Larry Bestor, Founder and President
Mr. Bestor has been actively involved in environmental awareness programs for over 30 years. As founder and director of the Gulf Coast Preservation Society, he leads and directs the organization and serves as Executive Producer with Mr. Cousteau and others in producing educational programs for public television and IMAX theaters. Mr. Bestor was co-founder of several innovative organizations over the past 15 years, including ATI Networks. He enjoys pioneering new companies that offer innovative, breakthrough products that provide consumers more choice, more convenience, and more control. He is a former member of the Marian College Advisory Committee, and is listed in WHO'S WHO of Leading American Executives.

Jean-Michel Cousteau, Director, Educational Media and Oceanographic Consultant
Explorer, environmentalist, educator, film producer - for more than four decades Jean-Michel Cousteau has used his vast experiences to communicate to people of all nations and generations his love and concern for our water planet. Since first being 'thrown overboard' by his father at the age of seven with newly invented SCUBA gear on his back, Jean-Michel has been exploring the ocean realm. The son of ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, Jean-Michel spent much of his life with his family exploring the world's oceans aboard Calypso and Alcyone. After his mother's death in 1990 and his father's in 1997, Jean-Michel founded Ocean Futures Society in 1999 to carry on this pioneering work. Responding to his father's call to 'carry forward the flame of his faith,' Jean-Michel's Ocean Futures Society, a non-profit marine conservation and education organization, serves as a 'Voice for the Ocean' by fostering a conservation ethic, conducting research, and developing marine education programs.

Jean-Michel serves as an impassioned spokesman and diplomat for the environment, reaching out to the public through a variety of media. He has produced over 70 films, and been awarded the Emmy, the Peabody Award, the 7 d'Or - the French equivalent of the Emmy, and the Cable Ace Award. Today, as President of Ocean Futures Society, Jean-Michel travels the globe, meeting with world leaders and policymakers, both at the grassroots level and the highest echelons of government and business, educating young people, documenting stories of change and hope, and lending his reputation and support to help energize alliances for positive change. Through Ocean Futures Society, Jean-Michel continues to produce environmentally oriented programs and television specials, public service announcements, multi-media programs for schools, web-based marine content, books, articles for magazines and newspaper columns, and public lectures, reaching millions of people all over the world.

Dr. Nancy Rabalais, Director of Hypoxia Research
Dr. Rabalais, considered by many to be the leading expert on the causes of hypoxia and the growing "Dead Zone" in the Gulf of Mexico, is a recent recipient of the Ketchum Award. She was cited for her leadership role in the science, causes and implications of coastal anoxia (a lack of oxygen in coastal waters) in the Gulf of Mexico. She was named a 1999 NOAA Environmental Hero for her work on the causes and consequences of Gulf of Mexico hypoxia. Nancy Rabalais has been affiliated with the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) since 1983. She earned a Ph.D degree in zoology from the University of Texas at Austin, and B.S. and MS. degrees in biology from Texas A&M University, Kingsville, TX. Prior to 1983 Dr. Rabalais was a Research Associate then a graduate student at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas. She teaches marine science courses at The Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) and in the Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences at Louisiana State University. Dr. Rabalais's research interests include the dynamics of hypoxic environments, interactions of large rivers with the coastal ocean, estuarine and coastal eutrophication, benthic ecology, and environmental effects of habitat alterations and contaminants. She shares the Blasker Award for Environmental Science and Engineering with Gene Turner for similar endeavors. The B. H. Ketchum Award was established by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 1983 in tribute to the late Bostwick H. "Buck" Ketchum, an internationally respected oceanographer. Ketchum was associated with WHOI for 40 years and was a strong force in developing biological oceanography. Buck Ketchum's pioneering research provided the basis of our understanding of productivity of the oceans, and his early work is still cited by scientists in the field. In later years he turned his attention to the effects of human activities on the coastal zone and the need for research into problems in that area. At the time of his death he was one of four co-editors of a six-volume series on Wastes in the Oceans published by John Wiley & Sons.

In January of 2006, Dr. Rabalais was appointed to the Natural and Human-Induced Hypoxia and Consequences for Coastal Areas Working Group of the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR). SCOR is a non-governmental international organization that promotes and coordinates oceanographic activities. The first meeting of the Working Group will be held in Vienna, Austria, in April 2006, in conjunction with the European Geochemical Union meeting. The Working Group Rabalais is serving on will summarize the state of the science of hypoxia, identify gaps in current hypoxia science, and recommend areas of future hypoxia research. The Working Group will also determine the requirements for observing, modeling and assessing the impacts of hypoxic events in coastal systems. The results of the Working Group will be published in a journal or book at the end of its two-year study.

David Baker, Director, Communications and Business Development
In addition to serving on the board of the Gulf Coast Preservation Society, Mr. Baker is Managing Director of MovieCentral, the world's largest digital movie archive, and co-founder of Frantech Licensing, an international technology licensing and import/export company doing commerce with Asia and Europe. He has previously served on the boards of many California non-profit organizations and serves as Director of Business Development and executive producer of the Society's media productions.

Mr. Baker is certified with the Center for International Trade Development, Export Small Business Development Corp. and the Department of Commerce. He is also a member of the World Trade Center and has served organizations as governor, president and director. In 1996, Mr. Baker received the "Outstanding Young Californian" award.

Lisa J. Levendofsky, Director, Fundraising Committee Co-Chair
Lisa is the founder of Burnt Store Properties, which she sold in spring of 2006 to Coldwell Banker NRT. She has over 24 years of real estate experience and community involvement in Charlotte County, Florida, and is a waterfront property owner in Burnt Store Village, Lakes, and the Marina. She is a member of the Ten Million-Dollar Club and a member of the National Realtors Association, Florida Association of Realtors, and Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte, and North Port Association of Realtors. Lisa is an active and well-liked member of the communities located along the waters of Charlotte Harbor.