Officers

JENNIFER BIDDLE (President)

Dr. Jennifer Biddle is an Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) where she teaches courses in environmental policy, collaborative governance, and policy analysis and serves as The Coastal Society UNCW Student Chapter Faculty Advisor. Jennifer earned her M.S. in Freshwater Ecology and Ph.D. in Public Policy from George Mason University. Her primary areas of research include adaptive governance, collaborative partnerships, and water policy. Jennifer’s research leverages existing adaptive governance theory in the creation of both top down and bottom up approaches to preserve the integrity of our coastal resource systems. Recently, she received awards from UNCW’s Seahawks Advancing Interdisciplinary Learning (SAIL) program to take students on overnight trips to visit various communities in the Outer Banks to learn about their efforts to build resilience through partnerships. Next year, she will collaborate with the Film Studies Department to capture the issues facing coastal communities through short documentary films. Jennifer’s early research and professional experience involved advising clients on Clean Water Act permitting and regulations at an environmental firm outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and assisting state agency programs aimed at reducing nonpoint source pollution at USEPA headquarters in Washington, D.C. These experiences, working in both private and public environmental sectors, awarded Jennifer with a balanced perspective on the practical constraints and political challenges that arise when implementing environmental policies. Her career goal is to apply her knowledge and training toward the betterment of water protection strategies.
In addition to serving as the TCS UNCW Student Chapter Advisor, Dr. Biddle has been instrumental in the planning of several TCS events. She has demonstrated a real understanding and commitment to TCS and will bring experience and leadership skills to the position of President Elect.

STEVEN MACLEOD (Past President)

Steven MacLeod has been an Environmental Scientist with WSP USA, Inc. (WSP) in Buffalo, New York, since 2019, following WSP’s acquisition of Ecology & Environment, Inc. (E & E). Since 2011, he has primarily assisted clients along the U.S. Gulf and East Coasts with environmental assessments, coastal consistency analyses and permit applications for onshore and offshore natural gas and electric transmission lines, as well as renewable energy projects (wind, solar, marine hydrokinetic).

Before joining E & E, Steve was employed by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in Tallahassee, Florida. As part of FDEP’s Bureau of Beaches and Coastal Systems, Steve coordinated the evaluation for local and federal shoreline protection projects such as beach nourishment and sand bypass operations primarily along the Atlantic Coast. He was also responsible for reviewing dredge/fill projects in intracoastal waterways and deepwater ports throughout the state, including analyses of potential impacts on water quality and biological resources.

Steve holds a B.S. in Physics from the University of Puget Sound and a M.S. in Oceanography (Coastal Zone Management) from the Florida Institute of Technology. He has been a member of The Coastal Society since 2004. As President-Elect, Steve will support the current efforts of the TCS board and officers to establish the Margaret A. Davidson Career Development Program as a mainstay of the Society. He will also encourage further committee initiatives to modernize and streamline TCS, e.g., through social media outreach and student chapter communications, to better serve our members and ultimately grow our TCS community in the years to come.

LISA SCHIAVINATO (Secretary)

Lisa Schiavinato is a lawyer and ocean and coastal policy expert based in Southern California. Throughout her career, Lisa has gained broad experience in legal and policy research and analysis, program and project management, and organizational leadership. She has worked and published on a variety of environmental topics, from coastal resilience planning to the intersection of public beach access and private property rights, marine aquaculture, environmental restoration, and offshore energy. Lisa worked with Sea Grant programs from coast to coast and held adjunct positions teaching ocean and coastal law to graduate students and law students before joining the environmental nonprofit sector, where she currently serves as Managing Director for the Coastal States Stewardship Foundation. Lisa also has a long history with – and love for – The Coastal Society. She previously served on the Board of Directors and is also a Past President. In addition, she held program chair and conference co-chair positions for past TCS biennial conferences.

JEFF BENOIT (Treasurer)

Jeff Benoit has over 45 years of experience and leadership in coastal management and marine conservation. He is a coastal geomorphologist by training, starting his career with the Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management Program as a coastal geologist and later served as a Director. From 1993 to 2001, Jeff was Director of NOAA’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM, now OCM) where he had oversight of the National Coastal Management Program, National Marine Sanctuary Program, and National Estuarine Research Reserve Program. Jeff served as President and CEO of Restore America’s Estuaries from 2007 to when he retired in 2020. Jeff has served on several National Academy of Sciences select Committees on coastal management and was President of The Coastal Society from 2009 through 2010. Following his retirement, Jeff established Beaufort Biscuits LLC, a North Carolina home-based artisan bakery business. He currently serves on the Rachel Carson Estuarine Research Reserve Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) and the Olde Beaufort Farmers Market Board of Directors.

Jeff earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Geology from Southampton College and a Master’s Degree in Geophysical Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology/Skidaway Institute of Oceanography.

