Pew Experts Attending Our Ocean Conference 2026

Focus areas for staff at Mombasa event include marine protected areas, conservation finance, and safeguarding coastal habitat

Article June 8, 2026

World leaders and policymakers are among the hundreds of attendees expected at 11th Our Ocean Conference 16-18 June in Mombasa, Kenya. The Pew Charitable Trusts, which has a long history of working on ocean conservation, is sending the following staff members, each with specific policy expertise, to the conference. To schedule time with any of these experts in Mombasa, please email Leah Weiser at [email protected].

Tom Dillon

Senior Vice President Environment and Crosscutting Initiatives

Tom Dillon oversees Pew’s environment portfolio and also works across Pew’s program areas to advance shared priorities and new initiatives. The environment portfolio focuses on conserving ecosystems in the United States and around the world, and on addressing critical threats to people and nature such as climate change, plastic pollution, and illegal overfishing.

Matt Rand

Senior Director

Matt Rand joined Pew as director of what is now the Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy Project in 2013. He works with local communities, governments, and scientists around the world to protect and conserve some of the Earth’s most important and unspoiled marine environments.

Shubash Lohani

Senior Director

Shubash Lohani directs global conservation initiatives for Pew, including the Blue Nature Alliance and Enduring Earth.

Johnny Briggs

Director

Johnny Briggs leads Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy’s global efforts to improve marine conservation outcomes.

Simon Reddy

Director

Simon Reddy directs Pew’s efforts to reduce plastic pollution and protect coastal wetlands and coral reefs.

Thomas Hickey

Project Director

Thomas Hickey supports Pew’s protecting coastal wetlands and coral reefs project and is responsible for leading engagement with a range of stakeholders, including nongovernmental organizations, scientific partners, government representatives and delegates within international institutions such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Donatien Tanret

Principal Officer

Donatien Tanret manages the Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy Project’s efforts in French Polynesia. He collaborates with local governments, elected officials, and the community to work toward protecting French Polynesian waters and creating rāhui, a reference to the traditional Polynesian practice of restricting access to an area or resource to conserve it.

Masha Kalinina

Senior Officer

Masha Kalinina supports Pew’s environment projects and partnerships, with a primary focus on designing and executing political strategies to deliver campaign objectives. Between 2018 and 2022, she played a lead role in advancing Pew’s efforts to secure a new 10-year global biodiversity framework under the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity. The framework, which was successfully adopted on Dec. 19, 2022, will help protect and conserve at least 30% of the planet’s terrestrial, freshwater, and marine areas by 2030.

Megan Jungwiwattanaporn

Officer

Megan Jungwiwattanaporn supports Pew’s crosscutting environmental policy team, providing expertise and coordination to advance Pew’s engagement in multilateral forums, including the United Nations, World Trade Organization, International Union for Conservation of Nature, and International Seabed Authority.

Lauren Swaddell

Principal Associate

Lauren Swaddell works across Pew’s environment portfolio to secure conservation outcomes that provide long-term benefits for both nature and people. She supports Pew’s engagement in international forums, marine protected areas, Pacific conservation, Indigenous engagement, and climate change.