NOAA has announced the appointment of Carrie Selberg Robinson as the new director of NOAA Fisheries'' Office of Habitat Conservation.
Ms Robinson will oversee a national office responsible for restoring and protecting habitat including managed fisheries and threatened and endangered species. Increasing the resilience of coastal ecosystems, communities, and economies as well as the recovery of marine life impacted by oil and other hazardous substance releases also fall under her leadership.
“I believe strongly in the work we do in the Office of Habitat,” said Ms Robinson. “I am looking forward to working collaboratively with our partners to continue to build shared approaches toward habitat conservation throughout the country.”
Ms Robinson has held various positions within NOAA for more than 15 years, joining in 2005 as a legislative specialist. She joined the Office of Habitat Conservation as the Deputy Director in 2015. Prior to that, she was NOAA Fisheries’ Chief of Staff from 2013 to 2015, engaged on cross cutting initiatives for the agency such as the Presidential Task Force on Illegal Fishing and Seafood Fraud recommendations and subsequent Action Plan.
Ms Robinson received her degree in Environmental Studies from Connecticut College and a Masters in Environmental Management from Duke University. She is also an alumnus of NOAA’s Leadership Development Competencies Program and the National Conservation Leadership Institute. Ms Robinson succeeds Pat Montanio, who is retiring from the agency after more than 40 years in federal service.
