Stephanie Watson is a consultant who has worked at the interface of the ocean and economic communities for the last 20 years to consistently find opportunity and value for public, private, and academic institutions. She has been brought on board by GCOOS as Product Owner/Stakeholder Engagement Manager for the Compilation of Environmental, Threats, and Animal Data for Cetacean Population Health Analyses (CETACEAN) collaborative project  funded through the Deepwater Horizon NRDA Open Ocean Trustee Implementation Group. She has M.S. degrees in Ecology and Environmental Science (coastal and marine focus) and in Spatial Information Science and Engineering from the University of Maine. Born on Mount Desert Island, Maine, Watson is committed to protecting the ocean, as well as the communities and economies that depend upon it. Watson has been engaged in ocean observing systems on the U.S. Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf of Mexico coasts since the start of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System in the early 2000s. She has partnered with GCOOS in various roles since 2005, including data management, the GCOOS Build-out Plan, communications, and stakeholder engagement.