[Coral-List] CORAL Adds Two Senior Staff Members

Cheryl Chen cchen at coral.org
Thu Mar 17 19:33:33 EST 2005


March 15, 2005
For Immediate Release

For more information contact:
Brian Huse, Executive Director
415.834.0900 x.317

Coral Reef Alliance Adds Two Senior Staff Members:
Alex Brylske and Rick MacPherson join Program Team

San Francisco - The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) announces
the appointment of two new staff members, Dr. Alex Brylske
and Rick MacPherson.  Dr. Brylske will take on the role of
CORAL’s new Training Manager, and MacPherson will become
Program Director.

“These two leaders in marine conservation bring great
reputations and experience to CORAL,” said Brian Huse,
Executive Director.  “Our innovative programs to prevent
the destruction of coral reefs and improve the environmental
sensitivity of marine tourism will be significantly enhanced
by their contributions.”

Dr. Brylske is widely recognized for his 30 years as an
educator and writer in diving and sustainable marine
recreation.   Having already trained thousands of dive
professionals, he will develop and conduct educational
programs supporting CORAL’s efforts to improve business
practices in the marine recreation community, and build
alliances between tour operators and resource managers.
He will also assist in capacity building for existing
coral reef protected areas, and support the creation of
new, sustainable protected areas throughout the world.
Dr. Brylske has worked all over the world, including the
Greater Caribbean, Red Sea, Southeast Asia and
Micronesia. His unique background combines training
as a marine conservation biologist with a highly distinguished
career in the dive tourism industry. This breadth of experience
gives Alex both a solid grounding in science and resource
management, as well as an intimate understanding of the
professional diving community.

In 2001, Dr. Brylske won NOAA’s prestigious Walter B. Jones
Memorial Excellence Award for Ocean and Coastal Resource
Management for his contribution to sustainable marine tourism.
He also served as a member of the Florida Governor’s Ocean
Committee, contributing to a comprehensive ocean resource
management strategy for Florida.  Alex most recently held a
position as Marine Conservation and Education Specialist at
PADI’s Project AWARE Foundation. Alex will continue in his role
as Senior Editor of Dive Training magazine, a position he has
held since 1992.

Mr. MacPherson assumes the critical role of directing
CORAL’s programs.  Educated in marine biology and education,
including post-graduate work at Harvard, he brings a wealth
of experience as a marine science educator, field naturalist,
and most recently as the Director of Marine Biology Research
Program at the Lawrence Hall of Science – UC Berkeley.
Mr. MacPherson will oversee CORAL’s current programs in
Mesoamerica, the Indo-Pacific, and Dive In To Earth Day,
while designing and integrating new programmatic endeavors.

Mr. MacPherson’s expertise in marine education has been
recognized by numerous institutions, including Public
Television, the National Marine Sanctuary Program, and
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In addition to designing
programs that translate marine science into language that is
easily accessible to many audiences, Mr. MacPherson put has
field-tested them while working as a naturalist with the Oceanic
Society on coral reefs such as Palau, Honduras, Belize, the
Galapagos, and Micronesia.  His work with the California Center
for Ocean Science Education Excellence helped bring in a
$1.1 million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation.
The San Francisco-based Coral Reef Alliance is a nonprofit,
member supported organization dedicated to protecting the
health of coral reefs by integrating ecosystem management,
sustainable tourism, and community partnerships.

CORAL:
- works with communities to identify and solve conservation challenges
- changes attitudes and behavior through education and training
- provides resources to strengthen conservation efforts
- creates incentives for sustainable tourism

###
------------------------
Cheryl Chen
Program Assistant
The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL)

417 Montgomery St. #205
San Francisco, CA, USA 94104
Tel: 415-834-0900 x 303
Fax: 415-834-0999

E-mail: cchen at coral.org
CORAL Website: http://www.coral.org
Coral Reef Education and Outreach Materials Library: 
http://library.coralreef.org



More information about the Coral-List mailing list