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Gulf of Mexico Foundation Staff
GMF staff: (from left) Kathryn Tunnell (former staff
member), Richard Gonzales,
Dr. Quenton Dokken
Carrie Robertson and Bobbi Reed
 Quenton
Dokken
Executive Director
Corpus Christi, Texas
Email: qdokken@gulfmex.org
Dr. Quenton R. Dokken, Executive
Director, is uniquely qualified to lead the efforts of the Gulf of Mexico
Foundation. He has been with the Foundation since its
inception in 1991. Until moving from part-time to
full-time with the GMF in 2006, Dokken was Associate Director
of the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
Center for Coastal Studies.
While working as an adjunct professor at A&M, Dokken
was also the
Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration Gulf of Mexico Regional Marine Research
Program.
As Executive Director of the Texas State Aquarium in 1985, Dr. Dokken directed
the efforts to establish the newly formed nonprofit
facility in Corpus Christi, Texas. With a full-time
staff of 78 and more than 1,000 volunteers, Dr.
Dokken directed the aquarium through its first year,
when the $32 million facility opened its doors to
over 700,000 visitors who came to view and marvel
at the living wonders of the Gulf of Mexico.
As a marine scientist, Dr. Dokken has an extensive
publication record relating to the study of the ecosystems
and fauna of the Gulf of Mexico. As Executive Director
of the Gulf of Mexico Regional Marine Research Program,
he has led his professional peers in developing priorities
for marine research in the Gulf of Mexico, a daunting
task in the face of declining research dollars. He
is the founder and coordinator of the Flower Garden
Ocean Research Program which integrates the efforts
of institutional science and the offshore oil and
gas industry to expand opportunities for marine research
in the most cost-effective manner. View Dr. Dokken's
Resume.
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 Bobbi Reed
Executive Assistant
Corpus Christi, Texas
Email: bobbi@gulfmex.org
Bobbi Reed works on special projects, government contracts,
and as program assistant to the executive director of
the Gulf of Mexico Foundation. She recently retired
from the federal government after more than 30 years
of service.
Mrs. Reed began her career in Washington, DC with
the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of
Reclamation. She served as Special Assistant to the
head of that agency until the late '70s when she moved
to Texas with her husband. Since that time she has
worked with other natural resource agencies, including
the US Geological Survey’s Office of Marine Geology
and the Minerals Management Service. Her work
experience has been predominantly in the fields of
administration, management, and coordination.
Mrs. Reed represented the Gulf of Mexico Foundation
at the Blue Vision Conference in Washington D.C. held
in July 2004.
Read her report.
Mrs. Reed has many years of experience in meeting
planning, meeting management, team building, and
facilitation, and has led workshops on those topics
for both governmental and nongovernmental entities.
Her hobbies include fiction writing and caring for her
golden retriever and five cats.
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Ryan Fikes
Project Coordinator
Corpus Christi, Texas
Email: ryan@gulfmex.org
 Ryan Fikes coordinates
activities of the Gulf of Mexico Community-based
Restoration Partnership, its steering committee and
team of GEMS managers, oversees restoration
projects, and assists the project leaders. He
receives incoming projects reports, prepares
outgoing reports for granting agencies, and manages
the office and daily activities.
Before coming to the Gulf of Mexico Foundation, Ryan
worked as Lab Operations Assistant at the
Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies.
Since 2005 he has participated in yearly expeditions
to Quintana Roo, Mexico, where he has conducted
scientific diving and research in the Sian Ka'an
Biosphere Reserve. Originally from San Antonio, he
received his bachelor’s degree in biology in 2004
from TAMU-CC, where he is currently finishing his
master’s degree in biology. His thesis research,
conducted out of the Center for Coastal Studies,
looked at first-year colonization of the rocky
jetties of Packery Channel. His research interests
include phycology (study of algae), marine community ecology and
conservation biology.
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 Richard Gonzales
Project Leader
Aransas Pass, Texas
Email: richard@gulfmex.org
Richard Gonzales is the director of
the Gulf of Mexico Foundation's multicultural outreach program, which uses science education to
bring students in Texas together with students south of the border.
Entitled, "the Gulf of Mexico Science and Spanish
Club Network," the program is funded through the Coastal Impact Assistance Program grant from the Texas
General Land Office and the NOAA. To learn more about the program, click here:
Multiculture.
