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Michael Sutton serves as Vice President of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and directs a new program known as the Center for the Future of the Oceans. The mission of the Center is to inspire action for conservation of the oceans. The Center will work to achieve lasting marine conservation outcomes by empowering individuals and influencing policy, focusing on initiatives where the Aquarium can make a unique and valued contribution. Previously, Sutton headed the Marine Fisheries Program at the David & Lucile Packard Foundation in Los Altos, California, the largest private funder of ocean conservation efforts in North America. Earlier, Mr. Sutton founded and directed World Wildlife Fund’s Endangered Seas Campaign, a global effort to promote the conservation and sustainable use of marine fisheries. In the United States, Mr. Sutton has served as a senior advisor to the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of State on marine fishery issues, sitting on two Federal Advisory Committees. He was a founding member of the national steering committees of both the Marine Fish Conservation Network and the Ocean Wildlife Campaign, the latter an international coalition working to conserve large pelagic fishes such as sharks, tuna, and swordfish. He has lectured at graduate seminars on marine conservation policy at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Stanford, Tufts, George Washington University, and the University of Rhode Island. Mr. Sutton joined WWF in 1990 to work on international wildlife policy issues. In 1992, he was appointed Vice President responsible for the U.S. Land & Wildlife Program. In 1995, he accepted a temporary assignment with WWF International to launch WWF's global Endangered Seas Campaign. In 1996, Mr. Sutton formed a business/environment partnership with Unilever, the world’s largest buyer of frozen fish. Together, WWF and Unilever co-founded the Marine Stewardship Council to harness market forces and consumer power in favor of sustainable fisheries. Before joining the WWF staff, Mr. Sutton served as a special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and as a park ranger with the National Park Service in Yosemite, Yellowstone, Biscayne, and Virgin Islands National Parks and Death Valley National Monument. He received a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Utah State University in 1978 and pursued graduate studies in marine biology at the University of Sydney, Australia. His research involved the behavioral ecology of coral reef fishes on the Great Barrier Reef. In 1992, he received a law degree in international and natural resources law from George Washington University's National Law Center in Washington, D.C. | 