Experts Available for Interview
Please call 202.387.8550 or email us to arrange for an interview with any of the following individuals.
Sidney Coffee
Senior Advisor
America's WETLAND Foundation
Climate, Energy and the Coast Project
Co-Chair, AEC Policy Committee
Sidney Coffee joined the America's WETLAND Foundation as Senior Advisor on the Climate, Energy and the Coast Project in early 2008. Prior to that, Coffee was the Executive Assistant to Governor Kathleen Blanco for Coastal Activities and Chair of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA). As the Chair of CPRA, Coffee led the creation of the State's Master Plan for Coastal Restoration and Protection. She advised the Governor on all manner of coastal issues, including environmental restoration and hurricane protection efforts, and spoke for the state of Louisiana on these issues.
Ms. Coffee has worked on Louisiana's coastal issues or more than ten years, directing the state's efforts on the America's Wetland Campaign for Governor Mike Foster and working closely with Louisiana's Congressional delegation in Washington, DC, on funding and authorizing legislation for the state's coastal restoration efforts.
Mark Hurley
Chair, America's Energy Coast Industry Council
President, Shell Pipeline Company LP
Mark Hurley is President of Shell Pipeline Co, LP and has held this position since January, 2005. In this role, he is responsible for pipeline and terminal operations as well as road transport for Shell's Oil Products business in North America. Hurley became Chair of the America's Energy Coast Industry Council in 2007.
Hurley is a native of Cambridge, Maryland. He graduated from North Carolina State University in 1981 with a Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering. Soon after graduating from NC State, Mark started his career with Shell as a refinery process engineer at the Norco Manufacturing Complex located near New Orleans, Louisiana.
In 1986, Mark became Manager of Shell's Lubricants Plant in Wilmington, California. He then joined the Shell Chemicals business in 1991 and held several positions including Manager - Operations and Technical, Director - Marketing and Sales and Vice President - Supply Chain Management. Just prior to his current position in Shell Pipeline, he was Shell Chemicals Vice President - Feedstock Procurement and Products Trading based in London, England.
Susan Kaderka
Director
National Wildlife Federation
Co-Chair AEC Ecosystem Vulnerabilities Task Force
Since 1999, Susan Kanderka has served as the director of the National Wildlife Federation's Gulf States Natural Resource Center in Austin. Since she assumed this position in 1999, Kanderka has developed and launched the Texas Living Waters project. This project reformed Texas water law to protect instream flows, improve groundwater management and foster aggressive water conservation. Kanderka serves on the Louisiana Governor's Advisory commission for Coastal Restoration and Conservation advisory board as an advocate for coastal restoration. She as over fifteen years experience in environmental program management and has her master's in Journalism from the University of Texas.
Valsin A. Marmillion
Managing Director
America's WETLAND Foundation
He has served as Managing Director for the America's WETLAND Foundation since its inception in 2002.
The America's WETLAND Foundation manages the largest, most comprehensive public education campaign in Louisiana's history and was created to raise public awareness of the impact of the state's wetland loss has on the state, nation and world and gain support for efforts to conserve and save coastal Louisiana.
During the last six years, the Campaign's themes and messages have reached hundreds of millions of individuals through print and broadcast media outlets around the world. The Campaign has won more than 40 national awards including the prestigious Silver Anvil Award from Public Relations Society of America and the Best Non-Profit PR Campaign from PR News.
R. King Milling
Chairman, America's WETLAND Foundation
Vice Chairman, Whitney National Bank
R. King Milling is a staunch advocate for restoration of gulf coast wetlands. Long before hurricane Katrina propelled the issue into the nation's headlines, Milling was championing the protection of the marshes and estuaries along Louisiana's
coast.
Milling's leadership in Louisiana's coastal restoration efforts has been invaluable. As the Chairman of Governor Blanco's Advisory Commission on Coastal Protection and Restoration and Chairman of the Board for the America's WETLAND Foundation he has lead the charge to save and restore Louisiana's coastal wetlands.
With this kind of experience, there is no better person tell the story of the financial, and ecological impact of Louisiana's wetlands for the state, the nation and the world. As Chairman of the Board of the America's WETLAND's Foundation, Mr. Milling has lead the effort of the 6 year award-winning public education campaign that has been raising awareness on a global scale about the impacts of Louisiana's wetland loss.
Dr. Robert Twilley
Director of Wetland Biochemistry and Professor of Oceanography and Coastal Science Louisiana State University
Co-Chair of the AEC Policy Committee
Dr. Robert Twilley is the Director of Wetland Biochemistry and Professor of Oceanography and Coastal Science at Louisiana State University. Dr. Twiller has experience in a variety of marine and estuarine ecosystems in southeastern United States, and coastal environments throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. Included in his studies of coastal science, Twilley has participated in initiatives and workshops to develop ideas for management, valuation and conservation of tropical wetlands and estuaries. His current focus is developing ecosystem models to forecast the rehabilitation of coastal and wetland ecosystems.
Denise Reed
Professor at the University of New Orleans
Member of the AEC Policy Committee
Dr. Denise Reed received her B.A. and Ph.d. in Geography from Cambridge University. She is now a professor at the University of New Orleans. Dr. Reed has done extensive research concerning sediment dynamics and the factors that control sediment deposition. In addition, Dr. Reed has spent the last five years working closely with the development of coastal restoration plans for Louisiana.