Technology: Earth – A new webinar series, from Triple Ring Technologies. August 30, 2022 – IUU Fishing – Digital and Hardware Solutions

Sheila Hemami has over 25 years of experience in research and development in the academic and private sectors, with an emphasis on identifying early-stage technologies to address unmet needs and accelerating technology transfer.  She currently heads East Coast operations and directs the environmental and sustainability portfolio at Triple Ring Technologies (Boston and Silicon Valley).  Prior to joining Triple Ring, Dr. Hemami was with the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, MA, where she directed internal research and development and created a new business unit dedicated to addressing unmet technical needs for underserved medical populations and for the environment. Dr. Hemami started her technical career at Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, and was a professor of electrical engineering and academic leader for 22 years (Cornell University for 20 years; Northeastern University for 3 years).  She holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan and an MS and PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.

Celeste Leroux founded Virgil Group in 2020 after 12 years of experience advancing environmental policy in Washington, DC within the federal government. She has worked extensively with advocates, businesses, Congress, and foreign governments to advance science-based policies that encourage responsible development, promote fair trade, protect natural resources and combat climate change. At the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Celeste oversaw the Presidential Task Force on Combating Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing and Seafood Fraud and then led the design, development and implementation of the U.S. Seafood Import Monitoring Program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from 2016-2020. Her company, Virgil Group, is on a mission to end the global trade of illegally harvested natural resources, starting with seafood.

Rachel Graham works at the intersection of research, environment and development in Latin America, Africa, and Micronesia. She has spent 30 years living and working in Central America with the private sector and institutions including the United Nations, University of York, Smithsonian Institution and Wildlife Conservation Society. Rachel seeks to secure win-win scenarios for fish and small-scale fisheries with fishers and other partners, as she mitigates threats and creates conservation opportunities for threatened marine wildlife and their critical habitats in a warming world. In 2014, Rachel founded the international NGO MarAlliance to promote, innovative, impactful and inclusive grassroots science and conservation of marine wildlife and small scale fisheries. An active member of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group, and recipient of the 2011 Whitley Fund for Nature Gold Award. Rachel holds a BSc in Zoology from Oxford, an MSc from Edinburgh and a PhD from the University of York, UK.

Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet, PhD, US Navy (ret) is the CEO of Ocean STL Consulting and host of The American Blue Economy Podcast. He serves as an advisor or on the Boards of nearly three dozen startups, research institutions, and nonprofits in the ocean, weather, climate, space, and environmental tech sector.  While leading NOAA, he secured the White House release an Executive Order to combat IUU Fishing. Gallaudet is the former Acting Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Undersecretary of Commerce. Before NOAA, he served for 32 years In the U.S. Navy retiring as the Oceanographer of the Navy. He has a bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Naval Academy and a master’s and Ph.D. from Scripps Institution of Oceanography.