About | Staff

NOAA Aquaculture Program Staff

Staff at NOAA Fisheries:

Michael Rubino:
Dr. Michael Rubino is the manager of the NOAA Aquaculture Program in Silver Spring, Maryland. He joined NOAA in late 2004 to lead NOAA’s renewed commitment to marine aquaculture. Dr. Rubino represents the Department of Commerce on the executive committee of the U.S. Joint Subcommittee on Aquaculture. Prior to joining NOAA, Dr. Rubino was the manager of New Funds Development for the World Bank's Carbon Finance Group. In the 1990s, Dr. Rubino was at the International Finance Corporation, a private sector affiliate of the World Bank, where he developed renewable energy and biodiversity investment funds. Earlier he was the CEO of Bluewaters, Inc., an aquaculture R&D company, and a partner in Palmetto Aquaculture, a shrimp farm in South Carolina. Dr. Rubino also served as vice-chairman of the State of Maryland's Aquaculture Advisory Committee. He holds a Ph.D. in Natural Resources from the University of Michigan.

Susan Bunsick:
Susan Bunsick is a Policy Analyst with the NOAA Aquaculture Program in Silver Spring, Maryland, where she leads legislative and regulatory initiatives in support of marine aquaculture. Ms. Bunsick has been supporting NOAA aquaculture activities since 2001, after completing a Master's degree in Marine Policy at the University of Delaware. While at the university, she co-authored a major study that developed recommendations for a regulatory framework for offshore aquaculture in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone. For most of the 1980s and 1990s, she conducted energy market and industry studies for the Department of Energy. She began her career as an emergency preparedness specialist and later a budget analyst at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, following completion of an M.A. in Public Affairs from the George Washington University and a B.A. in Public Service from the Pennsylvania State University.

(top)

David O'Brien:
David O’Brien has served as the Program Coordinator for the NOAA Aquaculture Program in Silver Spring, Maryland, since 2006. He coordinates budget and planning activities within the program. A fishery biologist by training, Mr. O'Brien worked for the NOAA Fisheries Office of Protected Resources for six years before joining the Aquaculture Program. His prior activities include conducting fisheries research at the University of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania State University, and the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory. He also served as a NOAA Sea Grant fellow and worked as an aquaculture extension agent as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon, west Africa. Mr. O'Brien has an M.S. in Fisheries from the University of Maryland.

Kate Naughten:
Kate Naughten has been the National Outreach Coordinator for the NOAA Aquaculture Program in Silver Spring, Maryland, since January 2005. Prior to joining the Aquaculture Program, she was the public affairs officer for the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy from 2002 to 2004. She joined NOAA as a public affairs officer in April 2000, after working for the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay for eight years as the communications director for the Chesapeake Bay Program in Annapolis, Maryland. She has a B.A. in Media Communications from Loyola College in Baltimore, Maryland.

(top)

Kevin Amos:
Kevin Amos has served for the past seven years as the Aquatic Animal Health Coordinator for the NOAA Aquaculture Program. Mr. Amos is NOAA’s technical representative on the Joint Subcommittee on Aquaculture’s Task Force developing the National Aquatic Animal Health Plan in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Recently, he was appointed co-chair of the newly formed working group on the environmental interactions of marine aquaculture (WG-24) under the auspices of the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES). Mr. Amos has also served as a consultant to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, and as a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association’s Aquatic Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee. Prior to his work for NOAA, he directed the Aquatic Animal Health Program for the State of Washington’s Department of Fish and Wildlife. He earned a Master of Science in fish pathology from the University of Idaho.

Bruce Morehead:
Bruce Morehead is currently a consultant to the NOAA Aquaculture
Program. Prior to joining the Aquaculture Program in 2005, Mr. Morehead worked for the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in a variety of capacities for over 30 years. He held management positions in the areas of fishery development, seafood safety, utilization research, fishery disaster relief and fishery management where he served as Deputy and Acting Director for the NMFS Office of Sustainable Fisheries before retiring from federal service. From 1995 to 2004, his Sustainable Fisheries Office responsibilities included the coordination of NMFS aquaculture activities. Mr. Morehead holds a M.B.A. from American University and a B.A. from Gettysburg College with a major in Economics.

(top)

Brian Fredieu
Brian Fredieu is a Program and Management Analyst for the NOAA Aquaculture Program in Silver Spring, Maryland. Appointed as a Presidential Management Fellow in 2008, Mr. Fredieu provides assistance with legislative and regulatory initiatives as well as helping to coordinate budget and planning activities for the Aquaculture Program. He was accepted to practice with the Maryland Bar in December 2008. His previous experience includes stormwater and ecosystem monitoring on the Buffalo Bayou in Texas, which was the basis of his undergraduate thesis. Mr. Fredieu also earned his J.D. with Vermont Law School and is near completion of his Master of Environmental Law and Policy with Vermont Law School. During the course of his legal education, Mr. Fredieu clerked with the Department of Justice Environmental Defense Section and NOAA General Counsel for Enforcement and Litigation.

