The membership delegates responsibility for developing the organisation’s strategy, and the oversight of activities, finances and staff to the Board of Trustees. The Board is responsible for:
- Ensuring the charity is carrying out its purposes for the public benefit;
- Complying with the charity’s governing document and the law ;
- Acting in the charity’s best interests ;
- Managing the charity’s resources responsibly ;
- Acting with reasonable care and skill ; and
- Ensuring the charity is accountable.
Chair
 | Captain Francisco Armando Arias-Isaza General Director, The Marine and Coastal Research Institute “José Benito Vives de Andreis” – INVEMAR |
Board of trustees
 | Professor Nicholas J P Owens Director of SAMS (comprising Chief Executive of SAMS, Chief Executive of SAMS Research Service Ltd and Principal of SAMS UHI), UK |
 | Prof Dr Aileen Tan Shau Hwai Director of Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies (CEMACS), Universiti Sains Malaysia |
 | Francisco P. Chavez Senior Scientist, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) |
 | Dr Carmen Paniagua Division Director, Oceanology Division of The Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education at Ensenada (CICESE) |
 | Dr Olivier Pringault Directeur du département scientifique OCEANS “Océans, Climat et Ressources” |
 | Dr Yara Rodrigues Executive Member, Directive Board, Instituto do Mar I. P. (IMar), Cabo Verde |
 | Prof Fei Chai Chair Professor of Marine Science, State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science (MEL), Xiamen University |
Sub-Committees
The Board of Trustees delegates certain tasks to Sub-Committees, such as the Finance Committee and the Remuneration Committee.
Finance Committee
The purpose of the Committee is to assess the state of finances of POGO: (a) To review the management accounts of the past financial year before audit; (b) To review the first draft of the statutory (audited) accounts, provide feedback/queries to the auditors and present the statutory accounts to the Board of Trustees for review/approval; (c) To prepare a draft budget outlining expected income, and fixed & committed expenditure for the next financial year, which also highlights any available reserves. (d) To recommend to the Annual General Meeting any amendments to the management accounts deemed appropriate and their acceptance by the Members; (e) To provide recommendations to the Board of Trustees and Members, including concerning the available budget for the coming years, in line with the priorities and long-term budget plan set out by the Members; (f) To suggest to the members the level of membership dues for the coming three years based on financial projections.
The Finance Committee works with the CEO and appropriate members of the Secretariat in order to satisfactorily examine the books and budgeting process.
The Finance Committee operates by correspondence, virtual meetings and by meeting in-person prior to the Annual General Meeting of POGO.
In 2024, the Finance Committee members are:
- Terry Bailey (IMAS) – Finance Committee Chair
- Icarus Allen (PML)
- Carmen Paniagua (CICESE)
- Steve DiMarco (GERG/Texas A&M)
- Ning Wang (QNLM)
- Francis Asuquo (University of Calabar)
- Karen Wiltshire (AWI)
Remuneration Committee
The Remuneration Committee is responsible for reviewing staff performance and making recommendations to the Board regarding salary increases and bonuses. It is appointed by the Board and consists of 3 trustees (including the Chair) and a POGO member-at-large. For 2024, these are Francisco Arias, Nick Owens, Aileen Tan Shau Hwai and Han Dolman.