Important Organizational Changes to Drive Impact Given Growing Environmental Threats

The Marine Mammal Center, the world’s largest marine mammal hospital, is announcing a series of changes that will best position the organization to address growing environmental threats. These changes are focused on improving the Center’s capacity to drive mission impact by aligning strategy, structure, people, metrics and management processes.

As part of a two-year organizational development process, the Center’s leadership structure will be recast to enable more inclusive decision-making for the Center’s future, and a new Chief External Relations Officer will be added to its leadership team.

Over the last decade, the Center has grown to more than 100 staff members and more than 1,300 actively engaged volunteers leading a variety of initiatives. The Center added a Chief Program Officer in 2019 to guide programmatic outcomes and has recently welcomed a dynamic individual to the role.

Dominic Travis, DVM, M.S. joined the Center in October 2021 as the Chief Program Officer. As marine mammals and the environment face tremendous challenges including climate change and other crises, Travis will continue to build the Center’s capacity to address these issues and inspire action.

Travis brings over two decades of experience in research, and in developing and building educational programs. His work has focused on biological and environmental security and defense, specializing in emerging issues and threats, such as infectious diseases, toxins and natural disasters.

In his new role, Travis will oversee all conservation programs, including Learning & Community, Animal Care, Hospital Operations, Pathology & Diagnostics, Field Operations & Response, Electronic Animal Record Systems, and Life Support Systems & Facilities. He will help further build out the Center’s research programs and promote the Center’s scientific work in education locally as well as internationally.

Current Chief Executive Officer Jeff Boehm, DVM, Dipl. ACAW, will transition into the newly created role of Chief External Relations Officer. After 13 years as CEO of the Center – having grown the organization substantially in terms of staff, revenue and global reputation – Boehm will now focus his efforts on policy and legislative work, fundraising and network-building with partner organizations and government agencies.

The search for a new CEO is underway, led by a CEO Selection Committee that includes members of the Center’s Board of Directors and Chief People Officer Lisa Knight. The committee is in the process of selecting an executive recruiting firm to lead a national search. Boehm will retain the role of CEO until a new CEO starts.

Jeff’s time at the helm has brought about tremendous growth for The Marine Mammal Center, and his work as CEO has been key to the important global recognition the Center has received.

“Jeff’s time at the helm has brought about tremendous growth for The Marine Mammal Center, and his work as CEO has been key to the important global recognition the Center has received,” said Cecily Majerus, chair of the Center’s Board of Directors. “We embraced the idea of Jeff focusing on relationship-building as an important next step for both him and The Marine Mammal Center. Having someone with his keen intellect, passion and wonderful personality out front every day focused on the Center’s external relations is a smart, strategic move for the Center’s future.”

Since being named CEO in 2008, Boehm has overseen the growth of The Marine Mammal Center into the largest marine mammal hospital in the world. The Center’s rapid growth has taken the Sausalito campus from animals in makeshift pools to a state-of-the-art facility with the ability to care for up to 300 seals, sea lions and other marine mammals at one time in specially designed animal care pools and pens. The Center is now considered an international leader in marine mammal health.

I feel passionately about the power of building relationships and making connections that can result in positive change.

“An organization is only as successful as the sum of its parts, and I’m lucky to work with some of the most talented people who have dedicated their careers to solving the most pressing environmental and animal health issues of our lifetime,” Boehm said. “I feel passionately about the power of building relationships and making connections that can result in positive change. I’m excited for the next chapter for exactly that reason – fostering relationships that will best position The Marine Mammal Center to remain a leader in the field of marine mammals and ocean conservation.”