Biosphere Foundation Board
      and its Project the Planetary Coral Reef Foundation

Abigail Alling, M.S is the Co-founder and President of the Biosphere Foundation and its project the Planetary Coral Reef Foundation (PCRF).  For the past 33 years, Ms. Alling has been actively engaged in marine, conservation and closed systems research and development projects. During the years of 1996 to 1994, she created and operated the largest artificial ecological marine system, a 1,000,000 gallon mangrove, marsh and ocean coral reef, served as Scientific Chief for over sixty research projects, and was one of the eight people to live inside Biosphere 2 for two years. A Fellow of both the Linnean Society and Explorers Club, Ms. Alling is a cum laude graduate of Middlebury College in Biology and also received an M.S. degree in Environmental Studies, cum laude from Yale University.

Dr. Paul J. Coleman, Jr. is professor emeritus of space physics at UCLA. The former president of the Universities Space Research Association, he also served as the head of NASA's interplanetary sciences program and the director of the National Institute for Global Environmental Change at the University of California. Dr. Coleman's research has included work with the Explorer, OGO and ATS earth satellites, the Pioneer deep-space probes, the Mariner series of planetary spacecraft, Apollo's 15 and 17 and Galileo. He has twice received the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal.

Orla Doherty, M.S.  is over-seeing PCRF's Studio of the Sea Project and PCRF's coral reef conservation program in Bali. She received a Masters in Chemistry at Oxford University and from 1991 to 1999 she become a television director and producer for the BBC and participated in the production of over fifty documentaries and factual programming all over the world. In March 2000, Orla joined PCRF in Papua New Guinea and became the Managing Director of PCRF's expedition at sea until its completion in 2008.

Kenneth R. Heitz is a Senior Partner in the Los Angeles based law firm Irell & Manella where he served as managing co-partner for six years. Mr. Heitz's areas of expertise include securities litigation and corporate governance as well as the negotiation of complex financial transactions.

Cynthia Lazaroff is the Vice President of PCRF. For the last decade, she ran a campaign to communicate the demise of coral reefs worldwide, helped to pioneer PCRF's Coral Reef Satellite Mission, coordinated a series of reef events in California during the years of 2001 to 2005, and helped implement newsletters, internet and fund raising programs over the years. A magna cum laude graduate in Politics and Russian Studies from Princeton University, Ms. Lazaroff brings more than twenty years of experience as a Russian-American relations specialist, educator, filmmaker and activist to the job.

Bruce Ludwig is the Senior Relationship Manager for ING Clarion in the Middle East. He is a Trustee of the American University in Cairo, a founding Chairman of the Directors Roundtable of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, a founder of the Music Center of Los Angeles, and serves on a variety of other local, national and international boards including Earthwatch International. Mr. Ludwig and his family have also been the principal benefactors of historic archeological projects in Egypt, Jordan and Africa.

Dr. Wallace J Nichols oversees Biosphere Foundation's Sea Turtle Conservation Program in the Anambas Islands.  He spent his youth exploring oceans and forests, as well as his own family history. Resulting in a fascination for genetics and animal migration, as well as human culture and conservation--these have been the topics of his undergraduate studies at DePauw University, graduate studies at Duke University and University of Arizona, his academic research as a Fulbright Fellow and as a research associate at the California Academy of Sciences.

Sally Silverstone is Chief Financial Officer and Secretary of the Board of Biosphere Foundation. For the past twenty years, Ms. Silverstone has been engaged in agricultural, environmental and closed system research and development projects. She served as the Co-Captain for the Biosphere 2 experiment where she managed the half-acre agriculture system that fed the crew during the two year closed mission. 

Mark Van Thillo is Chief Operations Officer and Director of the Board of Biosphere Foundation and its project the Planetary Coral Reef Foundation (PCRF). Mark manages all of the logistics and technical systems required to maintain and operate PCRF's ship at sea, "Studio of the Sea" film project, Wastewater Gardens� Project, Immersive Media Film Project, Mars On Earth Project� and projects for marine conservation in Indonesia. Previously, Mr. Van Thillo served as Co-Captain for the two year Biosphere 2 experiment where he was responsible for the maintenance and operation of the technics.

William G. Walker, Honorary Chairman of Biosphere Foundation, is a Tucson-based attorney whose practice emphasizes civil trial litigation. He has represented a wide variety of persons, institutions and causes, including the Tucson City Council, several current NBA basketball players, and is a legal advisor to PCRF. He has been specially honored by the Southern Arizona and the Southern California Chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union as their Co-Honoree of the Year (1987), and has won a special award for Law in the Public Interest from the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice.

Dr. Hugh Wheir, DVM, founder and executive director of Animal Alliance, graduated from Texas A & M University School of Veterinary Medicine in 1979 and conducted a mixed animal vet practice in Santa Fe, New Mexico for 20 years. He has been a pioneer of animal acupuncture and vigorously involved in thousands of spay-neuter clinics in the US and Latin America. In 1989 he founded Animal Alliance to reduce animal suffering and protect endangered species.