I'm Michael Maddox, and I've loved marine life since I could remember, and have had marine aquariums for over 30 years. I've been to most of the world's major reefs, lived in Hawaii for years, and, coincidentally, even performed research on one of the same Belize barrier reef research islands as Jordan, our lead environmental scientist before we met at IMARCS!

I attended undergrad for marine biology and hold an M.S. in biology, but for the last decade, I’ve primarily been involved in business ownership. I grew an international company with a presence in 20+ countries before co-founding IMARCS. Owning a larger business has allowed me to become a philanthropist for multiple organizations, including IMARCS, which I'm very excited about.

Hello, I'm Gui, a member of the Karen tribe! The Karen people are a tribal people that inhabit what is now Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos, but unfortunately we are stateless and most of us can't obtain citizenship, get a passport, or travel internationally. Thankfully, the Thai government was kind enough to grant me citizenship which gives me the freedom to participate in such a unique organization as IMARCS!

As an indigenous people, we greatly depend on the natural environment for our day-to-day life, whether that's ocean, land, or a combination of the two, so I'm very happy to be working with an organization that is taking a holistic approach to conservation.

I hold a degree in business from Ratchaburi University.

I'm Jordan - I don't like writing about myself, but I do like writing about sustainable development, blue carbon solutions, and marine science. I am fortunate to be the Lead Environmental Scientist for IMARCS, and in addition to writing science-based content, I'm working hard on quantifying our carbon removal activities and constantly trying to maximize environmental benefits through our mariculture practices.

A little over a decade ago I received a Master of Science degree in Sustainable Resource Management from UM, following a Master of Science in Integrated Science and Technology from JMU - and since then I have been working in reefs, mangroves, tropical forests (basically all the best places to be) for NGOs and think tanks in Belize, Guyana, and Canada, including the United Nations Green Corps, Ecology Project International, the Canada West Foundation, and the International Institute for Sustainable Development.

Alongside my work with IMARCS, I am also a Fellow with the Energy Futures Lab in Canada and I run Treebridge Conservation, an organization that conserves tropical rainforests and mangroves for their carbon storage and other environmental benefits. Once upon a time, I was also a fairly serious athlete, but now my free time is spent enjoying hammocks, free diving, trees, and family.

I have been an entrepreneur and creative director, helping and working on diversified projects for the last 11 years.

After graduating from Nottingham Trent University and working with Ogily in 2013, I co-founded The Prototypes, an award-winning strategy and design practice that helps leaders and their organizations explore, learn, and grow.

My clients include various Fortune 500 companies (Samsung, BBC, ITC, Orient, Cremica, DLF, Maersk) and organizations, including the United Nations, the Estonian Embassy Council, the American Embassy School and some of the world's most progressive start-ups.

I have served as a board member and advisor to various organizations, including The Prototypes, Label KISS, Notesgen, Pepperscript, TAA and SWELL.

I was also serving as a visiting lecturer at Pearl Academy of Design, teaching Product Interface Design and Applied Empathy curriculum.

In my private time, I like practising design conjuring, mentalism, developing psychological, spiritual and motivational content and writing on how to bring these powerful traditions into modern life and the workplace.

My name is Tom Birlo, I am an artist from Israel. I never settled in one place, for the majority of my life traveling around the world while studying painting, and meeting different cultures while my parents were doing their mission of historical objects restoration in Israel and around Europe. After studying fine art and philosophy at Israel's Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, I dedicated myself to learning the Asian culture, and now happy to use my skills and knowledge in order to help popularize the great will of saving our nature.

Hello! I'm Gary Edwards, also known as Eddie. I started my photography career at the Defense Information School in 2004, working in various disciplines such as studio photography, journalism, crime scene documentation, and historical preservation.

Driven by a passion for mastery, I pursued a degree in Communications with a focus on film, photography, and journalism. This led me to earn a Master of Fine Arts in Photography, specializing in Fine Art.

Over the past 11 years, I've been fortunate to travel extensively across Asia, Europe, and Oceania. These experiences have broadened my perspectives and given me inspiration to pursue art and the artist's role in our changing society. When I'm not creating, I find peace in nature and enjoy sharing simple moments with others.