been actively involved in recreational boating and waterways management studies on both the east and west coasts of Florida. Jay has conducted more than 1,500 hours of low-level aerial surveys in Florida, and has assisted in the design and implementation of the first agency-accepted manatee surveillance protocol (Manatee Watch) for high-speed powerboat races in Florida. He is listed as a Level 4 Manatee Watch Observer by the State of Florida and has served as either Primary Observer or Manatee Watch Coordinator for 38 different marine construction projects and special events. Jay was an authorized participant in the United States Marine Mammal Stranding Network for fifteen years, and coordinated the investigation of more than 300 marine mammal stranding events, involving more than 400 animals and 16 different species. He has both authored and co-authored numerous technical reports and peer-reviewed scientific publications related to environmental assessment, boating management studies, and marine mammal strandings, and is the principal author of the Sarasota County Manatee Protection Plan. He has more than thirty five years experience in marine and estuarine aquatic research. Previously, Jay worked as a Senior Biologist for Mote Marine Laboratory for 25 years.  Jay received a BA in Marine Biology from the University of Bridgeport in 1979 and a Masters of Science degree in Bio-Environmental Oceanography from the Florida Institute of Technology in 1983.

Susan Kahraman is a native of New Jersey and spent 22 years commuting to New York City before moving to St. Petersburg. In 2006, after years in the corporate world, she was delighted to be hired by Buddy Powell as the office manager for Wildlife Trust’s Aquatic Conservation Program. Susan now works for Sea2Shore and continues to enjoy learning about manatees, right whales, sea turtles and the incredibly fascinating lives of the researchers who study them. In her spare time she loves to garden, read, cook, and bake.

Lucy Keith Diagne is originally from Massachusetts and has spent the past 25 years conducting field research with marine mammals, including 13 years working with manatees. She received her B.S. degree in biology from St. Lawrence University, her MSc degree in marine biology from the Boston University Marine Program in Woods Hole, and is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Florida, College of Veterinary Medicine, where her dissertation research focuses on the ecology and genetics of the West African manatee. She has worked for government and non-profit research organizations both nationally and internationally and has a wide range of field experience with endangered species, including penguins, sea turtles, the Hawaiian monk seal, and all three species of manatees. Before joining Sea2Shore, Lucy was a research scientist at Wildlife Trust/EcoHealth Alliance from January 2005 to June 2011; prior to that Lucy spent six years running a manatee research field station in southwest Florida for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Lucy has extensive expertise in manatee boat and aerial surveys, photo identification, capture, health assessment and behavioral fieldwork, construction and deployment of GPS/satellite/VHF/sonic tracking equipment, data analysis, training field techniques to others, grant writing, and public education activities. Lucy began studying West African manatees in Gabon in 2006, and after six years of field work has completed the first countrywide manatee surveys there. Lucy also completed a study of manatees in the lower Congo River, Angola (2007-2009), and is currently developing long-term manatee research projects and study sites in three different regions of Senegal where she began work in January 2009. Additionally, Lucy is in the process of building a collaborative partnership for manatee fieldwork, genetic sampling, and comparison of results with researchers from 18 West African countries. She was awarded the Manatee Conservation Award by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2003, and she is a member of IUCNSirenian Specialist Group, the Convention of Migratory Species / West African Manatee Working Group, and the Scientific Committee of Gabon’s National Center for Research and Technology.

Jessica Koelsch: As Marine Wildlife Conservationist, Jessica is involved in a wide range of conservation and policy-driven research projects, such as manatee aerial surveys, manatee response to changes in warm water at winter aggregation sites, and impacts of Florida fisheries on sea turtles. She also promotes community-based stewardship programs such as NESTS – Neighbors Ensuring Sea Turtle Survival, and the annual Right Whale Festival in Jacksonville Beach. Prior to 2010, as the Senior Program Manager at Ocean Conservancy, she engaged in science-based advocacy for marine wildlife. Projects included reducing by-catch in fisheries; implementing the Florida Manatee Recovery and Manatee Management plans; addressing entanglement threats; supporting sea turtle and North Atlantic Right Whale conservation; and educating boaters, beach-goers, residents, and the general public. She was appointed to multiple Working Groups, Take Reduction Teams, Advisory and Rule Review Committees, and served as chair of the multi-agency Entanglement Working Group. She worked closely with other NGOs as well local, state, and federal agencies on marine wildlife conservation and management issues, especially at the regional level. From 1991 to 2000, Jessica was Senior Biologist/Manatee Research Program Manager at Mote Marine Laboratory. She has a B.S. in Marine Biology from Florida Institute of Technology and M.S. from USF in Tampa.

Monica Ross: Monica has more than twenty years of experience working with manatees for state, non-profit and private research organizations. Her knowledge and skills obtained while using telemetry equipment to monitor wild manatee behavior and movement, in addition to her work with captive and rehabilitated manatees, has enabled her to provide input to management groups on manatee habitat selection and use. Monica coordinated the field efforts for the Manatee Rehabilitation Partnership (MRP) project from 2002-2008 and in 2009, with Sea2Shore, shifted her position into a supportive role to expand her focus to other research projects. Currently Monica is focusing her efforts on documenting winter manatee use within the smaller springs along the St. Johns River. She assists U.S. Geological Survey-Sirenia Project with photo-identification of manatees at Homosassa Spring and several power plants throughout Florida. Monica is working in collaboration with Stetson University to document and characterize the disturbances of catfish on manatees during winter at Blue Spring State Park. She is also working in collaboration with Dauphin Island Sea Lab to determine manatee fringe habitat use within Alabama. Monica obtained her Bachelor in Biological Sciences from Florida State University and her Masters in Biology from the University of Central Florida. Even though most of her career has been focused on marine mammal cognitive and adaptive abilities, she has also worked on projects focusing on oyster larvae development, Florida game-fish stock enhancement, fish tag shedding/retention and fish population monitoring programs. Monica also has more than seven years of professional animal training experience with dolphins, birds, and small terrestrial animals along with fifteen additional years of personal experience training dogs for competitive obedience, agility, and herding competitions. Enjoying animal behavior is not just a job for her but a way of life.