California Coastkeeper Alliance Announces New Executive Director

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 17, 2012

Media Contact: Sara Aminzadeh, California Coastkeeper Alliance, (415) 794-8422

San Francisco —The Board of Directors of California Coastkeeper Alliance (CCKA) has announced that effective January 23, 2012, Michael Murphy takes the lead as the new executive director of the environmental non-profit organization. Michael has 17 years of experience in protected area advocacy, environmental policy and strategic communications. As a native Californian who grew up on the beach in Southern California, he has a strong commitment to protecting coastal and inland waterways.

Michael takes the reins during a critical time in California’s environmental history. As the state endeavors to implement key resource protection initiatives such as the State Water Board’s policy on coastal power plants, a statewide trash policy, and a network of underwater parks, California is simultaneously struggling to deal with its precarious financial situation. With CCKA’s expertise in law and policy for clean water and healthy coastal ecosystems, CCKA and California’s 12 local Waterkeeper organizations are poised to protect and strengthen environmental laws at this critical juncture.

Michael Murphy’s career has focused on communicating science to policy makers and the public, and empowering affected stakeholder groups to be involved in the management process. Before joining the Alliance, Michael was the communications and outreach director at Stanford University’s Woods Institute for the Environment. His work at the Institute focused on infusing Stanford science into environmental policy making. Prior to joining Stanford in 2008, Michael worked for 14 years for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Washington D.C., mostly with NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. There, he developed national and regional coalitions to support NOAA legislative, regulatory and budget goals, including managing key relationships with private sector industries. Michael joined NOAA in 1995 as a Knauss Marine Policy Fellow from Oregon State University where he received his masters of science in marine resource management. He graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1990 with a bachelors of science in aquatic biology.

About California Coastkeeper Alliance

Founded in 1999, CCKA coordinates, supports, and enhances the work of local California Waterkeepers to ensure Californians enjoy clean water and a healthy coast. CCKA and its member Waterkeepers represent the only statewide-local partnership focused on the health of the state's waters and coastal and marine ecosystems. Coordinating on-the-ground work at the community level with policy work at the statewide level, CCKA protects and expands upon the advances made by place-based Waterkeepers by advocating before state decision-makers on water-related issues of importance to California’s communities.

www.cacoastkeeper.org ● www.facebook.com/cacoastkeeper

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