Marc J. Hershman Keynote Speaker

In honor of Marc Hershman, Charter Member and Past TCS President, and Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Coastal Management, a keynote speaker has been selected who exemplifies the spirit and values demonstrated by Marc. His professional contributions to the field of marine policy and coastal management had an enormously positive influence on students, scholars, and all those who worked on U.S. and international coastal and ocean governance.

William “Bill” M. Eichbaum, Vice President for Marine and Arctic Policy at the World Wildlife Fund US, has accepted the invitation to be the keynote speaker. In the 1970s, Bill helped organize the first Earth Day. In the 1980s, he played a key role in the creation of the Chesapeake Bay Program.

In November 1989, Bill Eichbaum joined the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as a Senior Fellow. In January 1990, he became Vice President of the Environmental Quality Program of WWF, and in January 1991, Vice President of International Environmental Quality with responsibilities that included climate change, coastal environmental, Central and Eastern European and the former Soviet Union, and global industrial policy. From April 1995 to September 1997, Bill Eichbaum served as Vice President of U.S. Program of WWF, with responsibilities for WWF's domestic conservation programs, including congressional relations. From October 1997 to April 2000, Bill Eichbaum served as Vice President for U.S. Conservation and Global Threats. From May 2000 to January 2006, he served as Vice President for the Endangered Spaces Program. He was Vice President and Managing Director for WWF’s Marine Portfolio from February 2006 to March 2009. He became Acting Vice President, US Government Relations and Vice President, Marine and Arctic Policy in March 2009.

Mr. Eichbaum led the effort to consolidate WWF’s work in Russia, including the Arctic, with the establishment of the Russia Program Office in 1994. Thereafter he established the WWF-US presence in the Arctic with the creation of its Bering Sea Program in 1997. He currently chairs the International WWF Arctic Program. He has traveled extensively in the Arctic and works on contemporary Arctic issues including the strengthening of The Arctic Council and challenges of oil and gas development.

Before joining WWF in 1989, Bill Eichbaum was Undersecretary, Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He was also Assistant Secretary of Environmental Programs, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for the State of Maryland from 1980 to 1987, as well as serving in senior environmental management positions in Pennsylvania and the U.S. Department of Interior. He was instrumental in the creation of the Chesapeake Bay Program, including Maryland’s Critical Area Commission.

Mr. Eichbaum has been an active participant in a number of activities of the National Academy of Sciences, including serving as a member of the Water Sciences and Technology Board and the Marine Board. He was the first Chairman of the Maryland Oyster Advisory Commission and recently stepped down as Chairman of the Board of the Environmental Law Institute. He is a Board member of the Montgomery Sycamore Island Canoe Club and Chairs the Board of the Potomac Conservancy. He has also served as the Chairman of 1000 Friends of Maryland and on the Board of the Natural Resources Council of America, and the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES). He has served as an adjunct faculty member of the Marine Sciences Research Center of the State University of New York, Stony Brook. He has also taught at the Law School of the University of Maryland.

Bill was a long-time chair of the TCS International Committee.

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