Mark J. Spalding

Mark J. Spalding has been the President of The Ocean Foundation since 2003. Under his leadership, it has grown exponentially from a $200,000/year budget to a $18 million/year budget, as he prioritized steering the human relationship with the sea to a brighter future through diverse, carefully chosen strategies and projects. He is a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Blue Economy at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies and a member of the Expert Group advising the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy. In addition, he serves as the advisor to the Rockefeller Climate Solutions Fund, the Rockefeller Global Innovation Strategy, and the UBS Rockefeller Ocean Engagement Funds (unprecedented ocean-centric investment funds). Mark is a UNEP Guidance Working Group member for its Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Initiative. He co-authored the “Transatlantic Blue Economy Initiative,” a joint project of the Wilson Center and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. Mark designed the first-ever blue carbon offset program, SeaGrass Grow. From 2018 to 2023, he served as a member of the Ocean Studies Board and the U.S. National Committee for the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (USA). He also served on the Sargasso Sea Commission from 2015 to 2024. He is an expert on international ocean policy and law, blue economy finance and investment, the ocean-climate nexus, blue technology, and coastal and marine philanthropy.

Mark, who has been practicing law and serving as a policy consultant since 1986, was the chair of the Environmental Law Section of the California State Bar Association from 1998 to 1999. From 1994 to 2003, Mark served as Director of the Environmental Law and Civil Society Program and Editor of the Journal of Environment and Development at the Graduate School of International Relations & Pacific Studies (IR/PS), University of California, San Diego. In addition to lecturing at IR/PS, Mark has taught at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD’s Muir College, UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, and the University of San Diego’s School of Law. He was a research fellow at UCSD’s Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, a Sustainability Institute – Donella Meadows Leadership Fellow, and a SeaWeb Senior Fellow.  Mark helped design some of the most significant ocean conservation campaigns over the last three decades. He is an experienced and successful facilitator at the international level. He brings his extensive experience with the legal and policy aspects of ocean conservation to the Foundation’s grantmaking strategy and evaluation process. He holds a B.A. in history with Honors from Claremont McKenna College, a J.D. from Loyola Law School, a Master’s in Pacific International Affairs (MPIA) from IR/PS, and a Wines of the World Certification from Cornell University. Mark is certified in International Commercial Arbitration (American University, Washington College of Law). He graduated from the British School of Motor Racing and the Porsche Track Experience Precision Course. Mark’s deep connection with the ocean began as a young boy growing up in the Central Valley of California; each time he crested the coastal range and the Pacific came into view, it was like a breath of fresh air.