AIC Members

AIC Members | AIC Affiliate Members | AIC Secretariat

AIC MEMBERS

Jean-Pierre “JP” Oriol

Jean-Pierre “JP” Oriol, the AIC Chair, has served as the Commissioner of the Department of Planning and Natural Resources since being appointed by Governor Albert Bryan Jr. in early 2019. JP previously served as the Director of the Division of Coastal Zone Management within the same department from January 2011 – January 2019. JP has been part of the AIC since 2010 and has served as the Chair since 2017. He is a graduate of the All Saints Cathedral School in St. Thomas and Brandeis University in Boston, graduating the latter with a bachelor’s degree in Biology.

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Chelsa Muña

Chelsa Muña, the AIC Vice Chair, is Director of the Guam Department of Agriculture, appointed by Governor Lourdes Leon Guerrero in January 2019. She is the Governor’s POC for both the US Coral Reef Task Force and Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council. Prior to her appointment, Chelsa served Guam’s community as a Project Director for the Guam Department of Education (GDOE) for four years, successfully managing a multi-million-dollar curriculum project. In the years before her work with GDOE, Ms. Muña developed and managed a workforce development project for the Guam Community College where she collaborated with the private sector, GDOE, and several government agencies. She also gained policy experience working in the legislature, first as a policy writer then as Chief of Staff for Senator Muña Barnes. An honors graduate from the University of Guam with a degree in psychology and minors in sociology and women and gender studies, Chelsa also holds a teaching certification in education and has received training in project planning and development, grant management, writing, and board development.

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Taotasi Archie Soliai

Taotasi Archie Soliai currently serves as the Director for the American Samoa Department of Marine & Wildlife Resources, and the Governor’s POC for the US Coral Reef Task Force.  Most of his professional career has been in the private sector, most recently employed as a Senior Manager at Starkist Samoa Co.  Mr. Soliai’s career spans through all three branches of government, and has extensive leadership and policy experiences.  He was an elected member of the local House of Representatives for his district for many years.  His administrative skills, coupled with his policy experience, have allowed him to successfully serve in leadership capacities in both public and private entities and organizations. He is passionate about preservation and sustaining our natural resources for future generations. Mr. Soliai is also an avid volunteer and community leader, having served in various positions such as the Chair of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, Chair of the American Samoa Chamber of Commerce, President of the Lions Club of Pago Pago, Chair of the American Samoa Community Cancer Coalition, Member of the Shriners Club of Pago Pago, Secretary for the CCCAS Church in Nu’uuli and the Honorary Consul for the Republic of Korea in American Samoa.

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Maria Vega Rodriguez, PhD

Dr. Maria Vega Rodriguez obtained her PhD in Marine Science with a specialization in Marine Resources Assessments from the University of South Florida. During her academic research, she used state-of-the art satellite optical instrumentation and field work to study the red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) productivity in La Parguera Natural Reserve and the influence of water quality variability on stony coral diversity at the Florida Keys. Additionally, Dr. Vega-Rodriguez worked with the Advanced Water Reclamation Facility at Pinellas County Fl. (local government) between 2016 -2021. She has a solid scientific ecological background in Caribbean coastal marine ecosystems as it relates to water quality, watershed management and water resources. Currently, she serves as the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (PR-DNER) Coral Reef Conservation and Management Program Manager where she oversees all coral-related projects held between the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program and the DNER. Personally, she loves gardening, traveling, and learning new languages. Her favorite quote is “Think globally, act locally”.

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AIC AFFILIATE MEMBERS

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AIC SECRETARIAT

Gerry Davis

Gerry W. Davis joined the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in 2004 when the Pacific Island Regional Office was created. He has more than forty years of experience working on managing marine ecosystems and fisheries in the Pacific Islands.
For the last 20 years he has served as the Assistant Regional Administrator for the Habitat Conservation Division at the Pacific Islands Regional Office (PIRO). This Division is responsible for several federal mandates to protect, enhance and maintain marine habitats for the US possessions in the Western Pacific, including American Samoa, Guam, Hawaii, Northern Mariana Islands and the Pacific Remote Islands through the management of federal actions and in partnership with other federal, state governments, private and community entities. Mandates include the Magnuson Stevens Act essential fish habitat and Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act consultations as well as NMFS engagement on Clean Water Act federal action compliance.
The Habitat Conservation Division also houses the PIRO Coral Program, the environmental standards for the Marshall Islands under a US Government treaty agreement and the co-management of the 4 large Marine National Monuments in the Pacific Islands Region.
Oversees a team of 20 staff and has offices in American Samoa, Guam, CNMI and Hawaii. His programs and efforts focus heavily on the management of coral reef habitats and associated resources across the US Western Pacific. Has served as the Coral Reef Initiative All Islands Committee Natural Resource Advisor since 2004.
Before coming to NMFS, he managed the Guam Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources for the Government of Guam for 23 years. This is the Guam government’s natural resource management Division that is responsible for the management of the territorial coastal waters (fisheries) and land resources (wildlife) and included the oversight of the law enforcement for natural resources.

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Robert Richmond, PhD

Dr. Bob Richmond is a Research Professor and Director of the Kewalo Marine Laboratory, University of Hawaii at Manoa.  He received a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the Dept. of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, and subsequently spent 2 years as a postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, 18 years on the faculty of the University of Guam Marine Laboratory, and has been a Research Professor at the Pacific Biosciences Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, since 2004.   He has spent his career studying coral reef ecosystems in the Caribbean and the Pacific, including the Virgin Islands, the Grenadines, the Galapagos Islands, Hawaii, Japan and Micronesia.  He is a past President of the International Coral Reef Society, the Science Advisor to the All-Islands Committee of the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force and was a member of the U.S. National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine expert committee on Interventions to Support the Persistence and Resilience of Coral Reefs. Bob helped draft Executive Order 13089 that established the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force, the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000, and the Restoring Resilient Reefs Act of 2023.  He is both an Aldo Leopold Fellow in Environmental Leadership and a Pew Fellow in Marine Conservation, with over 100 peer-reviewed publications.  He works closely with community-based organizations, elected and traditional leaders and stakeholders, and has trained over 70 Pacific Islanders in his laboratory.  His research interests include coral reef ecology, marine conservation biology, ecotoxicology, ecohydrology, bridging science to management and policy, and the integration of indigenous ecological knowledge with modern approaches to resource use and protection.