We are extremely pleased to announce that Melanie Janin of Conservation International, Dr. Rob Snyder of ACME Smoked Fish and Lina Torres of MOVILIZATORIO have joined O2’s Board of Directors.

These three bring an amazing mix of community resilience, social impact, seafood industry, sustainability, strategy and communications experience and expertise to support O2’s mission.

Melanie has worked at the intersection of environmental conservation and strategic communications for more than 20 years, helping NGOs, foundations and companies develop and share authentic, data-driven stories around social impact and sustainability. She began her career in Geneva, Switzerland at the World Economic Forum and then led communications for a number of global non-profits, including Greenpeace, SeaWeb, Environmental Defense Fund, and BSR (Business for Social Responsibility). Following these roles, Melanie led sustainability communications at Amazon and headed the U.S. West Coast Social Impact team at Weber Shandwick, and currently serves as Chief Communications and Marketing Officer at Conservation International (CI).

Melanie’s arrival is perfectly timed, as we embark on the new partnership between CI, O2 and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) to scale the impacts of our human-rights based, small-scale fisheries work with local communities.

“The work of O2 to support sustainable fisheries and ocean communities around the world is truly innovative and inspiring — and I believe that these success stories can spark new solutions to many of our global environmental challenges. I’m honored to be joining the Board at this critical moment in time for our climate and our planet.” - Melanie Janin

Rob is the Chief People and Sustainability Officer at Acme Smoked Fish Corp, a fourth-generation family-owned smoked seafood business based in Brooklyn, NY. His career is dedicated to sustainability, culture and leadership. During his previous role as President of the Island Institute, he led community leadership and sustainable development approaches to ensure the resilience of island communities. Rob also serves on the board of Acme Smoked Fish Foundation, Sea Pact, The Ashley Bryan Center and Gifft Hill School.

Rob adds additional seafood industry experience and expertise to O2’s Board, uniquely combined with community leadership and strategy development. With deep industry connections and experience, his support will be valuable in helping generate and leverage commitments and funding for seafood sustainability.

“The O2 mission is crucial to the future of our ocean and the communities who depend on it. It is a privilege to have the opportunity to contribute to a team that has achieved so much already, and yet has so much potential to shape the future of sustainable fisheries.” - Dr. Rob Snyder

Lina is a social entrepreneur and activist, currently leading environmental action and climate change projects at Movilizatorio. There, in her role as Projects and Strategy Director, she leads a team of 60+ people working for clients such as The Rockefeller Foundation, the Google News Initiative, the Ford Foundation, CLUA, UMI, KAS, Open Society Foundations, Purpose, GIZ, Lego Foundation, OAK Foundation, the Inter-American Development Bank and the Swedish Cooperation Agency, amongst others. She has 16+ years of experience working with the Colombian Government and UN Agencies on the design and evaluation of welfare and peace-building policies targeting families in extreme poverty, ethnic groups and children.

As we work to expand our triple impact approach to small-scale fisheries improvement, Lina’s valuable experience and networks with government, funders and other sustainability focused organizations will help ensure our projects and partnerships are context relevant and locally supported. With O2’s focus on integrating socio-economic considerations into sustainable fisheries and sustainable seafood, Lina’s unique insights into socio-economic initiatives and community engagement will be instrumental to O2’s mission.

“We can really make a difference by engaging communities as key partners in any conservation efforts; with a human rights based approach, we will unlock longer lasting results, scalability, ownership and accountability.” - Lina Torres

Welcome Melanie, Rob and Lina — we are thrilled to have you join us!

We also wish to thank Steve McCormick and Mark Weeks for their dedicated contributions as they transition their roles from O2 Board members to O2 Strategic Advisors.

While we are excited at the continued diversified growth and expertise of O2’s Board, we also want to acknowledge the fantastic contributions of Mark and Steve as they transition from their role as Board members to O2 Strategic Advisors. Mark has practiced law in both New York and Tokyo for 30 years, and for the past eight years has provided O2 with valuable legal insight into our work, operations and projects. Steve, as Managing Director of the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation and as former President of both the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and The Nature Conservancy, has brought over 40 years of exceptional experience in the NGO sector, helping O2 sharpen our strategy and grow our impact and funding over the past three years. We are deeply privileged to have their valuable contributions continue through new roles as Strategic Advisors.

View a complete list of our Board members and their bios here.