Heinz Center Staff Biographies
Thomas E. Lovejoy has been President of The Heinz Center since May 2002. Before coming to The Heinz Center, he was the World Bank’s Chief Biodiversity Advisor and Lead Specialist for Environment for Latin America and the Caribbean and Senior Advisor to the President of the United Nations Foundation. Dr. Lovejoy has been Assistant Secretary and Counselor to the Secretary at the Smithsonian Institution, Science Advisor to the Secretary of the Interior, and Executive Vice President of the World Wildlife Fund–U.S. He conceived the idea for the Minimum Critical Size of Ecosystems project (a joint project between the Smithsonian and Brazil's INPA), originated the concept of debt-for-nature swaps, and is the founder of the public television series Nature. In 2001 he was awarded the prestigious Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement. Dr. Lovejoy served on science and environmental councils or committees under the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations. He received his B. S. and Ph.D. (biology) degrees from Yale University.
Douglas Black is the Director of Finance and Administration at the Heinz Center. He comes with over ten years of non-profit experience in Accounting and Finance. Previously, he was the Director of Finance and Administration for Hearts and Homes for Youth, as well as a Senior Finance and Operations Manager at the Academy for Educational Development. He is a graduate of the University of Central Florida with a BSBA in Accounting and Management Information Systems. He is currently pursuing an MBA at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Karen Boler is the Office Manager/Meeting Planner at The Heinz Center. New to the D.C. area, Karen moved from her home in Columbus, Ohio. There she was employed for 20 years as office manager for a security systems company. Karen also enjoyed her role as the Business Development Specialist for a non-profit agency in Ohio. Always an active volunteer within her community, she has served as a commissioner, a board member, and secretary for numerous organizations that focus on the health and wellbeing of children and families. She is most proud of completing a marathon in 2002 in affiliation with the American Stroke Association. Karen is a graduate of Bliss Community College with an Associates Degree in Business Administration.
Robert W. Corell joined The Heinz Center as the new Global Change Director on December 1, 2006. Before coming to The Heinz Center, Dr. Corell served as a Senior Policy Fellow at the Policy Program of the American Meteorological Society and an Affiliate of the Washington Advisory Group. He recently completed an appointment that began in January 2000 as a Senior Research Fellow in the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Dr. Corell is actively engaged in research concerned with the sciences of global change and the interface between science and public policy, particularly research activities that are focused on global and regional climate change, related environmental issues, and science to facilitate understanding of vulnerability and sustainable development. He co-chairs an international strategic planning group that is developing a strategy designed to harness science, technology, and innovation for sustainable development, serves as the Chair of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, counsels as Senior Science Advisor to ManyOne.Net, and is Chair of the Board of the Digital Universe Foundation. Dr. Corell was Assistant Director for Geosciences at the National Science Foundation where he had oversight for the Atmospheric, Earth, and Ocean Sciences and the global change programs of the National Science Foundation (NSF). He was also a professor and academic administrator at the University of New Hampshire. Dr. Corell is an oceanographer and engineer by background and training, having received Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. degrees at Case Western Reserve University and MIT.
Claire Hayes is the Executive Assistant for the Environmental Reporting Program. Prior to joining the Heinz Center in 2006, Claire worked at the American Thoracic Society as Manager of Research and Assembly Programs in New York. From 1997-2004, she worked at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in Washington, DC, where she assisted the Union’s Council and Section Executive Committees and helped facilitate the first electronic election at AGU. Before joining AGU, she was employed in the Student Activities Office at Tidewater Community College in Virginia Beach, VA. Claire received a B. A. in Religion from Mary Washington College. She also enjoys studying traditional medicinal plants of the southeastern United States.
Anne E. Hummer is the Heinz Center’s Communications and Development Director. Before joining the Center in 2003, Ms. Hummer served as communications and fundraising consultant for several nonprofit organizations in Washington D.C., and Maryland. Ms. Hummer has previously worked as Development Director for WAMU Radio, the Reproduction Research Institute, and the Center for Science in the Public Interest. At World Wildlife Fund, Ms. Hummer served as Special Assistant to the President, Membership Director and Editor of FOCUS, a quarterly membership publication. Ms. Hummer received her B.A. in journalism from The Ohio State University. She is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and serves on the development advisory boards of several organizations.
Anne S. Marsh Research Associate, is a staff scientist for the Environmental Reporting Group. Dr. Marsh comes to The Heinz Center with a leadership grant from the Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation. Before joining the Center, Anne was a visiting scientist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. She worked as a consultant to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and served as a research associate and editor of the National Wetlands Newsletter at the Environmental Law Institute. Anne received her B.A. from Williams College (Environmental Studies), and her M.F.S (Forest Science) and Ph.D. (Ecosystems Ecology/Plant Physiology) from Yale.
Jonathan Mawdsley, Research Associate, is a staff scientist for the Environmental Reporting program. Before joining the Center, Dr. Mawdsley worked for five years at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, where he administered national and regional grant programs on topics ranging from invasive plant management to the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay. Prior to working at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Entomology of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. He received his B. A. from Harvard University (Biology) and his Ph.D. from Cornell University (Entomology).
Christine Negra Research Associate, is a staff scientist for the Environmental Reporting program. Before joining the Center, Dr. Negra worked on state-level environmental science policy as a Public Policy Fellow with the Snelling Center for Government. Her doctoral research on the behavior of trace metals in soil systems was conducted at the University of Vermont and the National Synchrotron Light Source. From 1994 to 1998, she worked with farmers, local and state officials, and environmental advocates on sustainable agriculture, water quality, and urban forestry projects. She received her M. S. (Natural Resource Planning) from the University of Vermont and her B.A. (Government Studies) from Wesleyan University.
