Organization
The American Cetacean Society is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit public benefit corporation, governed by a national, volunteer Board of Directors and managed from its headquarters in San Pedro, California. Because ACS is organized as a single organization rather than as separate local legal entities, ultimate fiduciary and policy oversight for the operations of the American Cetacean Society lies within the purview of its National Board of Directors.
The heart and soul of ACS activity happens at the local chapter level. Each chapter is managed by a board, which provides oversight for the chapter’s annual programs and budget in support of ACS’s mission, vision, and values. Local chapter boards are managed through clear and direct pathways of communication and report back to the National Board of Directors.
san francisco bay chapter board of directors
Anne-Marie Batchelor: President
Anne-Marie Batchelor is a human resources executive at a national financial services start-up in the Bay Area. She has been in the field of human resources for the past 15+ years, and has a passion for teaming up with non-profits that support a social justice and socially responsible mission and value statement.
Anne-Marie has had a longstanding passion for marine mammals and fish. This passion led her to complete a graduate degree with a focus on marine mammals, specifically pinnipeds. She has volunteered with the California Academy of Sciences, and continues to nurture her love of all things marine by volunteering with the San Francisco Bay Chapter of the American Cetacean Society, as well as other local and regional marine-focused organizations.
FIRUZE Gokce: board member, MARKETING DIRECTOR
Experienced in online marketing, marketing strategy and Search Engine Optimization, Ms. Gokce, is a serial entrepreneur since 1997. She has cofounded three startups and received international recognition as a judge for Affiliate Marketing Awards in United States. Those in the global industry took notice, with Ms. Gokce receiving invitations to exhibit at international events. She won international honors from the likes of the Affiliates4u Awards and the Affiliate Marketing Awards.
After moving to California Firuze has realized her personal passion in empowering nonprofits such as American Cetacean Society, San Francisco Chapter, SharkStewards, Empowering the Turkish American Community, Tech Bay Area Advocates, and SDG Impact Accelerator. She has a true passion for protecting and conserving marine life.
susan hopp: board member, Treasurer - events and speaker outreach
Susan Hopp, a self-described “water person”, is a strategist, educator, and practitioner of sustainable and regenerative management. Since 2007, she has applied her years of experience with technology companies, both startups and multinationals, to building sustainability momentum in business. She spotlights the business case for sustainability as a key integrated strategy informing culture and organizational practices, and has worked with organizations across industries to help them formalize their sustainability strategy and execute sustainability initiatives. An alum of Presidio Graduate School of Sustainable Management in San Francisco, Susan is also an adjunct faculty member at USF, teaching Sustainability Leadership in the Environmental Management Masters program.
A native Detroiter, Susan is in the cold waters of San Francisco Bay or the Pacific whenever possible and credits the ACS Naturalist class which she took in 2015 as the catalyst for an even deeper love and respect for whales, dolphins, and porpoises. “They inspire me everyday to stay present to the joy and magic of ocean life that indeed, supports all of life on Earth…”
SUSAN SHERMAN: board member, SECRETARY
Susan Sherman has a B.S. in Biology from San Francisco State University and is currently a science teacher in San Francisco. Susan’s specialties are birds, marine mammals, and marine ecology. As a science educator, she has taught teachers, developed and written curricula, presented at conferences, aquariums, and museums, and recently won an award from John Hopkins University for teaching talented youth. Some of the research projects that Susan has participated in are: humpback whales in Southeast Alaska; sampling fish populations in the Atlantic Ocean with NOAA; collecting data on various species of Alcid chicks on the Farallon Islands; fall bird censuses on Alcatraz Island with the National Park Service (for 10+ years). Susan has been an Oceanic Society naturalist in the Bay Area for more than 30 years.
Marc Webber: Board member, SCIENCE advisor
Marc Webber is currently a cetacean field research associate at the Marine Mammal Center, an organization he has worked with extensively with stranded marine mammals going back to 1976. His current research is on the cetaceans of the San Francisco Bay Area: harbor porpoises, bottlenose dolphins, gray whales, and humpback whales, even as he continues his lifelong fascination with pinnipeds through several ongoing projects.
Marc spent 30 years with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in the National Wildlife Refuge and Marine Mammals Management programs. His last assignment was as Deputy Manager of the 4-million-acre Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, which is home to more than 60 percent of North America’s breeding seabirds and provides habitat for numerous pinniped species. He is a contributing author on anthologies of marine mammals, their behavior, and habitats. His fieldwork has taken him around the world from the Antarctic to the Arctic, and the Pacific coast whale migration paths are regular expeditions.