Jeff is familiar with organizational budgets and financial reports. He currently uses QuickBooks to track the finances of his small business. He looks forward to assisting TCS with a commitment for a full year term and then reassess at the end of the term.

DIRECTORS

LARRY CAHOON

Dr. Cahoon is Professor of Biology & Marine Biology at UNC Wilmington, where he has served on the faculty since 1982. He earned a B.S. in Biology (summa cum laude) at Washington and Lee University in 1975 and a Ph.D. in Zoology at Duke University in 1981. His current teaching portfolio includes an undergraduate Limnology course and graduate courses in Biological Oceanography, Oceans and the Environment, and Coastal Ocean Science and Policy. His research interests include benthic-water column interactions in continental shelf waters, nearshore production and grazing processes, and a wide variety of water quality problems. His policy experiences include service on the North Carolina Marine Science Council, the NC Ocean Affairs Council, a Legislative Study Subcommittee on offshore energy exploration, an Ocean Policy Steering Committee for the NC Division of Coastal Management, as a member of the Board of Directors for Cape Fear River Watch, as Chair of CFRW’s Advocacy Committee, and as Chair of the NC Ocean Resources Task Force.

RICK DEVOE

Rick DeVoe spent his formal 40-year professional life working for the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium, having had the pleasure and honor of serving as its Executive Director from 1997 to 2020. While officially retired, he is still active in the “coastal” world. DeVoe serves as a Faculty Affiliate with the College of Charleston’s Department of Geosciences and Environmental Geosciences. DeVoe is a member of the advisory board of the Southeast and Caribbean Disaster Resilience Partnership (SCDRP), and serves as Co-chair of its Governance Committee. He served as an ex officio member of the S.C. African American Heritage Commission, and is now Vice-chair of the WeGOJA Foundation (formerly the S.C. African American Heritage Foundation). In 2016, DeVoe was inducted into The Citadel Academy of Science and Mathematics. Rick’s professional interests have included coastal and marine resource policy; state and regional coastal ocean planning and policy; coastal resilience; ocean observing, marine aquaculture policy, science-to-application linkages, and science management, communication and education. He earned his undergraduate degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University and graduate degrees from CUNY/City College of New York and the University of Rhode Island.

Rick became a member of The Coastal Society in 1986, and served on The Coastal Society Board of Directors and its Education Committee during the period 2007 to 2013, and wishes to be a nominee for a Director position on the current 2023 Board of Directors. If elected, he will work with the Board and TCS members to develop strategies to strengthen interest and participation in activities of The Coastal Society and identify those coastal and marine issues to which The Coastal Society can place its emphasis and attention.

CIRSE GONZALEZ

As Coastal Training Program Coordinator with Chesapeake Bay NERR in Virginia, Cirse works to inform and empower decision making in coastal resource management through capacity building, technical assistance and community engagement. Cirse believes that the most effective resource management is achieved through transdisciplinary means, inclusive of community and multiple ways of knowing. To her efforts in education, access and engagement, and any participatory process, Cirse brings experience in communications and outreach, natural resource management, responsible recreation and marine ecology. Her work and research history stems from a variety of agencies and organizations, including but not limited to: the U.S. Federal Recreation Council (aka FICOR), where she served as Executive Director; NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, where she worked in outreach as well as constituent and legislative affairs; five U.S. marine laboratories, where she studied the ecology and physiology of algae and crabs; and the Hispanic Access Foundation, for whom she recently wrote a report on Latinos and the Ocean. While navigating her career, Cirse has lived and worked in geographies from Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska, to Madagascar (nearish antipodes!). Cirse received a B.S. in Biology from Duke University and a Master of Marine Affairs from the University of Washington.

GENEVIEVE GUERRY

Genevieve is currently a PhD candidate at East Carolina University in the Integrated Coastal Studies program. She is a graduate researcher who has been working with a multidisciplinary team on environmental changes, conflict, and human migration. Currently, Genevieve is studying how emerging contaminants affect a coastal community, in Wilmington, North Carolina. She is using mixed methods to better understand the knowledge and stress of residents dealing with chronic contamination of per and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Before her PhD, Genevieve worked as a marine educator for Clemson’s Youth Learning Institute. This was some of her most meaningful work, which included educating and sharing in the wonders of the coast with school children from the Carolinas. Genevieve holds a master’s degree in Coastal and Ocean Policy from the University of North Carolina Wilmington. She worked as a graduate assistant, interned with the North Carolina Coastal Federation, and worked in the service industry during this time. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in Marine Science with an emphasis on Biology from the University of South Carolina.

