Board of Trustees

/ Who is POGO? / Board of Trustees

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:

  1. Ensuring the charity is carrying out its purposes for the public benefit;
  2. Complying with the charity’s governing document and the law ;
  3. Acting in the charity’s best interests ;
  4. Managing the charity’s resources responsibly ;
  5. Acting with reasonable care and skill ; and
  6. 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
Colombia

Board of trustees

Aileen TanProf Dr Aileen Tan Shau Hwai
Director
Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies (CEMACS), Universiti Sains Malaysia
Malaysia
Francisco P. Chavez
Senior Scientist,
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI)
USA
Dr Carmen Paniagua
Division Director,
Oceanology Division, CICESE
Mexico
Dr Olivier Pringault
Directeur du département scientifique OCEANS “Océans, Climat et Ressources”
IRD
France
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
China
Dr. Anya Waite
Chief Executive Officer and Scientific Director
Ocean Frontier Institute
Canada

DOCUMENTS FOR TRUSTEES
(password protected page)

The POGO Board of Trustees (formerly Executive Committee) is composed of:

  • The Chair
  • Either the Past or the Incoming Chair (in alternate years)
  • The Hosts of previous and next Annual POGO Meetings
  • 2 trustees elected by the membership
  • 2 trustees appointed by the Board (to address geographical and/or gender balance or gaps in expertise)
View a list of the past Chairs and Meeting Hosts of POGO. 

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 2025, the Finance Committee members are:

  • Steve DiMarco (GERG/Texas A&M) – Finance Committee Chair
  • Terry Bailey (IMAS)
  • Icarus Allen (PML)
  • Carmen Paniagua (CICESE)
  • Adelino Canario (CCMAR)
  • Suzan El Gharabawy (NIOF)
  • Alvin Jueseah (Liberia)

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.