Ocean Defenders Alliance

MANAGEMENT

CEO/Executive Director

Mr. Kurt Lieber

CEO/Executive Director Experience

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Kurt’s family moved to Cleveland in 1967 where he had the privilege of having Lake Erie in his backyard. He spent many hours swimming there, but would often find huge schools of dead/dying fish covered with lesions and tumors—and gasping their last breaths. This repeated personal connection with suffering animals left him with a sense that he had to do something to help. Kurt’s love of the underwater world continued to grow as he began scuba diving in 1975. Almost immediately, he became a volunteer with several ocean-related organizations and worked on projects aimed at restoring kelp to areas off the Southern California coast; helping injured marine mammals return to the wild; and assisting sick and injured pelicans (usually entangled in fishing lines and hooks). In 1992, he began volunteering with Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, conducting outreach, serving as crew on their conservation ships, and eventually joining their Board of Directors in 2003 where he served as Treasurer for 8 years before departing in 2011. Towards the end of the 1990’s, Kurt decided to act on a long-time desire: to start an organization that would address the needs of southern California’s marine environment. Thus was born Ocean Defenders Alliance (ODA) in 2000 with a donated boat and a lot of enthusiasm from local activists. ODA obtained official non-profit 501(c)(3) status in 2002. Since then, even while working full-time as an engineer, Kurt has led ODA’s slow but steady growth and been saving marine wildlife through ODA’s important activities.

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