Gallaudet

The Honorable Tim Gallaudet, PhD, Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy (ret) is the CEO of Ocean STL Consulting and host of The American Blue Economy Podcast. He serves on several boards, is a fellow at The Explorer’s Club, and is a strategic advisor for a few dozen startups, research institutions, and nonprofits in the ocean, weather, climate, and space sectors. Gallaudet is a former acting Undersecretary and Assistant Secretary of Commerce, acting and Deputy Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and Oceanographer of the Navy. He has a bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Naval Academy, and master and doctoral degrees from Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Hardy

Kevin Hardy is President of Global Ocean Design, creating components and subsystems for unmanned vehicles, following a career at Scripps Institution of Oceanography/UCSD. He holds important patents in the field of ocean landers. He is on the academic advisory board of Instituto Milenio de Oceanografía at the Universidad de Concepción, Chile. Hardy received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Shanghai Ocean University in 2018. He proposed making thick wall glass spheres to Nautilus Marine Service/Vitrovex (Germany) that opened the hadal depths to routine exploration. Hardy was the Lander Team Leader for James Cameron’s DEEPSEA CHALLENGE Expedition. He writes for the Journal of Diving History and the Marine Technology Reporter.

Strachan

David R. Strachan is a defense analyst and founder of Strikepod Systems, a research and strategic advisory focusing on autonomous undersea systems.

Manley

Mr. Manley is an innovative technologist and executive with experience in startup, public corporation, academic, and public sectors. He is an advisor to numerous startups and a co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Seahawk Robotics.

Laursen

Wendy Laursen has 20 years of experience as a journalist. She has a Master of Science research degree in marine ecology as well as diplomas in journalism, communication and subediting.