Christopher Botnick
Christopher Botnick joined the NOAA Aquaculture Program in Silver Spring, Maryland, in December 2008 as an Outreach Specialist. Prior to joining NOAA, he worked on external affairs and budget issues for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Mr. Botnick has also worked as a Program Examiner for NOAA at the Office of Management & Budget. He holds a Master of Public Policy and a Master of Science in Natural Resources from the University of Michigan. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Natural Resource Economics from Cornell University.

Regional Aquaculture Coordinators:

Diane Windham
Diane Windham is the Southwest Regional Aquaculture Coordinator for the NOAA Aquaculture Program. She works out of the Sacramento office of NOAA Fisheries Southwest Regional Office in California. Ms. Windham has over 24 years of federal regulatory experience, including 17 years with NOAA Fisheries. Before becoming the Southwest Regional Coordinator, she worked as a Supervisory Fish and Wildlife Biologist at the NOAA Fisheries Sacramento office, working on recovery planning and other Endangered Species Act (ESA) issues. She has an extensive background in the federal ESA regulatory program, including Section 7 and 10 activities, as well as with NOAA Fisheries Marine Mammal Stranding Network. Ms. Windham holds a BA in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

(top)

Jessica Beck
Dr. Jessica Beck is the Southeast Regional Aquaculture Coordinator for the NOAA Aquaculture Program. She works out of the Southeast Regional Office located in Saint Petersburg, Florida. Jessica was a 2008 Knauss Fellow with the Highly Migratory Species Management Division of NOAA Fisheries, during which time she provided assistance with developing fishery management strategies and regulations for fisheries conducted in federal waters. Prior to joining NOAA, Jessica was involved in various research projects which focused on the impact of pre-release exposure on hatchery fishes, differences in survival skills of hatchery versus wild fishes, and the effects of prey swimming performance on prey-capture kinematics in larval fishes. She received an M.S. in Biological Sciences from Florida Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences from Texas A&M University.

Harry Mears

Harold C. (Harry) Mears is the Northeast Regional Aquaculture Coordinator for the NOAA Aquaculture Program. He is also the Director of the State, Federal, and Constituent Programs Office at the NOAA Fisheries Northeast Regional Office in Gloucester, Massachusetts. In his role as Aquaculture Coordinator, Mr. Mears works closely with the NOAA Aquaculture Program on issues related to fish and shellfish farming, funding, and policy in the region. In his role as program director, he works with state fishery agencies, universities, and the fishing industry in the administration of a $28.6 million fisheries research and development grant program and in cooperative management of regional fishery resources, including the establishment of a coordinated state/federal approach to managing and conserving American lobster populations. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Rhode Island and a Master of Science Degree in Fishery Research from the University of Maine.

(top)

David Alves

David Alves is a fishery management specialist with the NOAA Northeast Regional Office in Gloucester, Massachusetts. In his current role, he works closely with the Northeast Aquaculture Coordinator on issues related to fish and shellfish farming, permitting, and policy in the region. Before joining NOAA in 2009, Mr. Alves was the aquaculture coordinator for the State of Rhode Island for 10 years. His expertise included policy, grants and permitting. Prior to that, Mr. Alves was the senior member of the engineering staff at Marine BioTech Inc., in Beverly, Massachusetts. There he designed recirculating aquaculture systems and research animal holding systems for academic and commercial use. Prior to that, Mr. Alves was the aquaculture outreach specialist for the Department of Animal, Veterinary and Animals Sciences at the University of Rhode Island. Mr. Alves received his Masters of Science degree in Zoology at the University of Rhode Island, and a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Aquaculture, with a minor in Zoology from the University of Maine-Orono.

Staff at NOAA Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR):

Gene Kim:
Dr. Gene Kim is the NOAA Research/Sea Grant representative to the NOAA Aquaculture Program. He directs the National Marine Aquaculture Initiative competitive grants program in addition to coordinating several NOAA international aquaculture exchange programs and a national network of Sea Grant aquaculture extension agents. His work experience includes the NOAA Research Policy, Planning, and Evaluation Office, where his duties included managing the NOAA Ecosystem Research Program, the U.S. Fisheries Wildlife, and Oceans Subcommittee (Knauss Legislative Fellow), and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission (Peer Review Coordinator). Dr. Kim holds a PhD from The Ohio State University where he focused on fisheries and aquaculture issues, including water quality management, invasive species, benthic communities, and dietary transfer of organic contaminants. His MS research at Auburn University examined larval fish ecology.

(top)