Ayana Johnson

Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a Ph.D. marine biologist, conservation strategist, and policy wonk, currently working as an independent consultant. Prior, she was Executive Director of the Waitt Institute where she co-founded and led the Blue Halo Initiative, partnering with the Caribbean governments and communities of Barbuda, Montserrat and Curaçao to overhaul ocean management for sustainability.

Johnson earned a BA from Harvard University in Environmental Science and Public Policy, and a Ph.D. from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in marine biology, and has worked on ocean policy at both the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Her work has been featured in the New York Times, The Atlantic, and Nature Magazine. Her Op-Eds have been published in The Guardian and New York Times. She blogs for National Geographic and Huffington Post, and shares her adventures in ocean conservation on Twitter (@ayanaeliza).

Johnson’s mission is to create, implement, and amplify the best ideas in ocean conservation. She builds bridges between science, policy, and people, so we can use natural resources without using them up.