Overview Sponsors Honorary Congressional Committee Register

Moderator:
Tom Skinner
Senior Project Manager
Durand & Anastas Environmental Strategies, Inc.
Tom Skinner is the Senior Project Manager at Durand & Anastas Environmental Strategies, Inc., of Boston, Massachusetts, and focuses on coastal projects, state permitting and licensing, and transportation. From 1999 – 2004, Tom served as Director of the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management and Assistant Secretary for Coastal and Marine Resources, and was responsible for managing the Governor’s Ocean Management Initiative, reorganizing the state’s wetlands restoration program, and streamlining waterfront development efforts. Tom's prior experience was in land conservation, transportation, and education. He has worked in the Maine Governor's office and the U.S. House of Representatives, has held management positions in state and federal environmental and economic development agencies, and was a senior planner at an international consulting firm, where he designed a strategic reorganization plan that was adopted by a European national railway. Tom currently chairs NOAA's Hydrographic Services Review Panel and the Board of Directors of the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies.
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Panelists:
Brian Baird
Assistant Secretary for Ocean and Coastal Policy
California Natural Resources Agency
Brian E. Baird is the Assistant Secretary for Ocean and Coastal Policy with the California Resources Agency. He has serves as the Director of the California Ocean Resources Management Program under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and has previously served in this role under Governors Davis and Wilson. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Coastal States Organization after serving as chair of the organization from 2007-2008 and chair of its Ocean Policy Committee prior to that. He was the chief writer of Governor Wilson’s 1997 statewide strategy for protecting and managing the State's ocean resources titled, California's Ocean Resources: An Agenda for the Future (Ocean Agenda) and was the chief writer of Governor Schwarzenegger’s 2004 strategy titled, “Protecting Our Ocean – California’s Strategy for Action.”

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Stuart FitzGibbon
Refinery Manager
American Sugar Refining, Inc.
Stu FitzGibbon is the refinery manager for American Sugar Refining, Inc in Baltimore, Maryland (a.k.a. Domino Sugar). In this position he leads a major manufacturer in the state of Maryland and one of the three largest sugar refineries in North America. Stu started his career as a research scientist with Harvard Medical School. His manufacturing career started at the Bunker Hill Refinery of American Sugar Refining in Charlestown, Mass. He has been a manufacturing manager for 29 years. His professional expertise is in sustainable organizational “turn around” achieved through the improvement of culture. His work experience includes Maritime, Logistics, Packaging, Quality Improvement and Processing in the food industry. Mr. FitzGibbon’s education includes a degree in Biology from Ithaca College. He has completed senior executive training at the University of Virginia, University of Tennessee, Penn. State, Harvard, and Lesley College, Cambridge, Mass.

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Grover Fugate
Executive Director
Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council
Grover Fugate is the Executive Director of the Coastal Resources Management Council. The council is an independent state agency, set up to be the principle planning and management agency for the state’s coastal areas. Mr. Fugate's duties include, the day-to-day administration of the Rhode Island Coastal Resource Management Program for the State of Rhode Island. Mr. Fugate is also the council’s and states representative to a number of boards, commissions, task forces, and other coastal related organizations. He graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1976, with a degree in Natural Resource Management. After graduation Mr. Fugate worked in Canada in a series of positions including Forester, Land Use Planner, with the Department of Agriculture, Regional Resource Planner, with the Crown Lands Branch, and Director of Shore Zone Management. In 1984, Mr. Fugate completed his MBA from Memorial with a program specialization in resource policy analysis. Mr. Fugate also holds an adjunct faculty position at the University of Rhode Island and is a guest lecturer at Brown University and Roger Williams University Law School. He is the recipient of many citations from the Governor and the Legislature for his work in Coastal Management and Community Service and recipient of the Sea Grant Lifetime Achievement Award for Coastal Zone Management.

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Gary Jeffress, PhD
Director
Conrad Blucher Institute of Science and Surveying
Dr. Gary Jeffress is a Professor of Geographic Information Science and Director of the Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Dr. Jeffress is Principal Investigator for the Texas Coastal Ocean Observation Network and the Texas Height Modernization program. He holds a Ph.D. in Surveying Engineering from the University of Maine (National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis), Master of Surveying Science and Bachelor of Surveying degrees from the University of New South Wales. Dr. Jeffress is a Registered Professional Land Surveyor in the State of Texas and past-president of the Texas Society of Professional Surveyors and past-president of the Geographic and Land Information Society. Dr. Jeffress currently sits on the Hydrographic Services Review Panel, and the Data Archiving and Access Requirements Working Group for the Scientific Advisory Board of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

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