PTMSC Staff
Anne Murphy, Executive Director
Anne is the Executive Director of the Port Townsend Marine Science Center, PTMSC, where she has been employed for eighteen years. She has worked with her staff and board to grow the PTMSC into a recognized regional institution, serving students, teachers and families as well as agency and non-profit partners with a diverse array of programs and citizen science projects. Current collaborations include: a pilot Inquiry Science Project with four Puget Sound area schools; a marine bird education program with Washington Sea Grant, Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife and US Fish & Wildlife Service; a web portal project with the Burke Museum of History & Culture; and the integration of a new research lab into PTMSC programs sponsored by Foss Maritime. Anne is a member of the Jefferson County Marine Resources Committee and served on the Northwest Straits Commission from 2000-2006. She has lived, played and volunteered in Jefferson County since 1976. She earned a B.S. in Natural Resource Management and Environmental Education from Oregon State University in 1975.
JoAnne Heron, Development Director
JoAnne served as executive director for the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies in Homer, and as development coordinator at the Pratt Museum in Homer, which focused on people’s connection with the marine environment through science, art and history. For the past six and a half years, JoAnne has led the fundraising efforts for Olympic Park Institute, located at Lake Crescent, west of Port Angeles. Her passion for environmental education and preserving wild lands has spanned 35 years. Through drawing and painting, she expresses her love of nature, travel, and the world’s cultures and landscapes. She is an avid hiker and backcountry paddler. JoAnne invites you to call or email to introduce yourself or give her your input on fundraising or promoting the organization.Judy D'Amore, Education Specialist
In addition to being a founder of PTMSC in 1982, Judy D’Amore served as the volunteer director and coordinated the effort to secure funding for paid staff positions in 1989. She also developed and taught education programs at PTMSC for many years and began the water quality monitoring program with local 8th grade students that PTMSC ran for 15 years. More recently Judy served in the Peace Corps in
Judy is currently lead educator for the Natural History Program – developing classes for school students, interpreting the
Chrissy McLean Marine Program Coordinator
Chrissy earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Huxley College in Environmental Education and her Masters in Teaching from City University. She has a K-8 Teaching Certificate in Washington State, having done her student teaching at Chimacum and was the lead teacher at Discovery School for two years. She was a naturalist on the Menzies Project for one season and a shellfish tech for the Department of Fish and Wildlife this summer.
Jean Walat, Volunteer Coordinator
Jean, a PTMSC Volunteer Coordinator since 2005, came to Port Townsend from New Jersey with her partner and son in 2000. She has a bachelor's degree in Biology from the University of Delaware and a MS in Environmental Science from Rutgers. Jean previously worked as the Education Director and later as a Board member at the Delaware Bay Schooner Project, an environmental education organization in NJ. Jean was named the Mantua NJ 1997 Citizen of the Year for volunteer environmental work. She also worked for the City of Port Townsend as a Planner for several years. She enjoys hiking, playing piano blues, and working with the great PTMSC volunteers.
Board of Directors
Eric Harrington - President
Before retiring to Port Townsend in 2006 Eric was president and principal owner of a consulting firm that specialized in large computer systems projects and business improvement services to public entities, non profits and for profit organizations. Prior to starting his own firm he was a partner and principal in large accounting and consulting firms. He has worked with a variety of for profit and not for profit clients in the United States, Latin America, Europe and Asia. In addition, he served in executive positions with one of the largest international consortiums of accounting and consulting firms. He has a BS from Claremont McKenna College in California and has done graduate work at Claremont Graduate School and George Washington University. He has taught at the secondary, undergraduate and graduate level in the US and Central America
Gary Pascoe – Vice President
Gary works as an independent consultant assessing human health and ecological risks related to chemical contamination, including the marine environment. He received bachelor and doctorate degrees from the University of California, participates in several professional organizations, and serves on health and ecology-related advisory boards for the State of Washington. He enjoys outdoor recreational activities and can occasionally be heard playing traditional folk music with friends around town
Dan Darrow – Treasurer
Dan is a graduate of Amherst College. His business career was with distribution companies in the area of operations and business systems and he retired from Anixter International as Vice President, Business Systems. He earned MSM and MBA degrees from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management and worked both in the USA and internationally. He and his wife retired to the Olympic Peninsula in 2002. In addition to his involvement with PTMSC, he is an active sailor, volunteer for several other organizations, enjoys hiking and other outdoor activities.
