Sylvia A. Earle is a marine biologist, Explorer-in-Residence and leader of the Sustainable Seas Expeditions at National Geographic, former chief scientist of NOAA, chairman of Deep Ocean Exploration and Research, and honorary president of the Explorers Club. She is on the boards of Kerr-McGee Corporation, Woods Hole Occanographic Institution, the Conservation Fund, Conservation International, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Lindbergh Foundation, the World Resources Institute, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Park Service, the Ocean Futures Foundation, and the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. Holder of several deep-diving records, she is the author of some 130 publications.