The American Cetacean Society’s National Board of Directors consists of individuals with diverse professional backgrounds and affiliations who bring to the governance of the organization knowledge of conservation science, whale watching, business, finance, education, the arts, and public policy. These eclectic interests are united by their passion for cetacean protection and their desire to advance a new paradigm in marine education, research, and conservation.
Meet the ACS Officers and Directors
Officers
Kathy Zagzebski, President
Email: kzagzebski@nmlc.org
Kathy has been a member of ACS since 1996. She served on the board of the San Francisco Chapter for several years, and also on the National Board as San Francisco Chapter Delegate. Kathy is the President and Executive Director of the National Marine Life Center, in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. Previously, Kathy was the Manager of Strandings at The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, California, the largest marine mammal hospital in the U.S. She has also volunteered for the Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Laboratory in Hawaii, the Marine Mammal Stranding Network on the east coast, and several dolphin watch projects.
Diane Glim, Vice President
Email: diane@mcweekly.com
Although raised far from the ocean, Diane became interested in cetaceans at the first Save the Whales symposium held at Indiana University in the 70s. Within the first month of her move to Pacific Grove, California, Diane discovered the Monterey Bay Chapter of the American Cetacean Society by attending a talk on harbor seals. She became very involved with the chapter in various capacities, and has served two terms as president and delegate to the national organization. Diane achieved her dream of visiting the gray whale calving lagoons in Baja California, Mexico in 2002. Another highlight of her whale life was kayaking among a super pod of orcas off the San Juan Islands. Diane is extremely concerned with the highly endangered status of the vaquita porpoise and helped establish ¡Viva Vaquita! to raise awareness and funds to help save the species (vivavaquita.org). Diane lives in Pacific Grove with her husband and daughter. She is employed by the Monterey County Weekly newspaper and volunteers weekly with the Sea Otter Research and Conservation (SORAC) program at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Cindy Rustanius, Treasurer
Email: cindyrust@aol.com
Cindy is a Certified Public Accountant who has had her own CPA firm, Rustanius & Norton, CPA, PC, for over 20 years.
She earned her master’s degree in taxation from the University of Southern California. Prior to joining the ACS National Board, Cindy completed over 10 years of service as treasurer on the board of the Catalina Island Performing Arts Foundation. Cindy is currently on the board of the South Bay Estate Planning Council. Previously she has volunteered on the boards of South Bay Free Clinic and American Woman’s Society of CPA’s. She is intently interested in our earth and environment.
Patty Geary, Secretary
Email: orcageary@yahoo.com
Patty became a board member for the Los Angeles Chapter of ACS in May 2001 and has served on the National Board since January 2002. She has volunteered in the Los Angeles Chapter’s Whalewatch program for five years. She has been actively involved in animal welfare causes since the mid 1990’s. Patty lives in Gaithersburg, Maryland, where she is a Captain at Trader Joe’s. She brings a wealth of enthusiasm and community resources from her vast professional management experience, which includes 30 years in the restaurant/retail industry.
Directors
Barbara Bennett, At-Large
Email: aknaturalist@aol.com
Barbara was introduced to ACS in 1990 when she became a volunteer naturalist through the ACS/LA project, Cabrillo Whalewatch. This training has opened many doors for Barbara, including a project for the Alaska Native Heritage Center, as well as her current job as a naturalist lecturing to cruise ship passengers touring Alaskan waters. With a strong support for public outreach, she feels she can fill an important role as an ACS Board Member. Barbara has also joined the Alaska Southcentral marine mammal stranding network. She is a strong proponent of public outreach.
Allison Dahle Riehl, Los Angeles Chapter Representative
Email: adriehl@gmail.com
Allison is a relatively new board member of ACS, having discovered the organization upon moving out to Los Angeles in 2007. Being pleasantly surprised when she simply Googled how she could become involved with her favorite animal in the world, whales. Having grown up in Green Bay, WI, she was converted to a “cheesehead” and a Packers fan before attending high school in New Canaan, CT and then majoring in Sociology and Marketing at Miami University (Ohio). Upon graduation she went into the Marketing Research world and worked for a small custom research company in Los Angeles. However, because of her love for the east coast and snow, Allison recently relocated to NYC where she works for Ipsos ASI as a Research Manager in Manhattan. From the west coast to the east, she is determined to create cetacean awareness in the city that never sleeps.
Uko Gorter, Puget Sound Chapter Representative
Email: uko@ukogorter.com
Born in Amhem, Netherlands, Uko was a professional ballet dancer for 17 years, and is currently a scientific and natural history illustrator, specializing in marine mammal illustration. While cetaceans are his main focus, Uko portrays all fauna, including seals, sea lions, penguins, sea turtles, and land mammals. Uko also creates conceptual illustrations, anatomical drawings, logos, maps, and other graphic illustrations. His work is featured on his website, Uko Gorter Natural History Illustration (www.ukogorter.com). Uko is the President of the Puget Sound Chapter and has provided nearly all of the illustrations for the ACS’s national website, as well as numerous Whalewatcher and Spyhopper publications. He currently lives in Kirkland, WA, with his wife, Susan.
