Dr. James (Jim) Kendall served as the Regional Director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) New Orleans Office. Before moving back to Louisiana, he served 11 years as the BOEM Alaska Regional Director.

Dr. Kendall started his career in 1989 with the Gulf Office’s Studies program and then moved to headquarters where he was, as he is now, a proponent for knowledge-informed decision-making, including the use of science, indigenous knowledge and ocean exploration.

While in headquarters, Dr. Kendall was fortunate enough to participate in the early years of the program when the National Office for Integrated and Sustained Ocean Observations, IOOS’s predecessor, was housed at Ocean.US. When he moved to Alaska, Dr. Kendall served for many years on the AOOS Executive Committee.

He earned a BS in biology from Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia; a Ph.D. in oceanography from Texas A&M University; and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in marine biology with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. He is a graduate of the Senior Executive Fellows Program of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and was awarded their Executive Certificate in Public Leadership.