Wendy Watson-Wright has been an ocean science policy professional for most of her career.   She retired in December 2019 as the inaugural CEO of the Atlantic Canadian-led Ocean Frontier Institute (OFI).  Prior to that she served as the first female Executive Secretary and Assistant Director General of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC-UNESCO) in Paris from 2010 to 2015.  For most of her career, Dr. Watson-Wright held various senior positions within Fisheries and Oceans Canada, including as Regional Director General of its Gulf Region and eight years as its Assistant Deputy Minister of Science.  She is or has been on a number of boards and panels including the Board of Governors of the International Ocean Institute (IOI), the European Marine Board External Review panel (Chair), the Belmont Forum Review Panel for the Global Collaborative Research Action on Ocean Sustainability (Chair), the Centre for Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship (COVE) and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation (Canada).  She is also a member of the United Nations Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine environmental Protection (GESAMP), a body established in 1969 to advise the UN system on marine environmental issues.  A Killam scholar, she has a Ph.D. in Physiology from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.