CATALINA MARINE SOCIETY

Andrew Solomon earned a Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology, with Honors in the Major, from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2011. Andrew has worked as an Underwater Explorers Instructor for the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and as an Assistant Diving Safety Officer for both Exhibit Diving Operations for the Aquarium of the Pacific. He is currently the Diving Safety Officer and Boating Safety Officer for the California Science Center Foundation in Los Angeles. Andrew holds certifications as an AAUS Scientific Diver, a licensed NAUI Scuba Instructor, a NAUI Reef Check California Ecodiver Specialty Instructor, and a DAN Diving First Aid for the Professional Divers Instructor. He also wrote NAUI specialty course standards for an "experience scuba" style course titled Working In Space - Junior Astronaut Training.

Shawn Broes is a native Californian, with a degree in Communications from Cal State Fullerton and further education in editing at AFI & Moviola Digital. He has been in the entertainment business for 28 years, with much of that time as a Feature Film Visual Effects Editor, helping his comrades win several Oscars. He has been involved with projects such as The Abyss, Titanic, O Brother, Where Art Thou, I Robot, Hunger Games, and Hugo. He has unlimited enthusiasm fro anything Catalinian and works with various organizations promoting this island, and indeed, all the Channel Islands.

Jonathan Davies manages a diving department for a local sports store. He moved from England to California to attend California State University, Dominguez Hills, where he earned a degree in journalism. He went on to work as a reporter and editor at various newspapers in Southern California, including entertainment trade paper, The Hollywood Reporter. He has been an avid scuba diver since 1994, diving for both for fun and as a professional dive master. Jon has explored underwater in many parts of the world but prefers diving in California to anywhere else.

Michael Doran obtained his Bachelor of Science degree, in Biology with special emphasis in marine science, from San Diego State University in 1975. In 1979 he obtained a Juris Doctorate in law from California Western School of Law in San Diego. He has been practicing law for more than 40 years in various civil litigation and workers compensation fields, and currently specializes in matter under jurisdiction of the federal Longshore & Harbor Workers Compensation Act. For many years he acted as a Judge Pro Tem, mediator, and arbitrator with the Los Angeles County Superior Courts in Torrance and San Pedro. Mr. Doran has been a certified scuba diver since 1974, and is an active scientific research diver with Catalina Conservancy Divers through the USC Wrigley Institute of Environmental Studies at Catalina. He has been involved with Catalina Conservancy Divers, a support group of the Catalina Island Conservancy, in various capacities including the Board of Directors, Director of Research Diver Training, and President.

Karen Norris is a research and development engineer at a local aerospace company. She has over 20 years of experience in remote sensing and signal processing. Karen first earned a B.S. in Mathematics at UCLA. After years of SCUBA diving and collaborating on a Catalina Conservancy Divers' research project, she returned to UCLA to earn a M.S. in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science. Karen gives strong support to the local diving community, having belonged to many dive clubs and sometimes serving in an administrative capacity.

Desda Sisson earned a B.S. in Marine Biology and a Minor in Scientific Diving from Humboldt State University in 2014. Desda has previously worked for Guided Discoveries as marine science and dive instructor on Catalina Island, and The Aquarium of The Pacific’s Diving Safety Officer for Field Operations in Long Beach California. Currently Desda is a NOAA Commissioned Officer aboard the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster located in Charleston SC. Desda holds certifications as a NAUI Dive Instructor, AAUS Scientific Dive Instructor, USCG Captain, and an air-diluent CCR Diver.

Paul Dimeo is currently the Dive Safety Officer for the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, CA where he is responsible for over 230 divers conducting over 19,00 dives annually. Paul's diving background includes 10 years of commercial diving in the offshore oilfields, as an air, mixed-gas, and saturation diver and supervisor, and a NAUI & SDI/TDI Scuba Instructor. Paul currently also serves as a board of member of the Association of Dive Program Administrators and a a member of the USC Diving Control Board.