Prior to joining NOAA Research, Thur’s career with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) focused on applying service through science in order to manage, restore, and conserve marine resources. He had a particular emphasis on how both the biophysical and social sciences are used to sustain coastal ecosystems and the vibrant human communities that depend upon them for livelihoods, recreation, and as a place for connecting with nature. Thur was Director of NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science from 2017 to 2022 and the Deputy Director from 2013 to 2017. Prior to that, from 2007 to 2013, he was the Coordinator of NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program, the nation’s premier coral reef science program. From 2003 to 2007, Dr. Thur was an economist for the NOAA Office of Response and Restoration.

Thur received his Ph.D. in marine policy from the University of Delaware’s Graduate College of Marine Studies in 2003. His dissertation research was on sustainable financing mechanisms for coral reef marine protected areas. He holds Bachelor’s degrees in biology and economics from St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

Prior to joining OAR, Ms. Menashes was the Deputy Director for Ocean and Coastal Policy at the White House Council on Environmental Policy (CEQ), on detail from NOAA. She provided policy advice to the Senior Director for Water and other officials within CEQ and the Executive Office of the President on issues related to ocean resources and coordinated across agencies in support of Administration priorities.

Previously, Ms. Menashes was the Chief of Staff of NOAA’s National Ocean Service (NOS). In this role, she served as a principal advisor to NOS leadership and worked to ensure effective internal and external coordination and communication in support of safe and efficient marine commerce and transportation, resilient coasts and coastal communities, and place-based management of coastal and marine resources. Prior to joining NOS, Ms. Menashes was the Deputy Director of the Office of Sustainable Fisheries for NOAA Fisheries. In that role she was responsible for implementing the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and other laws in support of NOAA Fisheries’ commitment to ensuring sustainable fisheries and science-based management of living marine resources.

Ms. Menashes’ other leadership positions have included serving as Acting Senior Policy Advisor to the NOAA Administrator and Acting NOAA Deputy Chief of Staff, coordinating strategic planning across NOAA’s ecosystem programs, and overseeing regulatory management for NOAA Fisheries. Emily first joined NOAA Fisheries in 1999 as a Knauss Sea Grant Fellow in the economics program of the Office of Science and Technology, followed with positions in the Office of Protected Resources coordinating science strategic planning and the marine mammal-commercial fishery interactions program. She is a graduate of NOAA’s Leadership Competencies Development Program and holds an M.S. in Marine Resource Management from Oregon State University and a B.A. in Biology and Environmental Studies from Bowdoin College.

He is responsible for guiding and evaluation of NOAA’s research and development portfolio. Prior to arriving at OAR, he spent 18 years working in three other NOAA Line Offices directing ecological and fisheries related research and overseeing the agency’s national and international fisheries management programs.

Dr. Matlock began his federal career with NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service in 1992 as the Director of Field Operations in the Southwest Region where he became the Acting Regional Director after 3 months. During his year’s tenure in these positions, he was involved in the management of domestic and international fisheries along the west coast of the United States and throughout the southern Pacific Ocean. In 1994 he became the Program Management Officer for the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in Silver Spring, Maryland where he oversaw the day-to-day operations of the agency, expanding his fisheries management experience domestically and internationally to the north Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. In 2000, he became the Director of the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science in the National Ocean Service (NOS) where he was responsible for directing and managing an ecosystem science agenda that provides science to support the Ocean’s Service place-based management mission. He also served as the Acting Director of NOAA’s Program Analysis and Evaluation (PAE) office and as Acting Assistant Administrator of the NOAA’s Policy, Planning, and Integration (PPI) Office.

Prior to joining NMFS, Dr. Matlock spent his fisheries career with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD). His dissertation provided a basis for the management of the red drum fishery in Texas. He began as a fisheries biologist responsible for developing a monitoring program for adult finfish in Texas bays and left TPWD after having been the Director of Fisheries of TPWD. During his tenure with TPWD he earned his Ph.D. in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences at Texas A&M University and conducted and published the results of research in the scientific literature on many fisheries management and aquaculture topics including those involved with biology, sociology, and economics.

Throughout his career, he has successfully led an effort to base fisheries management decisions on scientific information instead of political whim or personal opinions. This goal has taken him to all levels of the judicial system as an expert witness on behalf of science and fisheries management decisions, including the U.S. Supreme Court where a NMFS decision concerning native American tribal treaty rights and salmon on the west coast was upheld. He has and continues to publish in the national and international scientific literature on the biological, ecological, social, and economic aspects of fisheries science and management.

He received a U.S. Department of Commerce Gold Medal in 1996, and the Vice President’s Hammer award in 1998 for his efforts to reform the fisheries management regulatory process. He received another Gold Medal in 2000 for having led the development of an e-commerce based program for requiring and issuing a financially self-sustaining Atlantic tunas fishing permit (the first marine recreational fishing permit in the U.S.)