Our Team

Susan Jackson is president of ISSF, a global partnership among scientists, tuna processors, and environmental nonprofits to undertake science-based initiatives for the long-term conservation and sustainable use of tuna stocks, reducing bycatch and promoting a healthy marine ecosystem.

Prior to joining ISSF, Jackson was the vice president for government/industry relations and seafood sourcing for Del Monte Foods, where her responsibilities included government relations at the federal, state, and local levels, and acting as Del Monte’s representative to trade and industry associations.

Jackson was also responsible for the purchase of all raw tuna and tuna co-pack manufacturing for Del Monte’s StarKist brand. Jackson joined the H.J. Heinz Company in 1997 as an attorney in the law department, later working with the company’s seafood sourcing and other areas of procurement. Jackson graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a BS in economics and received her law degree from Duke University.

As vice president of policy and outreach, Holly Koehler leads ISSF’s outreach to RFMOs, governments, NGOs, vessel interests, and retailers. Prior to consulting with ISSF, Koehler worked at the US Department of State’s Office of Marine Conservation for thirteen years, where she was actively engaged in the conservation and management of fisheries regionally in the Pacific and globally at the United Nations and FAO.

Koehler earned a master of public affairs and a master of science in environmental science from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University Bloomington and a BA in anthropology from Kenyon College.

In addition to his work as vice president, science, Dr. Restrepo currently serves as chair of the ISSF Scientific Advisory Committee and as a member of the ISSF Board of Directors. Previously, he worked with the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).

Dr. Restrepo has also served as the chief of the NOAA/NMFS Sustainable Fisheries Division in the southeast US, where he acted as head scientist of the USA Delegation to ICCAT. He has also spent time as a population dynamics expert at ICCAT, as an associate professor at the University of Miami and as an IPA research specialist at the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Office of Science and Technology in Silver Spring, Maryland.

He has also attended numerous scientific meetings of ICCAT, ICES, NAFO, FAO and US, and chaired ICCAT working groups on Precautionary Approach and Stock Assessment Methods. In addition, he has also served as the chairman of GFCM-ICCAT working group on Mediterranean Large Pelagic Fishes. Dr. Restrepo holds a PhD in population dynamics from the University of Miami, as well as a BSc in marine science and biology from the University of Miami.

As vice president, communications, Mary Sestric directs ISSF’s communications strategy and manages the organization’s varied and integrated communications products and services, from the ISSF website to ISSF blogs, articles, and multimedia presentations.

Prior to joining ISSF, Sestric was director of corporate affairs at StarKist Co., where she led the company’s government relations, issues and crisis communications, brand public relations, media relations, and consumer affairs. Prior to joining StarKist, Sestric was a member of the corporate communications team at Del Monte Foods, managing similar areas. Sestric began her career in communications in the Washington, D.C. area, publicizing academic and mainstream nonfiction books at the Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group and, later, at the Johns Hopkins University Press.

She holds a BA from Duquesne University in journalism and Spanish.

Pat Moody is vice president of finance, managing ISSF financial and administrative functions, including accounting, budgeting, treasury, taxes, grant financial reporting, information systems, and human resources. Prior to joining ISSF, Moody held various financial and operations roles during a 31-year career in consumer products and packaged convenience foods. Most recently, Moody served as the StarKist senior vice president supply chain from 2010 to 2012 and was the StarKist Chief Financial Officer from 2008 to 2010.

Other previous employers include Del Monte Foods, H.J. Heinz, Quaker Oats, Anderson Clayton, and General Foods. Moody holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Eastern Illinois University.

Michael Cohen is the ISSF retail education associate for Europe and Africa. He joined ISSF after a career as a management consultant in the field of sustainable business development. He provided strategic guidance, operational capacity building, and marketing support to international agencies, multi-national corporations, and grassroots social enterprises. Prior to this experience, Cohen was the general manager, international business development at the H.J. Heinz Company.

Working on growth assignments in the US, Europe, Africa, and South America, he was responsible for business planning, product development, process design, strategic alliances, and marketing. Cohen worked in client service at DDB Needham Advertising before joining Heinz. Cohen was born in Buffalo, New York. He was graduated from Brown University with a BA in history, magna cum laude. He is based in Cape Town, South Africa.

Ana Justel-Rubio’s duties cover several areas, from updating some of ISSF’s signature technical reports to ensuring the proper functioning of ISSF’s public vessel lists. Other roles include acting as a liaison between ISSF and other parties, like the ProActive Vessel Register (PVR) Administrator.

