Meet Our board of directors & Staff

peggy stap

Executive director &
EX-OFFICIO Board member

Peggy has been the Director of Education and Research for Marine Life Studies since 2006 as well as instrumental in co-founding Marine Life Studies’ Whale Entanglement Team (WET)® of Central and Northern California. She was assistant researcher for the Hawaii Whale Research Foundation from 1999 through 2008. She served as assistant on Oceanic Society Monterey Bay Whale and Dolphin Research Expeditions from 1997 through 2001. Peggy majored in specialized Medical Technology Program at Western Michigan University. From 1990 through 2008 she served as President of Bloomin’ Acres, Inc., a Michigan-based corporation.

Jerry Perezchica

board of directors
chair

Jerry has been instrumental in strategic planning for Marine Life Studies’ Ocean Literacy Education Series and Take it to the StreetsTM program since 2013. He serves as Strategic Development Director on the Board of Directors of Los Amigos de los Ninos of California, Inc. Jerry holds a Bachelor’s of Science from the University of California, Davis and a Master’s degree in Human Resources and Organization Development from the University of San Francisco.

melissa e. vincent

board of directors
Vice chair

Melissa has been volunteering as a research assistant for Marine Life Studies and response team member for WET® since 2017. Melissa is a leader in Worldwide Inclusion & Diversity at Apple, Inc. in Cupertino, CA, and is actively involved in employee engagement and Apple’s Global Volunteer Program. Melissa holds a Bachelor of Arts in communication and public relations from State University of New York at Oswego and a Master of Arts in Education and Human Development from The George Washington University.

Jennifer osborn

board of directors
Secretary

Jennifer initially volunteered for Marine Life Studies in 2019 as a research assistant. She expanded her service to WET®, and recently joined the Board of Directors in January 2020. Jennifer is the Business Systems Operations Manager for the Public Library of Science (PLOS) headquartered in San Francisco, CA. She studied Marine Biology and earned her bachelor’s degree in Biology from Linfield College in McMinnville, OR and is a certified Scrum Master.

rich hughett

board of directors
treasurer

Rich joined Marine Life Studies in 2019 and is involved in developing a marketing plan for the organization. He founded the Carmel River Steelhead Association and helped establish the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District. Since 1978, he served many terms as president, treasurer and board member of the Monterey County Fish & Game Commission. Rich also was the Recreational Fishing Representative on the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Council and former Monterey City Councilman and Chairman of the Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency.

mikey price

board of directors
board member at large

Mikey has been volunteering as a research assistant for Marine Life Studies and response team member for WET® since 2018 and recently joined the Board of Directors in February, 2020. He works as a Reliability Test Engineer at Apple, Inc. in Cupertino, CA and is part of the Apple Global Volunteer Program. Prior to Apple, Mikey worked for various non-profit organizations, mainly focusing on community development programs specifically in Australia, India, Mexico and Northern Ireland.

mary whitney

board of directors
board member at large

Mary has served as a research assistant for Marine Life Studies since 2006 and is instrumental in co-founding Marine Life Studies’ Whale Entanglement Team (WET)® of Central and Northern California. She is a Level 2 whale rescue responder, is Co-Investigator on Peggy Stap's National Marine Fisheries Service Permit, and joined the Board of Directors in 2013. Mary worked as President of Gaymar Industries, Inc., now retired. Mary is the founder of Fluke Foundation. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from State University of New York at Buffalo.

stephanie marcos

staff
operations manager

Stephanie holds a bachelor's degree in Marine Science from California State University of Monterey Bay. She oversees all projects including the Research Scientist Program, Whale Entanglement Team (WET)® training and helps coordinate entanglement responses as a Level 2 responder, is Co-Investigator on Peggy Stap’s National Marine Fisheries Service Permit, supervises CSUMB students that work with us through the CSUMB Service Learning Program, Ocean Literacy Education programs for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Monterey County and schools, and coordinates all the volunteers. Stephanie is the project manager of Marine Life Studies’ Detection and Removal of Derelict Fishing Gear from the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Project.

shannon bent

staff
operations coordinator

Shannon holds a bachelor’s degree in Marine Biology from the University of California Santa Cruz and is working towards a Master’s degree in Large Marine Vertebrate Sciences from the University of Bologna (expected graduation June 2022). Her experience includes extensive fieldwork in areas such as marine mammal bioacoustics, behavior, telemetry tag attachments and satellite tracking, photo-identification, stranding response, and conservation projects. She helps to oversee the day-to-day overall operations of research, education, and whale-rescue programs for Marine Life Studies, as well as participating in open water surveys and training volunteers and CSUMB students during research surveys.

Our tribe of volunteers

The success of Marine Life Studies is due to our amazing, highly skilled, and dedicated volunteer staff. Almost all personnel involved with Marine Life Studies, even our Executive Director, serve as volunteers; we have only two paid staff whose time is dedicated to ensuring our operations run smoothly. They work behind the scenes to apply for permits that allow us to conduct our research, and grants that help fund our research, education, and whale rescue. Our volunteers are spread through all areas of our organization, from our board of directors to our Whale Entanglement Team (WET)®. They help us with public outreach, boat surveys, data entry, whale disentanglements, boat maintenance, and much more! Our volunteers are from all walks of life and their dedication, passion and hard work are an inspiration. We are truly grateful for everything they do, and we wouldn’t be able to conduct our work without them.

At Marine Life Studies, we optimize critical thinking by embracing diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging — our success is contingent upon the ability to learn from all life experience perspectives, resulting in positive solutions. We celebrate being an equal opportunity workplace and an affirmative action employer.