Meet Bruckner Chase - Founder / CEO
Bruckner Chase is a professional endurance waterman and ocean advocate whose 2010 25-mile swim across Monterey Bay launched both the BLUE Ocean Film Festival and his own career committed to moving others from awareness to personal, sustainable action that benefits our oceans and our communities. A recent 5-year collaboration with NOAA’s National Weather Service created the Wave Safe coastal safety and science video series and continues to build a new outreach model for protecting our communities and our oceans. Using Evidence Based Ocean Engagements his personal and corporate mission is: To positively impact how we feel, think and act towards our oceans.
Bruckner’s athletic pursuits are a means to connect others to our aquatic world. As an ocean ambassador, advisor, coach, speaker and writer he inspires others and creates opportunities for individuals, communities and companies to embrace their own connection to our oceans. He has created innovative youth programs in American Samoa, and was given a Matai (Chief) title in the village of Aunu’u. His groundbreaking Blue Journey Unified Team impacts communities from New Jersey to Australia and trains those with spinal injuries and disorders in surf life saving sports disciplines both in the open water and pool. Through their foundation he and his wife, Dr. Michelle Evans-Chase, work with groups such as: Surf Life Saving Queensland, University of the Sunshine Coast, The Weather Channel, National Weather Service, Seafood Watch, Ocean Today, National Marine Sanctuaries, BLUE MIND, Government of American Samoa and Bacharach Rehabilitation Hospital. Bruckner continues to build healthier oceans and communities with a commitment to enable in others the Passion to Care, Strength to Act and Vision to Inspire
Meet Michelle Evans-Chase, PhD - Board Member/Programming & Grants Director
Michelle Evans-Chase is by profession a social researcher who specializes in social programming: design,development, delivery and evaluation. She completed her PhD in the School of Social Policy and Practice at the University of Pennsylvania, and her focus was the design and evaluation of programs for adolescents incarcerated in the juvenile justice system. Dr. Evans-Chase has received research awards from the National Institutes of Justice, the Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, and most recently was nominated for an international scholar award from the Philanthropic Educational Organization (PEO). Dr. Evans-Chase is also an avid ocean athlete who spends much of her free time swimming, surfing and paddle boarding off of the coast of New Jersey, activities she encourages others to try by taking them out and providing them a safe place to learn. She has accompanied her husband on every long-distance swim, serving as his coach during the swim along with managing the boat and related swim logistics. She has also been known to jump in and swim the final leg alongside Bruckner.
PUBLICATIONS: Neuroscience for Social Work: Neuroscience of Risk-Taking in Adolescence (With excerpt on Toa o le Tai Program), Springer Publishing Company, 2013
Team
Patrick Roach: Board Member/Special Advisor - Expedition Logistics, Safety
Rev. John Semmes - Board Member/Special Advisor Social, Ethical & Conservation Integration
Rev. John Semmes - Board Member/Special Advisor Social, Ethical & Conservation Integration
Patrick’s Career as a decorated helicopter rescue swimmer has spanned more than 20 years, over 2000 flight hours. His work included operations in: Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, The eastern Seaboard, the Great Lakes and the Gulf Coast. He is an NREMT registered EMT and has been on board for expeditions across Monterrey Bay and American Samoa. He has extensive training in Operations planning, Risk Management and Ocean Survival Instruction. Always looking for the next adventure, his master plan is to be “out there” doing those things others read about. Prior to the coast guard he learned conversational French, attended Ferris State University and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. When he’s not in motion he enjoys spending time outside in northern Michigan and can usually be found reading graphic novels or books on New Zealand
Rev. John Semmes - Board Member/Special Advisor Social, Ethical & Conservation Integration
Rev. John Semmes - Board Member/Special Advisor Social, Ethical & Conservation Integration
Rev. John Semmes - Board Member/Special Advisor Social, Ethical & Conservation Integration
Rev. John M. Semmes is interim senior pastor and head of staff at the historic Central Presbyterian Church in downtown Atlanta. He previously served Presbyterian congregations in New York City, Lexington Kentucky, Oxford, Mississippi (where he met Bruckner and his siblings while officiating their mother's marriage), Atlanta, and Raleigh, North Carolina. Prior to ministry, he enjoyed successful sales careers in both media and medicine before becoming a second-career student at Princeton Theological Seminary. There, he earned his Masters of Divinity degree while honing his interest in social justice, racial reconciliation and Christian ethics. A graduate of the University of Tennessee, John and his wife are parents to two grown children. In his free time, he enjoys music, art, sports, and visits to any of the world's oceans and beaches.
Ken Tunnell: Board Member / Special Advisor on Programs / Mission Development & Expansion
Rev. John Semmes - Board Member/Special Advisor Social, Ethical & Conservation Integration
Ken Tunnell: Board Member / Special Advisor on Programs / Mission Development & Expansion
In his past corporate life, Ken served as the Director of Real Estate for Performance Bike, growing the company’s retail footprint from a tiny catalog outlet in Carrboro, NC to over 100 stores nationwide. Performance is where he originally met and hired Bruckner who eventually became Performance’s manager of store construction working side by side with Ken for over a decade on most of those 100 stores. Ken grew up in rural Eastern NC, and early on learned the value of family and community. From his many hours working and hanging out in the general store his grandparents ran, the importance of respecting all people and having a space for folks to meet and talk was ingrained in him. The land of his childhood also influenced his respect and care for the environment and the animals that depend on it. Many hours in the middle of nowhere plowing fields, helping raise fledgling bald eagles and banding waterfowl – it all drove home his love of the outdoors, the creatures that inhabit it and our calling to care for it all. These two values, environment and community, led to his working with other outstanding, community non-profits such as The Haw River Assembly, where he has served as a board member, that empowers people with the tools and knowledge to be effective guardians of the Haw River. His integrity, character and professional experience will insure Ocean Positive always seeks to improve on what we do while always honoring our vision and mission.
Senior Chief Sean Hays {Ret} : Board Member/Special Advisor - Coastal & Community Safety
Sean retired from an impressive career in the USCG with his final posting being in command of Station Philadelphia. In this capacity he was responsible for the maritime safety and security of all navigable waters on the Delaware River and Delaware Bay. Throughout Sean’s career he has focused on Maritime Safety, Operational Risk Management, Maritime Event Planning, Team Coordination and Natural Resource Management. Sean has extensive experience in large scale operations including the Philadelphia Papal visit, Tall Ships festivals, Red Bull Flugtag, Hurricane Sandy and Hurricane Katrina. Sean is an active outdoorsman and conservationist and can be found on or in the waters throughout South Jersey.
