Who we are
Friends of Ocean Action is a coalition of ocean leaders who are fast-tracking solutions to the most pressing challenges facing the ocean. Its members – the Friends – come from business, civil society, international organizations, science and technology.
This community is supported by funding from Marc and Lynne Benioff as part of the Benioff Ocean Initiative at the University of California Santa Barbara and the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs of the United Kingdom. It is convened by the World Economic Forum, in collaboration with the World Resources Institute.
Co-Chairs
Peter Thomson
UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean
Isabella Lövin
Former Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden
Friends of Ocean Action members
Diva Amon
Scientific Advisor, Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory; Founder and Director, SpeSeas
Inger Andersen
Executive Director, UN Environment Programme
Thomas Thune Andersen
Chairman of the Board of Directors, Ørsted, Denmark, and Lloyd’s Register
Marc R. Benioff
Chairman and CEO, Salesforce
Claes Berglund
Director, Public Affairs and Sustainability, Stena
Richard Brisius
Race Chairman, The Ocean Race
Julio Cordano
Director of Environment Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chile and Co-Facilitator, UNFCCC Ocean and Climate Change Dialogue
Elizabeth Cousens
President and CEO of the United Nations Foundation
Maria Damanaki
Principal Advisor, SYSTEMIQ; Principal Advisor, The Paradise International Foundation
Aniruddha Dasgupta
President and CEO, World Resources Institute
Arsenio Dominguez
Director, Marine Environment Division, International Maritime Organization (IMO)
Carlos Duarte
Director, Coral Research and Development Accelerator Platform, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
Sylvia Earle
President and Chairman, Mission Blue
Carlos Manuel Rodríguez Echandi
CEO and Chair, Global Environment Facility (GEF)
Minna Epps
Director, Global Marine and Polar Programme, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
Danny Faure
Former President of the Seychelles and African Union Champion on the Blue Economy
Daniela V. Fernandez
Founder and CEO, Sustainable Ocean Alliance (SOA)
Andrew Forrest
Chairman, Minderoo Foundation
Kerstin S. Forsberg
Co-Founder and Director, Planeta Océano
Charles Fox
Executive Director, Oceans 5
Katherine Garrett-Cox
CEO, Gulf International Bank (GIB) Asset Management, UK
Charles Goddard
Editorial Director and Executive Director of World Ocean Initiative, The Economist Group
Zac Goldsmith
Former Minister of State for Overseas Territories, Commonwealth, Energy, Climate and Environment, House of Lords, UK
Aimee Gonzales
Executive Director, Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA)
GUO Jingjing
Olympic diving champion; Ambassador, Key Connect; Ocean Program Director, Global Green Technology Center (GGTC)
Lasse Gustavsson
CEO, Ocean Wise
Wakao Hanaoka
Founder and CEO, Seafood Legacy
Henrik Harboe
Special Envoy, Ocean, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway and Co-Chair, High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy
Bill Hilf
CEO and Chairman, Vulcan Inc.
Rupert Howes
CEO, Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)
Naoko Ishii
Professor and Director, Center for Global Commons, University of Tokyo
Nina Jensen
CEO, REV Ocean
Marco Lambertini
Special Envoy, WWF International
Pascal Lamy
President Emeritus, Jacques Delors Institute
Jim Leape
Co-Director, Center for Ocean Solutions, Stanford University
LI Jianping
Dean, Academy of Future Ocean and Innovation, Ocean University of China
Tony Long
CEO, Global Fishing Watch
Jørgen J. Lund
Founder and Director, North Atlantic Seafood Forum (NASF)
Anna Marsden
Managing Director, Great Barrier Reef Foundation
Àrni Mathiesen
Senior Adviser, Iceland Ocean Cluster; Chairman of the Board, Better Transport
Kimberly Mathisen
CEO, HUB Ocean
Douglas McCauley
Professor, University of California Santa Barbara; Director, Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory
Peter de Menocal
President and Director, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Stuart Minchin
Director-General, Pacific Community (SPC)
H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco
Prince of Monaco
Jennifer Morris
CEO, The Nature Conservancy
Barkha Mossae
Blue Economy Advisor, African Union Commission
Razan Al Mubarak
President, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN); Managing Director, Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund
Cherie Nursalim
Vice-Chairman, GITI Group
David Obura
Founding Director, Coastal Oceans Research and Development in the Indian Ocean (CORDIO)
Sanda Ojiambo
CEO and Executive Director, UN Global Compact
Julie Packard
Executive Director, Monterey Bay Aquarium
Loreley Picourt
Executive Director, Ocean & Climate Platform
Tiago Pitta e Cunha
CEO, Oceano Azul Foundation
Angélique Pouponneau
Chief of Staff, United Nations Climate Action Team
QIAO Fangli
Deputy Director, First Institute of Oceanography
Rolly van Rappard
Co-Founder and Co-Chair, CVC
Leticia Reis de Carvalho
Head, Marine and Fresh Water Unit, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Patricia Ricard
President, Institut Océanique Paul Ricard
Vladimir Ryabinin
Executive Secretary, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, and Assistant Director General, UNESCO
Karen Sack
Executive Director, Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance (ORRAA)
M. Sanjayan
CEO, Conservation International
Wendy Schmidt
President, The Schmidt Family Foundation and Co-Founder, Schmidt Ocean Institute
Kirsten Schuijt
Director-General, WWF International
Ilana Seid
Ambassador of Palau to the UN and Co-Chair High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy
SHEN Guojun
Founder and Chairman of Yintai Group; Board Member of The Paradise International Foundation
Andrew Steer
President, Bezos Earth Fund
Achim Steiner
Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
SU Jilan
Professor of Oceanography, Academician, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Rashid Sumaila
Director, Fisheries Economics Research Unit, University of British Columbia
Atsushi Sunami
President, Sasakawa Peace Foundation and Ocean Policy Research Institute
Kristian Teleki
CEO, Fauna & Flora
Asha de Vos
Founder and Executive Director, Oceanswell
WANG Songlin
Founder and President, Qingdao Marine Conservation Society
Tatsuro Watanabe
Chief Sustainability Officer, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines
Wendy Watson-Wright
Vice-Chair, UN Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP)
Stephen Widdicombe
Director of Science and Deputy Chief Executive, Plymouth Marine Laboratory
Jan-Gunnar Winther
Pro-Rector, Research and Development at UiT The Arctic University of Norway