As program director, Gonzales spends much of his time in the field with students, engaged in
activities such as dragging seine nets through bay waters to learn
firsthand what lives beneath the surface, kayaking through wetlands to monitor animal and plant life,
cleaning up trash along coastal areas, and following a river upstream to understand how fresh water makes its
way to the Gulf and how human impact affects the environment.
A native of Texas, Gonzales has operated New America Marketing
since 1996 in Aransas Pass, providing photography, publishing, and creative services to clients throughout South
Texas. His educational background includes a BBA and an MBA from Texas A&M University
Corpus Christi. Fluent in both Spanish and English, he
fosters relations with Mexico, particularly
between Tamualipas and Texas. His hobbies include raising his dogs and working on a ranch
in Gonzales County on weekends.
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 Laura Bodenheimer
Development Officer
Houston, Texas
Email: Bodenlm@aol.com
Laura Bodenheimer is the Development Officer for the Gulf of Mexico Foundation.
She works with the
Board of Directors
and
Quenton Dokken on building
relationships with corporations and on finding
support for GMF programs from stakeholders in the
Gulf of Mexico region. She
brings more than 20 years of experience working with corporations,
foundations and individuals developing support for nonprofit organizations. Her experience includes strategic planning, annual fund,
corporate sponsorships, direct mail, planned giving, endowment and capital campaigns for educational, conservation, animal protection,
social services, and visual and performing arts institutions. Previous work experience includes the Houston Symphony, Houston Grand Opera,
Hermann Eye Fund, Citizens for Animal Protection and the Hobby Center, for which she directed the 96 million dollar capital campaign.
Laura served as the Assistant Dean for Development for the College of Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Illinois.
Before working in development, she taught at the University of Wyoming and at the College of Health Sciences in Bahrain and worked in the
energy sector in government affairs and philanthropic giving.
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 Franklin Viola
DUOY and Media Project Coordinator
Houston, Texas
Email: franklin@gulfmex.org
Franklin Viola, a professional photographer, has worked with the Gulf of Mexico Foundation
as a volunteer on diving expeditions for several years. This year, he will be heading up the
GMF's
Down Under, Out Yonder program, which educates teachers about the reef by taking them scuba diving. Viola has received numerous
national and international awards for his underwater photography over the past two decades. After receiving a BS in Marine Science & Marine Transportation at Texas A&M University at Galveston in 1982,
Viola served four years in the U.S. Merchant Marine, sailing aboard huge cargo ships as a U.S. Coast Guard Licensed Third Mate (Unlimited Tonnage).
Returning to terra firma (“the beach”) in 1986, he focused his love of water -- salt or fresh, ocean or pond, river or lake -- through the optics of a camera.
Viola produces still photography and digital video for clients who use water to tell their story or to sell their product. His clients include Audubon,
National Geographic, Travel Holiday, Islands, Discovery Channel Online, Sport Diver, The Nature Conservancy, American Express, Epson, BP Oil & Gas, Turner Broadcasting,
Hitachi and Delta Airlines. To view Franklin’s photography visit
www.violaphoto.com.
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 Carrie Robertson
Webmaster & E-Newsletter Editor
Corpus Christi, Texas
Email: carrie@gulfmex.org
Carrie Robertson is the Gulf of Mexico Foundation's
webmaster, photographer and electronic
newsletter editor. Ms. Robertson received a bachelor's degree in
communications from the University
of Texas in Austin in 1984. She started her career
as a newspaper staff photographer, then began freelancing for
travel and outdoor magazines and working as a webmaster.
Find her website at:
Third Coast Photo & Web.
Before returning to her native Texas in
2002, Ms. Robertson lived in Oregon, Hawaii and
Mexico, working as a dive master, marine naturalist,
and windsurfing instructor. She is conversationally
fluent in Spanish, gained from her five years living
in Mexico. Carrie spends her free time enjoying the
Gulf of Mexico through windsurfing, kayaking and
sailboating. Carrie and her husband Peter Meyer have a
three-year-old son named Kai which means "sea" in Hawaiian.
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Gulf of Mexico Foundation - PMB 51, 5403 Everhart - Corpus Christi, TX 78411
(800) 884-4175 toll free - (361) 882-3939 phone - (361) 882-1262 fax
e-mail:
info@gulfmex.org
website:
gulfmex.org
webmaster:
Carrie Robertson
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