Board & Staff

Rob Moir, President and Executive Director of the Ocean River Institute

Rob Moir, Ph.D., President and Executive Director

Dr. Moir is an educator, scientist, and activist with a proven history of institutional management and marine policy success. Dr. Moir has been a leader of citizen science and efforts to clean up Salem Sound and Boston Harbor, as president of the advocacy organizations Salem Sound Harbor Monitors, Salem Sound 2000 and later Save the Harbor/Save the Bay, and through his appointment by the Secretary of Interior to the Boston Harbor Islands Partnership. He was formerly Curator of Natural History at the Peabody Essex Museum, Curator of Education at the New England Aquarium and Executive Director of the Discovery Museums in Acton, Massachusetts. Dr. Moir was awarded a Switzer Environmental Fellowship from the Robert & Patricia Switzer Foundation, and the James Centorino Award for Distinguished Performance in Marine Education by the National Marine Educators Association, which he also served as president. He was Sea Education Association’s first assistant scientist to work consecutive voyages of the R.V. Westward in 1979 and 1980, a major gifts officer for his alma mater, Hampshire College and serves today on the Board of Trustees of his alma mater, Cambridge School of Weston. Dr. Moir has a Ph.D. in Environmental Studies and a Masters of Science and Teaching from Antioch New England Graduate School in Keene, New Hampshire and certificate of studies from the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole.

Jay Baldwin, Treasurer

Mr. Baldwin is a green industry investor and strategic advisor focusing primarily on commercial building products and services. Working from Wind River Capital Partners in Cambridge, which he formed in 1993, he provides private equity and merchant banking services and is involved in regional angel investment organizations. He serves on several Boards/Advisory Boards, including Mr. Auburn Hospital (Overseer), GreenOrder, Institution Recycling Network, Charles River Conservancy and Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2).

James L. Elder, LL.D., Clerk

Dr. Elder is a leading authority on environmental education, with three decades of experience in founding and managing creative organizations that seek to advance environmental literacy. He found The School for Field Studies in 1980, now one of the largest environmental education programs in the country. He recently co-founded a national alliance of the thirty leading environmental education organizations (the Campaign for Environmental Literacy) to advance environmental education policy on the national level. He serves on several Boards, including the Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education, the Loreto Bay Community Foundation, Second Nature, and the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.