Jim Mason - Secretary
Jim was raised in Wisconsin where he graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a BS in geology. He decided to move west where rocks are more visible. Jim lived in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he received a MS in geology from the University of Utah and worked as a ground-water hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey. His projects involved three-dimensional, ground-water flow modeling; water quality and solute transport; surface-water/ground-water relations; and isotope and chemical ground-water tracers. After living in a desert for 34 years, Jim and his wife decided they needed to move where water and green vegetation were plentiful. Jim is active in the Rat Island Rowing and Sculling Club of Port Townsend where he enjoys seeing marine wildlife while rowing on the local waters.
Ron Deisher - Member
Ron has over 30 years of work experience as a health-care administrator in hospitals, cancer centers and hospice services. He earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Washington and graduate degrees in public and health-services administration from Portland State University and the University of Missouri HA Bloch School of Business. He returned to the Pacific Northwest in 2003 and lives in Port Ludlow. Ron is an avid boater and fisherman. He volunteers with several marine environment and other nonprofit organizations in the area.
Frank Handler – Member
Frank brings to our Board five years of experience serving in a similar position with the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in Los Angeles. A native New Yorker, he moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1999. His career ranges from a multinational natural resource corporation, including living in the jungles of New Guinea, to high technology and software startups. His passions include the marine environment, cooking, art, reading and his two children. He is also an active member of the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Explorers Club. Frank’s education includes a BS from the College of the Holy Cross, an MBA from New York University and a MS in Marine Biology from Occidental College.
Linda Martin - Member
Linda moved to Port Townsend last year, partly because of the volunteer opportunities presented by the PTMSC. Previously, Martin served on the Torrey Pines Docent Society BOD, the organization providing interpretive and other volunteer services to the Torrey Pines State Reserve (near San Diego). She also served on the Del Mar Library Friends Board, and was a founding member of the Green Institute, a public policy think tank. A published author, documentary film producer, and editor, Martin writes feature articles for local publications. But the activity she loves most is greeting and interpreting for visitors to the PTMSC Marine Exhibit.
Eveleen Muehlethaler - Member
Eveleen has spent her career in the pulp and paper industry. She is presently the VP of Environmental Resources at the Port Townsend Paper mill. She is an active member of the environmental committees for the AWB. She serves on the board of Northwest Pulp and Paper Assoc. and is a member of the WA Ecology Regulatory Performance Advisory Committee. She loves the out-of-doors and is active in coaching youth sports. She has been a PTMSC board member since 1991.
Camille Speck - Member
Camille is a biologist with the WA Department of Fish and Wildlife, currently managing recreational shellfish harvest on public beaches in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Admiralty Inlet, Hood Canal and Puget Sound south of Vashon Island, which requires working closely with area Treaty Tribes. She is a graduate of Port Townsend High School and earned undergraduate degrees at The Evergreen State College where she focused her studies on history and film production (BA), and marine ecology and marine mammals (BS). Camille also serves on the executive board of a biologists' labor union. Having spent the first 13 years of her life living on a sailboat, she has a deep fascination and love of the marine environment. In addition to working on her fixer Victorian in Port Townsend and taking her 80 lb bulldog for walkees, Camille enjoys many outdoor activities, but especially loves rowing and being at the beach! .
Connie Welch – Member
Connie is an educator currently teaching in Port Townsend public school. She has a BA in Education from Washington State University and holds a Masters Degree from City University in Educational Technology. She is an Olympic Peninsula native, an enthusiastic advocate for Environmental Education for children, an avid gardener, and has for many years sailed the waters of Puget Sound and beyond.
Louise Walczak – Member
Louise was raised in Illinois where she graduated from the University of Illinois with a Ph.D. in Literature. After teaching at the secondary and university levels, she spent 20 years in not-for-profit health care and for-profit retail organizations as an internal consultant and executive supporting organizational change. Her specialties included post-merger integration, strategic planning, culture development, change management, and human resource development. Louise enjoys all the outdoor and cultural bounty offered in Port Townsend.
Kate Burke Ex Officio
Manager, Fort Worden State Park
Advisory Council
Stanley Cummings
Ellen Ferguson