RILEY LEWIS

Riley Lewis is the White Oak Waterkeeper with Coastal Carolina Riverwatch in coastal North Carolina. She works to protect the quality of water and quality of life within the White Oak River Basin through research, outreach and advocacy efforts. She conducts this work with community advocates, local county governments, coastal research institutes and NC state government. Prior to her Waterkeeper work she was an Americorps member with the University of North Carolina Wilmington running the citizen science programs aimed at educating adults on the benefits of coastal marshes in Wilmington, NC.Riley received her Bachelor of Science in Marine Science at the University of South Carolina and received her Master of Science in Coastal and Ocean Policy from the University of North Carolina Wilmington. During her time at UNCW, she reestablished the UNCW student chapter of TCS and acted as president until she graduated. Riley has presented and participated in multiple TCS and she looks forward to continuing the work of TCS through her position on the Board of Directors.

POLLY GLOVER

Polly Glover is a lifelong Louisiana resident who has spent over three decades working as a private citizen’s wetlands advocate in Louisiana. Growing up she was innately aware that we were losing our land and, in doing so, losing our culture and our communities as the land disappeared into the Gulf of Mexico. She serves as the project coordinator for Restore or Retreat, a non-profit in south Louisiana. Southern Louisiana faces some of the greatest land loss in the world and her knowledge and advocacy led to this opportunity to work on leading large- and small-scale volunteer driven coastal restoration projects. She frequently serves as an expert on the Louisiana coast to local, state, national and international media outlets. She has experience raising funding for coastal restoration projects and works with a variety of industry and community stakeholders for the betterment of our coast and its long term resiliency. She is the Founder of Feed the Fleet, a post disaster assistance support for Louisiana’s Commercial Seafood Fleet impacted by the storms. She has received a U.S Senate Recognition of Service to Louisiana’s Wetlands in 2024 and was a Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana 2024 Stewardship Award Honoree. Polly wishes to serve on TCS’s board to commit her time to helping work to address and solve some of the coastal challenges we are facing at all levels.

KATE FULLER

Kate’s background is coastal love and continual education. After earning a M.S. in Chemical Oceanography from Florida Institute of Technology, she worked in water quality sciences for a decade, then continued this path at UNC Wilmington while earning a second Master’s Degree in Coastal Ocean Policy. Her dream is working in interdisciplinary communication and networking in order to help aid the health and wellness of the coastal environment. She loves to bridge science and policy into actionable cause; a strategy she is currently aiming to implement in support of a capstone project to improve the health of a Wilmington watershed (Greenfield Lake). As it takes working with scientists, engineers, city council, NGOs and the general public to make this happen, Kate knows it is important to network across various stakeholders to achieve the end goal of effective coastal management and coastal science. Kate Fuller serves on the TCS Communications Committee and the Margaret A. Davidson Coastal Career Committee. As president of the TCS UNCW Chapter, she is bringing the goals and values of TCS to UNCW. TCS is the organization she has found to best foster dialogue around coastal issues, and she loves supporting this goal in any way she can.

KELLY GRAVES

Kelly Graves stepped away from her decade-long career in corporate finance and leapt into motherhood and community service in 2016. While raising a family, Kelly earned a master’s degree in Coastal & Ocean Policy from the University of North Carolina – Wilmington (UNCW) in December 2022. Her research focused on nonpoint source water pollution and the subsequent environmental impacts on underserved communities. For her capstone project, Kelly worked closely with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to perform a comparative analysis of the General Permit and NPDES Permit process as it applies to the swine Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) industry. Kelly reentered the workforce as a Coastal Program Manager for Natrx, a Raleigh, North Carolina-based engineering firm focused on nature-based coastal resilience solutions, leading business development, outreach and project management activities. Currently, Kelly serves on the Shoreline & Beach Access Committee for the Town of Kure Beach, working with Town officials to ensure safe and equitable access to all beach goers. She recently led an initiative which installed toybox libraries on the beach, creating a space for beach toys to be borrowed by visiting children. She also led the grant funded effort to install new cigarette receptacles at all Kure Beach access points. Kelly is also the Vendor Coordinator for the Wilmington Earth Day Alliance and volunteers in the public relations and education departments at the Fort Fisher Aquarium.

After attending Priority Issues in Coastal North Carolina: A Forum by The Coastal Society, in November 2023, Kelly was motivated to further develop her career in coastal management. She joined TCS as a Regular Member and joined the MAD Committee. Kelly was a core member of the planning team for the October 8, 2024 Margaret A. Davidson Coastal Career workshop hosted by the Duke University Marine Lab in Beaufort, North Carolina. She provided critical in-person support to the planning team at the workshop, including event set-up, registration, and greeting attendees at a local venue for happy hour. If elected to the TCS Board, Kelly plans to bring her project management experience and MAD Committee experience, combined with her education and passion to protect our coastal communities, to work to support TCS’s mission and strategic goals and further TCS’s presence and positive impact in coastal North Carolina using her local knowledge of the communities and partners. She would like to remain on the MAD Committee and to increase her involvement in planning and implementing workshops and other aspects of career development programming.