Prior to ISSF, she worked for more than two years at ICCAT’s Secretariat, where she was employed as a technical research assistant under the Atlantic-wide research program for bluefin tuna (Grande Bluefin Tuna Year Programme, or GBYP). Previously, Justel-Rubio worked in WildCRU (Oxford University zoology department, UK), where she collaborated as a research assistant in two endangered species conservation programs.

Justel-Rubio holds a B.Sc. in environmental science (Universidad Autónoma Madrid, Spain), an M.Sc. in quality and environment management (Servicios Normativos, Spain) and an MSc in ArcGIS Geographic Information Systems (ESRI).

Lynne Mandel is responsible for the day-to-day operations of ISSF across all of the Foundation’s strategic pillars. She also handles inquiries regarding ISSF and ISSA membership and manages the onboarding of new participating companies. Mandel had more than 20 years of experience with the Pittsburgh law firm of Burns White, LLC, where she served as paralegal and paralegal manager.

Mandel also specialized in database management and integrity, client reporting, and served as an in-house resource for attorneys, clients, and staff. She worked most closely with the transportation defense team and their occupational claims department. Mandel received her BA in foreign service and international politics from Pennsylvania State University.

Dr. Murua has more than 20 years’ experience in fish population dynamics, assessment and management. He has chaired the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) Scientific Committee and served as rapporteur for the Bigeye Species Group at the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).

Dr. Murua also has been chairman of the Standing Committee on Fisheries Science (STACFIS) of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) and a member of the NAFO Scientific Council from 1999–2006, ICES Arctic Fisheries Working Group from 1999–2006, and the European Commission’s Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) in 2010–2019.

Before joining ISSF in 2019, he was principal investigator in the Marine Research Division at AZTI. Dr. Murua has published more than 75 peer-reviewed papers, co-edited three special fishery journal volumes, and contributed over 150 working documents in various RFMOs. He earned an undergraduate degree in Marine Biology from Universidad de La Laguna and a doctorate in Biological Science from Universidad del Pais Vasco, both in Spain.

Google Scholar profile

An ISSF research scientist and member of the ISSF Bycatch Committee, Dr. Gala Moreno has two decades of experience working with purse-seine tuna vessels in the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans, studying tuna behavior at fish aggregating devices (FADs).

Her work focuses on reducing adverse FAD impacts and draws on fishers’ knowledge and scientific data to improve fisheries management. She coordinates research projects in three oceans on the impact of FADs on bycatch, tuna species, and the ecosystem — including research on biodegradable FADs, acoustic selectivity to discriminate tuna species before the set, and interactions with Mobula rays and sea turtles in tuna fisheries. She also has facilitated skipper workshops on best practices and potential solutions to fishing impacts in more than 20 countries.

Dr. Moreno earned her doctorate from the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) in Seychelles and France and AZTI, and she has a master’s degree from the University of the Basque Country (UPV) in Spain. She has taught university-level courses on FADs, eco-ethology of pelagic species, and hydro-acoustics for pelagic species monitoring at UPV, Paul Sabatier University in France, and Instituto Español de Oceanografía.

From 2003-2015 she was at AZTI, first as a researcher and then as a senior researcher. At AZTI, she coordinated, among others, the EU GAP2 project examining stakeholder-driven science within the context of fisheries, the EU MADE project on mitigating FAD impact on pelagic ecosystems, and the EU FADIO project on tuna behavior at FADs. She spent two years as a scientific observer in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans in 1998-2000.

Google Scholar profile

Dr. Lorena Recio-Vázquez collects, compiles, and organizes data for ISSF databases, including the public vessel lists (PVR, PSR, IMO, etc.).

She also produces reports to supply data for ISSF scientific publications. Before joining ISSF, she worked as a Technical Manager in an international project of soil mapping in Ecuador, where she gained skills in Geographic Information Systems, data quality control, and team coordination. Before that, she worked for five years as a Pre-Doctoral Researcher at the National Museum of Natural Sciences (CSIC) in Madrid, Spain, where she earned a Ph.D. in Environmental Chemistry.

Recio-Vázquez holds a B.Sc. in Environmental Sciences and an M.Sc. in Management and Treatment of Waste, both from Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (Spain). She also has completed a course on Database and Web Development and Programming.

As ISSF's content manager, Sharon VanOuse reviews, edits, creates, organizes, and/or publishes digital content for ISSF — including the ISSF and ISSA Websites, annual report, infographics, and interactive tools. She also oversees content for ISSF's Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube channels and provides editorial assistance on various projects.

She has a B.A. in English from Chatham University and an M.A. in English from Carnegie Mellon University. Prior to joining ISSF in 2016, she held communications positions in higher education, research, advertising, financial services, and health care — working as a social media manager, Web producer, clinical marketing manager, and writer/editor. VanOuse is an adjunct instructor at Chatham University.