Shelley is President and CEO of Heal the Bay, and is responsible for determining Heal the Bay’s science and policy priorities, creating strategic partnerships, and growing public participation across greater Los Angeles. She holds a Doctorate of Environmental Science and Engineering from UCLA, and has been a tireless advocate for clean water since she began her career as staff scientist at Heal the Bay in 2001. She has held executive director positions at the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission, the Bay Foundation, and the Environment Now Foundation, as well as a teaching position at Loyola Marymount University. Understanding and advocating for legal protections for coastal environments, preventing pollution and restoring rivers and wetlands have been major focus areas for Shelley’s work at all three organizations.
Shelley led the Malibu Lagoon restoration project completed in 2012, and oversaw innovative stormwater capture projects in the highly urbanized LA landscape. She has deep experience in Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and Coastal Act permitting processes through her involvement in discharge permits, dredge and fill permits, ESA consultations, and other work on coastal streams and wetlands protection and restoration. Shelley has also launched programs in environmental research, kelp forest regeneration, MPA monitoring, and public education. In her roles on the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy Advisory Board and the Wetlands Recovery Project Science Advisory Panel, Shelley helps guide planning and implementation of open space protection and restoration throughout coastal Southern California.
Shelley has been President and Chief Executive Officer of Heal the Bay since 2017, where she continues to pursue the science-based environmental advocacy that is her passion. She is also an enthusiastic surfer, voracious reader, and devoted mom of two ocean-loving kids.