Lynette Koftinow, San Francisco Bay Chapter Representative
Email: lklifeart@sbcglobal.net
Raised being taken out on the ocean and in nature with her father, Lynette has always held an abiding love and concern for the ocean. After years of diving and worldwide travel, she began seeing the oceans and their inhabitants changing for the worse and wanted to do more than passive activism.
After a successful career in the commercial arts, she had time to pursue her other love – marine biology. Taking time to study marine biology, working for The Marine Mammal Center and The Bayshore Studies program, she then co-reactivated the San Francisco Chapter of the American Cetacean Society at the end of 2010.
Last year Lynette created the monthly 2011 Speaker Series and various whale watching events. This year she continues to bring an engaging monthly speaker series, whale watching events, new student group connections/collaborations, and public outreach events to the chapter.
She and Cara Gallagher (a student at CSU East Bay campus, Hayward, CA), have created the SF Bay ACS Student Coalition. Taking the lead from the National ACS Student Coalition and supported by the SF Bay ACS chapter Cara will work on issues mixing science and activism to produce effective education for students and the public for the betterment of our oceanic world.
Dave Lippman, At-Large
Email: thisislipp@gmail.com
Dave is a Design Manager for the Apple Online Store. Prior to joining Apple in early 2011, Dave was a Co-Founder and VP Creative at Sisu, Inc., a small (but mighty) design studio that creates design and technology solutions for web and mobile platforms. He has extensive experience in designing and leading interactive experiences for marketing, e-commerce and social media. Dave is a graduate of the Parsons School of Design and lives in Palo Alto, CA. His favorite cetaceans are killer whales and spectacled porpoises.
Jerry Loomis, Monterey Bay Chapter Representative
Email: loomis15885@att.net
Jerry is a retired California State Park Ranger and Commercial Diver. He currently works as a naturalist and is the Program Coordinator for the Point Lobos Summer Adventures nature camp. He joined the American Cetacean Society in 1981, is currently a three-term president of the Monterey Bay Chapter, and also serves as a scientific advisor to that chapter.
Ric Matthews, San Diego Chapter Representative
Email: ricmat46@me.com
Ric received a B.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology from UC Davis, an M.A. in Vertebrate Zoology from San Diego State University, and a Masters in Education in Computers and Technology from National University. He is Dean Emeritus of Math and Sciences at MiraCosta Community College, Oceanside. For twenty years, Ric taught Health and Biological Sciences at San Diego Miramar College, and for twelve years, was a researcher of comparative physiology at UC San Diego School of Medicine, Department of Pulmonary Physiology, where his research focused on pulmonary physiology of humans, diving birds, and mammals in “unusual environments” (e.g., space, ultra-high altitude, diving). Ric has been a SCUBA instructor for twelve years, primarily with the Diving Locker, has led ten ACS trips to the gray whale calving lagoons of Baja California, Mexico, the Smithsonian Institution, and private charters. He also enjoys photography and is a licensed private pilot.
Flip Nicklin, At-Large
Email: fnicklin@aol.com
Flip grew up around his father’s small dive shop in San Diego, California, and went on to become the premiere whale photographer and marine mammal specialist for the National Geographic Society, which has featured his photos and audio tracks of humpback and killer whales in numerous magazines and television specials since 1976. In the past 30 years, Flip has photographed more than thirty species of whales and dolphins, some so endangered their survival is in question. In 2001, he co-founded Whale Trust, a nonprofit organization dedicated to research and public education. He is the author of several books, including With the Whales and Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises, and his latest book, Among Giants: A Life with Whales (University of Chicago Press).
Wellington Rogers, Orange County Chapter Representative
Email: wrogers@socal.rr.com
Wellington Rogers joined ACS as a member of the Orange County Chapter in 1978; he has served as that chapter’s sales director, newsletter editor, webmaster, vice president, and most recently, as President of the chapter since 1998. Wellington taught marine biology at Lakewood High School for twenty years, retiring from teaching in 1988.
Sabena Siddiqui, Student Coalition Representative
Email: siddiqis@umail.iu.edu
Sabena Siddiqui is a psychological & brain sciences major with a focus in animal behavior at Indiana University Bloomington. After becoming a member of the American Cetacean Society in 2010, Sabena was pulled closer to a field about which she is passionate. She has served as a volunteer at the Indianapolis Zoo and an internship in the Manatee Care & Research Department at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, FL. Most recently, she completed a 2011 summer field internship with the Dolphin Communication Project in Bimini, The Bahamas. Sabena’s experiences led her to develop a poster presentation and research paper entitled, Cetaceans in captivity: the education fallacy and the modern ark’s voyage to apathetic attitudes concerning the conservation of wild cetaceans, co-authored with ACS Executive Director, Dr. Cheryl McCormick, which she presented at the 11th Biennial International Conference of the American Cetacean Society in Monterey, CA, and the 19th Biennial Conference of the Society of Marine Mammalogy in Tampa, FL. She is president of the ACS Student Coalition based in IUB. She plans to extend the student coalition nationwide, creating a network of students united by their interests in cetacean and marine protection.