Our Team

Ocean Exchange Executive Team

Millicent Wallace Pitts

CEO/Executive Director

Milly is the executive director of  OceanExchange, that gives non-dilutive funding to innovative start-ups that support healthy oceans and a sustainable Blue Economy. She previously was an executive in the chemical/materials industry for 30 years.

Milly is the executive director of our international non-profit, OceanExchange.org, that gives
non-dilutive funding to innovative start-ups that support healthy oceans and a sustainable Blue
Economy. She previously was an executive in the chemical/materials industry for 30 years,
living in Houston, Philadelphia, Cleveland and Valencia (Spain).


In addition to her role at Ocean Exchange, she is a mentor with Creative Destruction Labs
(Oceans) in Halifax, is on the Leadership Team of OceansVisions.org, and has previously
mentored or judged in collaboration with other partners such as Clean Tech Open and NREL.
She leads the Ocean Exchange efforts to grow and communicate with the community of ocean
and blue tech innovators.


She holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Contact Us

Ocean Exchange invites you to learn more about Awards Program, our ecosystem and success of our award winners and participants. Together, we can chart a powerful course to help ensure the future of our oceans and the Blue Economy.

“Ocean Exchange has a platform to enable people with information that they need to know about the ocean and then to showcase new technologies that are on the forefront of really helping the ocean and the planet.”

“The quality of the content and the people who are involved with Ocean Exchange is all high end.”

“Besides funding, Ocean Exchange provides access to a wide area network of incredibly talented people in organizations that really do just want to help people.”

“Ocean Exchange is really about helping the little guys grow and in so doing, helping the big guys be better ocean citizens.”

“Ocean Exchange seems to be much more focused on bringing to light under-capitalized, wonderful new technology ideas. And it’s all about two-way access to this new technology and to the people who can help with the experience to grow that technology.”

“Ocean Exchange is a force multiplier to enable sustainable innovation.”

“Ocean Exchange is a global, novel innovation forum that has a greater ability to attract a broader range of impactful stakeholders than any other event that’s out there.”

“Unquestionably, one of Ocean Exchange’s primary strengths is how it brings together people from different paths. That makes its event a delegator experience as well as experience for an innovator or awards nominee.”

“Ocean Exchange is entirely different from any of the other organizations that I’m involved in. It is about sustainable innovation. I think it’s also very different in the extremely broad range of stakeholders that it involves.”

“There’s nothing better than going to an event or engaging with people so you walk away and say, ‘Wow!’”