Laura Francis’ (she/her) career includes 30 years working in ocean conservation, research and education, including more than 27 years at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) with the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. During her time with NOAA, she developed innovative marine education and international management capacity-training programs designed to increase ocean literacy among students, community groups, resource users, managers, the media and the public. She coordinated professional development workshops for science teachers around the topics of ocean acidification and climate change. Laura recently launched the Sea Forward Ocean Health Fund, a collaborative multi-donor advised fund that provides an “ever blue” charitable structure for ocean philanthropists and impact investors to support a healthy planet. Their investments and grants focus on sustainable aquaculture, science-based monitoring tools, circular economy, biodiversity, climate change, and regenerative nature-based solutions. She is an active member of Toniic, Rachel’s Network, and Pleiades Network. Laura received her bachelor’s degree in zoology from the University of California, Berkeley and a master’s degree in deep sea biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara.