Staff and Directors

YOUR Board of Directors is committed to accomplishing projects that will make a difference in the sustainable use and enhancement of our coastal waters. The upcoming year brings an extraordinary opportunity to reflect on the accomplishments of the past, bask in the limelight of the achievements of today and dream of the opportunities for tomorrow.

STAFF

Executive Director: John Valencia

John holds a Bachelor of Business Administration, Marketing & Finance with minors in Nonprofit Management and Leadership Studies from the University of San Diego as well as a Masters in Nonprofit Management. John, a San Diego native, brings over twelve years of nonprofit experience, an entrepreneurial spirit, and a sincere devotion for the ocean. John has served as Executive Director for two other San Diego nonprofits and was CEO for an international light manufacturing company. John has been recognized for his dedication to the nonprofit sector with Kiwanis Club's Outstanding Community Involvement Award, American Humanic's Community Award and San Diego's Person of the Year Award. In his free time, John can be found surfing at La Jolla Shores or Solana Beach.

Marketing and Outreach Manager: Marianne MacGuidwin

Growing up in Madison, Wisconsin, Marianne was more accustomed to ice skating on frozen lakes than the swimming in the Pacific Ocean. However, after moving to San Diego in early 2010, she began interning at the San Diego Oceans Foundation and quickly fell in love with the ocean and working within the environmental sector. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in International Economics, she worked in sports hospitality, specializing in event organization and marketing for the Masters and US Open golf tournaments. She is excited to work within the marketing and outreach departments of SDOF, and looks forward to working with the amazing volunteers that make SDOF’s programs possible and planning some great fundraising events. When Marianne is not updating SDOF’s facebook page or naming the fish in the office fish tank, she enjoys running, cooking, and exploring San Diego.

Program Manager: Crystal Bessette

Crystal volunteered for several of SDOF’s programs in the past and have always been very pleased with the organization’s efforts, not only in maintaining healthy oceans, but also in spreading the idea of ocean stewardship to the community. When Crystal was just a child, living in Monterey, she discovered her passion for the ocean. Her interest in the marine environment, which was centered around sharks, continued to grow as she did. When it came time to make decisions about college, she chose to attend San Diego State University and earned her degree in marine biology. Through school and my experiences in the community, her love for the ocean and desire to protect it continued to develop, and although she had planned to leave San Diego once my undergraduate work was complete, she realized that she had actually found a new home in southern California.

BOARD MEMBERS

President: Wendy Pacofsky

Wendy is a co-owner of an adventure travel company in San Diego - Outdoor Travel Adventures (OTA). For the past 7 years, she has sent travelers all over the world for both land and sea adventures, and experienced a few herself. Since becoming a dive instructor for Ocean Enterprises in 2003, she has spent a great deal of time in the San Diego waters, and organized a number of group dive adventures to the warm waters of the world. Wendy has a degree in Business Administration from the University of San Diego and also worked in London for the State of California. Prior to owning OTA, she spent 4 years at BCT Scenic Walking, dedicating herself to the sales & marketing of European hiking holidays, and exploring much of Europe by foot.

Vice President: Jay Schwartz

Jay recently retired as a commercial airline pilot and is now pursuing his other passion, the health of our oceans. A Lifetime Member of The Oceans Foundation, he became involved with the Foundation when the HMCS Yukon arrived in San Diego. He spent over 14 months preparing the ship for reefing and served on the dive safety team. A scuba diver for over 40 years, he's a certified Technical Diver and has over 140 dives on the Yukon. In the past he has served a Chairman of the "San Diego Airspace Users Group" and Chairman of his fellow pilot's "Safety Committee" for Southern California. He holds a degree in "Broadcasting" from S.D.S.U.

Treasurer: John Gonnerman

Secretary: Kacy Lafferty

A Gloucester, MA native, Kacy has her Masters in Education, Teaching Credential and has taught both Elementary and Middle school. She is the Executive Director of Discovery Adventures which operates a summer camp and kayak excursions. She has taught Marine Science to children on Catalina Island, and San Diego, California. She has worked in Outdoor Education for the past 15 years and is a trained guide with CPR, EMT, Emergency Dive Accident Management and Lifesaving Certification. She was recently certified by the Coast Guard as a licensed Captain.

