OUR TEAM
Turning seaweed into seafood ~ for greener seas.

ASHLEY BAE
CEO & Co-Founder
Ashley is thrilled to work at the intersection of science, business, and sustainability. Prior to launching Verdant Seas, she worked on adaptation and resilience strategies at the World Bank, conducted product-level supply chain emissions analysis with CoClear and CDP, and helped plan the Global Climate Action Summit with the Office of the Governor of California. Ashley holds an M.A. in Climate & Society from Columbia University and a B.S. in Biology from the University of St. Andrews.

DEVIN FITZGERALD
Technical Lead &
Co-Founder
Devin is an Assistant Specialist in the Dept. of Environmental Studies at UC Santa Cruz and oversees the aquaculture research greenhouse at the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems. Prior to his current position, Devin worked at a commercial recirculating aquaculture facility in Massachusetts and as a field technician for Trout Unlimited in the Deerfield river watershed. He holds a B.S. Wildlife & Fisheries Conservation from UMass Amherst.

CAIO D.C. VIANNA
Aquaculture Market Analyst
As a Latin American Fisheries Fellow at UC Santa Barbara's Bren School for the Environment, Caio is pursuing a specialization in Coastal Marine Resources Management with a primary interest in fisheries and aquaculture. Caio wants to explore questions that will help inform some of the frontiers of aquaculture sustainability, such as feeds, energy and water inputs, responsible control of diseases and genetics, environmental contamination, organism health and nutritional value, and impacts and risk from atypical climatic events. His post-graduate goal is to contribute to broader food security and sustainable fisheries in Brazil and more broadly across Latin America.

PALLAB SARKER
Scientific Advisor &
Co-Founder
Pallab is a Research Associate Professor in the Dept. of Environmental Studies at UC Santa Cruz. His research interests involve shifting aquaculture, the world's fastest-growing food sector, to sustainability by redesigning the composition of aquafeeds. In addition to publishing 40+ research articles, Dr. Sarker is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Aquaculture & Marine Biology and EC Nutrition and serves as a member of the manuscript review committee for seven peer-reviewed journals.

ANNE KAPUSCINSKI
Scientific Advisor &
Co-Founder
Anne is a Professor of Environmental Studies and Director of the Coastal Science & Policy Program at UC Santa Cruz. She participates actively in the science-policy interface, presently as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Union of Concerned Scientists and member of the Ocean Protection Council Science Advisory Team. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the Sustainability Transitions domain of the open-access journal Elementa. She recently received the 2019 Ocean Award in Innovation.