Dennis Ojima is currently a Senior Scholar at the H. John III Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment. He is also a Senior Research Scientist of the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory (NREL) at Colorado State University where he was Interim Director from 2005 to 2006. Dr. Ojima received his BA and Masters Degree in Botany from Pomona College (1975) and the University of Florida (1978), and his PhD from the Rangeland Ecosystem Science Department at Colorado State University in 1987. His current US research contributes to the North American Carbon Project. His research areas include global change effects on ecosystem dynamics and regional climate change assessment for the Central Great Plains, as well as international efforts in Central Asia, Mongolia, and China. His research with the Chinese Academy of Sciences includes development of Regional Carbon Management. Dr. Ojima is also member on the U.S. National SCOPE Committee and member-at-large on the Governing Board of the Ecological Society of America (2005-2007).
Robin O'Malley directs the Heinz Center’s Environmental Reporting Program, which publishes The State of the Nation’s Ecosystems: Measuring the Lands, Waters, and Living Resources of the United States. Mr. O’Malley came to The Heinz Center in November 1997 from the Department of the Interior, where he led U.S. Government efforts to establish a biodiversity information network throughout the Americas. From 1993 to 1996, he was Chief of Staff for the National Biological Survey, where he was responsible for numerous program development, budgeting, implementation, and outreach activities. Mr. O'Malley has also served as a Special Assistant to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt; Deputy Science Advisor within the Interior Department; Associate Director for Natural Resources at the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ); and senior environmental advisor to Governor Thomas H. Kean of New Jersey; he has also held a variety of environmental positions within New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection involving financing of environmental infrastructure, hazardous site remediation, and solid waste management. He holds a master’s degree from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and a bachelor's degree from the State University of New York.
Marty Spitzer joined the Heinz Center as a Senior Fellow in January 2007, providing strategic advice on a variety of current environmental issues, including nanotechnology, environmental indicators and climate change. He joined the Heinz Center after six years on Capitol Hill as Professional Staff for the Science Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, chaired by the recently-retired Congressman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY). Marty was the lead or key staff on environmental science and policy issues, including climate change, nanotechnology, chemical and risk policy, sustainable development, and regulatory innovation. Marty previously served the White House as Executive Director of the President’s Council on Sustainable Development, a blue-ribbon panel of business, environmental and other leaders to develop and promote sustainable development. Marty has also served in various senior staff capacities at the U.S Environmental Protection Agency where he advanced innovative environmental policies to improve environmental accounting in the private sector, recognize leading companies through EPA’s Performance Track program, and incorporate pollution prevention into many agency programs. Marty’s career is characterized by solving problems collaboratively, linking the worlds of law, science, and policy, and developing programs that tap business drivers for environmental protection and sustainable development. Marty earned his J.D and Ph.D. in Policy & Management from the University of Buffalo and his B.A. in Economics and History from Binghamton University.
Carmen R. Thorndike is the Executive Assistant to the President of the Heinz Center. Ms. Thorndike has been with Dr. Lovejoy since 1987, when he was Vice President for Science at the World Wildlife Fund. Since that time, she has served with him at the Smithsonian Institution, the World Bank, and the United Nations Foundation. Before joining the World Wildlife Fund, Ms. Thorndike had been a Project Associate for the Latin American Manufacturers Association (LAMA). She received a business administration degree from Cenecape Andrés Bello, Peru.
Christophe A. G. Tulou serves as Director of the Center’s Sustainable Oceans, Coasts and Waterways program. Prior to his work with The Heinz Center, Christophe was president of the non-profit Center for SeaChange, which he established to advance substantial reform of U.S. ocean laws and policies. As executive director, he helped guide the Pew Oceans Commission to the publication of America’s Living Oceans: Charting a Course for Sea Change, a compilation of policy recommendations to restore and protect living marine resources in U.S. waters. Christophe also served as Cabinet Secretary for Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, and served over a decade in Congress. Christophe was born in Geneva, Switzerland. He earned his BS in Biology at the College of William and Mary, and received two master’s degrees – one in Zoology and the other in Marine Affairs – from the University of Rhode Island. He also received a law degree from Georgetown University while working on Capitol Hill. He is a member of the Virginia and District of Columbia Bars.
Stacia VanDyne is Communications and Development Manager at the Center. Prior to joining the Center, Stacia served as production coordinator and publicity and publisher's assistant at Hearst Books in New York. Additionally, she worked as an intern and assistant in the Chief of Staff's Office during the Clinton Administration, and later coordinated efforts for the U.S. Department of Commerce in their regional Miami, Florida Export Assistance Center. Stacia has researched and helped manage events for various non-profits, including academics researching alternative energy. She graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in International Studies from Southern Methodist University.
Tranice Watts is research and administrative assistant for the Global Change Program. Tranice is a 2005 graduate of The Ohio State University (OSU), receiving her Bachelor’s in English with a focus on Rhetoric and Linguistic Studies. While attending OSU, she completed her internship with the American Association of Retired People (AARP), assisting them with research in soft money contributions and senate/congressional voting records. Prior to Ms. Watts’ time at OSU, she was Head Officer (’95-’98) of her student American Welding Society chapter’s district, focusing on the increase of funding and recruiting women for the program.