Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay recently announced new leadership of its board of trustees and the appointment of one new trustee and four new members to its advisory board. All will help support and guide the nonprofit institution in performing oceanographic research around the world.

Wendy Wolf is joining the board of trustees, which will now be chaired by Louise Bowditch and vice-chaired by Brigitta Tadmor. Joining the advisory board are Jack Fulmer, Jon Bigelow, Peter Handy, and Warren Muir.

“Our board members bring deep and varied expertise,” said Ben Twining, interim president and a senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory. “Their enthusiasm, wisdom, and support are a critical part of our success, and I look forward to working with them to expand the organization's reach and impact.”

Louise Bowditch is a lawyer, educator, activist, and the new chair of the board of trustees. She is also an advisor to the Boothbay Region Land Trust, and she has served as a trustee of the Ecologic Development Fund in Cambridge, Mass. Louise’s first career was as an urban educator and activist in Boston, where she created and directed the first licensed Infant Care Center in Massachusetts. She founded and directed SEED Haiti from 1998-2004, working with Haiti’s largest peasant organization to protect the environment, develop sustainable agriculture, and create appropriate technology for rural Haiti.

Vice chair Brigitta Tadmor is a molecular biologist and geneticist with a doctorate from Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science. Brigitta was the executive director of MIT’s Computational and Systems Biology initiative and later served as vice president at the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research. There, she led education efforts aimed at building scientific capacity in the developing world and creating an innovative, interdisciplinary drug discovery culture at Novartis. Brigitta now also serves on the Scientific Advisory and Management Board of H3D, a University of Cape Town center for drug discovery and development.

Trustee Wendy Wolf, named one of Maine Magazine’s “50 People Shaping Our State,” was the first president and CEO of the Maine Health Access Foundation, as well as a professor and division director of pediatric cardiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. Her work in national health policy at the federal Health and Human Services agency earned her the Secretarial Award for Distinguished Service and also the Health Resources and Service Administrator’s Award for Outstanding Service. She currently serves as the chair of the Boothbay Harbor Board of Selectmen and co-chair of the Boothbay peninsula-wide Joint Economic Development Committee.

Advisory board member Jack Fulmer graduated from Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Certified by the American Board of Surgery, he is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a member of the American College of Physician Executives. After retirement from the Department of Surgery at Mayo Clinic in Florida, he established year-round residency in Maine. He currently serves as president of the board of the Boothbay Region Land Trust. At LincolnHealth, he serves as secretary of the board, chair of the Performance Improvement Committee, a member of the Medical Staff Ethics Committee, and a board member of St. Andrews Village Association.

Jonathan Bigelow’s career has included stints as president of Cliggott Publishing and the Association of Medical Media, editor of the nation’s most-read practical primary care journal, and program editor of Physicians Radio Network. As chief executive officer of KnowledgePoint360 Group, he led a large international team to create the largest privately-held provider of medical communications and strategic advisory services for the biopharma industry. Currently, Jon is a board member and consultant to businesses and private equity firms on medical communications, sits on the Executive Committee of the Coalition for Healthcare Communication, and chairs an annual health care policy conference in Washington, D.C.

Peter Handy is president and CEO of Bristol Seafood, the first company in the United States to earn a Fair Trade certification for seafood. In addition to this role, he is on the board of the National Fisheries Institute, the New England Ocean Cluster, and the investment committee of the University of Maine. Peter also founded, ran, and sold the national company BoxMyDorm.com, and he worked in financial services at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Sanford Bernstein & Co. in roles ranging from asset management to institutional trading. Peter is a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a chartered financial analyst.

Warren Muir has a chemistry doctorate from Northwestern University and has been honored by Queen Elizabeth. He held leadership roles during the Nixon, Ford, and Carter administrations, and served as executive director of the Division of Earth and Life Studies at the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and the National Research Council. He taught at The Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, while founding and leading the independent Hampshire Research Institute. He founded the Cyprus Friendship program, teaches refugees via Skype, helps others settle in New Hampshire, and serves on the New Hampshire Public Radio Community Advisory Board.