Ed Parnell, PhD

Ed grew up in San Diego cutting his teeth on the snorkel given to him by his big sister for his fourth birthday. He's been hooked on everything marine ever since spending much of his youth fishing and diving. Despite professing to be an adult, not much has changed, because Ed turned his passion into a career as a research scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. His research interests encompass the ecology of coastal shelf environments focusing on the interaction between the fluid environment and the biology of these ecosystems and the effects we are having on the coastal zone. As an avid ocean user who embraces its integrity, aesthetic nature, and beauty, Ed is an advocate of wise ocean stewardship based on sustainable human practices that affect the oceans including our use of the watersheds that drain into it, the re-engineering of its margins, the pollutants that settle into it from the atmosphere, the sewage we discharge into it, the food that we rely on from it, and all the services that it faithfully provides us.

Dave Rudie

Dave began diving southern California in 1972 as a sport diver and later as a commercial sea urchin diver. Dave owns a sea urchin processing company called Catalina Offshore Products. Dave has been involved in fishery management of sea urchins for the last 25 years as a member of the Directors Sea Urchin Advisory Committee, the Sea Urchin Fishery Advisory Committee, and the Sea Urchin Commission. He was involved in managing the sea urchin fishery with size limits, limited entry and limited days. Dave was also a member of the Regional Stakeholders of the MLPA (marine life protection act) as a fishery representative. In his free time, Dave enjoys digital underwater photography and being a member of the San Diego Underwater Photographic Society, since 2007.

Allen Schneid

President of I T Pathworx, Ltd., a technology consulting engineering company for voice, data, and video communications infrastructure, data centers, video security, access control, and intrusion detection systems. I T Pathworx consults with architects and other consulting engineering companies in the design of corporate, educational, military, state and local government building and campuses.

Mr. Schneid has been a member of San Diego Rod and Reel Club from 1978 and served on the board of directors for 9 years in all capacities including treasurer, vice-president and president.

In 1990, he cofounded The San Diego Anglers, a non-profit recreational sport fishing club. During its first 3 years, he served as treasurer, vice president and in 1993 as president. In 2006 Mr. Schneid was again elected to a 3 year term on the board of directors where he served as treasurer in 2006 and president again in 2007. The club organizes and holds several annual charity and community events including annual charters for MDA, children with muscular dystrophy, Big Brothers & Sisters, and Heroes on the Water, a fishing event for our wounded-in-action military at Balboa Naval Hospital. Other events have financially benefitted the Polinsky Center's Child Abuse Prevention Foundation, a safe haven and fresh start residence for abused and neglected children.

Walter Schwerin

Walter possesses a Masters Degree in Civil Engineering from SDSU, and utilizing this degree, is president of Schwerin & Associates. This firm does general civil engineering including land form, utilities and drainage. Included within these tasks is the administration of storm water quality for waters from new construction. This includes filtration and other systems that enhance water quality for waters that emanate from new development.

Walter is an avid user of our ocean. He is a long term fisherman who has served on the Board of Directors for the San Diego Rod & Reel Club. He is a past president of that organization. He is also an advanced diver with over 200 dives in the Southern California area and in foreign countries as well. He enthusiastically endorses the goals and mission of the Oceans Foundation.

Gayle Van Leer

Heidi van Lydegraf

Heidi earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Communications with an Advertising Concentration and Business minor from Loyola College of Maryland. Having lived in five countries, six states and one U.S. territory, Heidi's twelve-year residence in San Diego is a testament to her love of the area. Heidi brings over a decade of marketing and sales management experience, most recently having consulted for Fortune 500 companies. Heidi's love of the ocean began in 1988 when she was certified as a PADI Scuba diver in Micronesia and she is thrilled to now be sharing that enthusiasm for San Diego's waters!

ADVISORS

Andrew Abouna
Jim Antrim
Daniel Beintema
Ann Belus
Frank Birdsong
Charlie Bishop
Roger Box
Malin Burnham
Paul Dayton, PhD
Arthur DeFever
Harold Dorr
William Evans
Phil Gay
Scody Hage
Fred Hallet
Shaun Halvax
Kevin Hardy
Tom Hawthorne
Carl Mayhugh
Gale Mead
David Merk
Frank Powell
H.P. "Sandy" Purdon
Peter Seligman
Marty Snyderman
Greg Stone
Jan Svejkovsky, PhD
Lee Wilson
Richard Wright, PhD

If you are interested in becoming a Board Member or Advisor, please download and complete our Board Member Interest Form and email to sdoceans@sdoceans.org