Julie E Packard

Julie Packard is the executive director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and has served in that position since the Aquarium opened in 1984. With a mission to inspire conservation of the oceans, the Monterey Bay Aquarium is widely acknowledged as a leader among aquariums worldwide and has been instrumental in engaging the public to become involved in ocean conservation and redefining aquariums as a force for conservation. Julie is chair of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) board of directors. She has served on many other boards and committees related to conservation, including the California Nature Conservancy and World Wildlife Fund. She also served as a member of the Pew Oceans Commission, a group of U.S. leaders charged with developing recommen-dations to improve ocean resource management, and she remains actively involved in national efforts to implement those recommendations. Julie was the 2004 recipient of the Ted Danson Ocean Hero Award from Oceana, a leading ocean conservation organization, and a 1998 recipient of the Audubon Medal for Conservation.