Solutions Review Team

Vikram Agrawal is a Managing Director in Trammell S. Crow’s personal family office, the CEO and Co-Founder of American Resilience Partners, and the Director of EarthxCapital.

Kwamena Aidoo is a co-founder and managing partner at Corridor Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in the US Southeast.

Adil Ashiq is a noteworthy leader in the maritime industry.

Ed Bailey is the director of Program and Portfolio Development at Northwestern Michigan College.

Alison manages the District’s portfolio of collaborative projects including the Maritime and Defense Technology Hub

Jon Paul“J.P.”Brooker, Esq. is an ocean and coastal law and policy expert and the Director of Florida Conservation for the nation’s oldest marine non-profit, Ocean Conservancy. He was born and raised in Florida on the Indian River Lagoon in Brevard County.

Leading economist and experienced public/private company director for 20 years. Expertise includes CEO succession, FBI investigations, cyber theft, digital transformation, and corporate turnaround.

Director of Resilience & Adaptation at Moffatt & Nichol; working across the practices of Water, Ports and Transportation.

VP Innovation Initiatives, Rhode Island Department of Commerce

Ann Lee Carpenter brings more than 30 years of experience in strategic planning, marketing, business development, and community outreach in private industry, nonprofit organizations, and as an entrepreneur.

Richard E. Claar is a Partner of The Martec Group, Inc., a global technical marketing research consulting firm.

Director of Adams Center for Entrepreneurship at Florida Atlantic University

Sarah is a Vice President for Carollo Engineers and serves as their National Climate Change and Resilience Lead and Chief Technologist in Sustainability.

Assistant Executive Director at the Alan B Levan NSU Broward Center of Innovation.

Co-Founder of One America Works – entrepreneur as well as investor and advisor to startups.

Director of MBA Programs at University of South Florida – including new Blue Economy MBA

Connor Firmender is a dynamic executive in the blue economy known for leading projects in numerous countries and fostering public-private partnerships.

Blue Economy manager at the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation.

Assistant VP at Bernstein Private Wealth Management

Director of Stragegic Engagement at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City Division.

Laëtitia is an Investment Associate at SWEN Blue Ocean, an impact VC fund investing in innovations that promote ocean health, focusing on solutions to overfishing, pollution and climate change.

President and CEO Blumenthal Holdings. Experience with advanced technologies – growth and innovation.

Dr. Harrishas worked for 38 ears on the analysis, design, and testing of marine vehicles.

Mairead is a Senior Consultant with Amane Advisors, a global management consultancy and advisory firm focused on the water industry.

John has over 25 years of experience helping businesses and governments transform with new technology.

Executive Director for the Water Resources Association of the Delaware River Basin (WRADRB), promoting the sustainable and resilient management of water resources within the Delaware River basin, which spans four states and provides drinking water for 15 million people.

An ocean fanatic working at the intersection of ocean technology, energy, and sustainability

Founder/Partner/Angel Investor Fish 2.0 Ventures.

Ted has served in various executive positions, including CEO, at financial institutions involved in Capital Markets, Banking and Asset Management over a 30+ year business career.

Debbra A.K. Johnson serves as the Vice Chair of the ARISE U.S. Network. She has been a member ARISE since 2011.

Principal/Founder of Global ETF Advisors LLC- an independent management consulting firm.

James Kesten is COVE’s Director of Venture Growth, where he works directly with COVE resident companies, partners, and stakeholders to create, adopt, and implement initiatives and programs that will remove barriers to the commercialization of new products and services.

Vesa Koivumaa is Sr. Area Sales Manager for Voyage Services division of Wärtsilä, a global leader in smart technologies and complete lifecycle solutions for the marine and energy markets.

As an advisor at Bernstein Private Wealth Management, I partner with my clients and their professional advisors on a wide range of wealth planning and investment strategies.

Inspiring leader with 30 years of management, sales, marketing, and product development experience in marine, luxury products, advertising & communications, IT, and professional services.

Vittorio, a Partner in Institutional Client and Product Solutions at Apollo, began his career in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs

Ryan has helped 1,500+ entrepreneurs one-on-one and another 5,000+ in workshops in three U.S. states over the last twelve years.

Justin Manley is an innovative technologist and executive with experience in startup, public corporation, academic, and public sectors.

Kimberly Mathisen is the CEO of HUBOcean, a non-profit foundation aimed at becoming the world’s ocean data collaboration hub. She has more than 25 years of experience in the private sector in Digitalization and Technology, Branded Consumer Goods, and Pharmaceuticals in North America, Europe and Asia, most recently leading a period of enormous growth and transformation as the General Manager of Microsoft Norway.

Consultant at McKinsey & Company, focusing on sustainability through innovation and entrepreneurship.

Tania Miranda is the Director of the Institute of the Americas’ Environment & Climate Change Program.

Fifteen years professional experience including in a venture capital backed startup, trade association executive leadership, international business ecosystem development, strategic partnerships development, consulting, public policy, public affairs & program management.

Ken Nagengast is an independent consultant and experienced technology Leader with a demonstrated history of working in Marine, Telecommunication & Defense industries.

Nikhil Neelakantan is the Senior Program Officer for the Ocean Visions Launchpad program, where he works with startups working on ocean-based carbon dioxide removal.

Katherine O’Fallon is the executive director of the Marine Research Hub since October of 2022.

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.

Betsy works with governments, industry, investors, and emerging tech startups to help them discover one another and achieve mutual success. Interests range from autonomous vehicles to energy to the future of education.  She is passionate about coaching innovators to think big.

Gabbi was one of the first employees at Seed Legals – a high growth tech startup in London backed by Index Ventures.

Scott is an experimental physicist by training, with technical expertise in the fields of nuclear physics, power generation systems, and optics.

Jacob Ruytenbeek is the Founder and CEO of SailPlan

From her earliest memories Cathy’s unwavering passion has been Ocean.

David is currently a senior manager at Maersk, the world’s largest shipping and integrated transport company.

Mark Stevens is a Principal Program Manager as part of the Advanced Autonomy and Applied Robotics team supporting commercial and government customers.

Dr. Jennifer Nyfennegger is a Principal Technologist and Associate Vice President at Carollo Engineers, Inc. in Sarasota, Florida.

As VP, Global Sustainability for Wallenius Wilhelmsen, Roger’s activities range from pushing for progressive, but pragmatic outcomes in environmental regulatory affairs to working with innovators and like-minded industry partners on the sustainability challenges of the logistics industry.

Midori Takasaki is a climate investor and grant-maker, with a focus on nature-based solutions and biodiversity, among other areas. She is a Principal with, King Philanthropies | Change Forces Capital.

Jason Thompson is the Chief Technology Officer for Oceankind. Prior to joining Oceankind Jason was on Verily’s founding team, Alphabet’s life sciences subsidiary spun out of Google X.

Anshul is a maritime executive with over 20 years of experience in strategic leadership and technical roles scaling sustainable business solutions and creating a multi-dimensional framework to accelerate innovation and change.

Mr. Wieboldt has over 40 years of experience in complex systems development encompassing the complete life cycle.

Poul Woodall has more than 45 years’ experience in the maritime world with a passion for climate and environmental issues.

Susan Zellers is an accomplished dynamic leader, with a background in association management, workforce development, economic development, advocacy, community coalition building and event management.

Matthew Zimmerman is CEO of FarSounder. He founded the company more than 23 years ago.